Broad philosophy

situations, tradition itself may afford no adequate guidance. Women should be given adequate opportunity to exercise their spiritual gifts. The Church should give utmost support to women ministry. Jesus accepted and affirmed as persons of worth various women who were neglected or rejected within his society. According to the Gospels, Jesus clearly regarded women as persons of dignity and worth by his many healings of women, by his acceptance and forgiveness of undesirable ritually unclean women. Paul worked with women whom he addressed as co-laborers. These women greatly contributed and influenced his ministry.

Chiegboka (1997) observes that “despite the numerical strength of women and their manifest and laudable contributions in the Church, women’s voice in policy making bodies are still very minimal” (p. 124). Women should be allowed to air their views in the advisory committees of the Church. The church should encourage and empower women through education. This will enable them to put in their best in various institutions of the church and society such as in the educational and health sectors. Women should also be considered for diaconate ordination.

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5.3 The Role of Culture in the Interpretation of 1 Cor. 14:26-40

Culture has a great influence on people’s religious beliefs and in the interpretation of the Scripture. Most cultures and traditions in Nigeria depict male dominance in all situations and as such females are inferior. This unfortunate belief system has been a major obstacle to women’s position in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and thus constrains their contribution to national development.

The subjugation of women in Africa is based on the fact that the African society is both patriarchal and hierarchical. This means that the social structure is organized with grades of authority from the lowest to the highest. In the Nigerian society, women and children occupy the lowest rank on the social ladder. They were to be seen but not to be heard. Man is held to be superior to the woman. According to Agbo (2003), men do not embark on the same kind of business with women. Men are favored in the Igbo traditional court or judicial system. This is to say that if there is any case between a man and his wife, it was always the woman who was declared guilty. And he will not be reprimanded before the woman to avoid humiliating him before a woman. In Igbo land, however, the superiority of man is not a premise for exploitation.

It is true that the Church does not exist outside a cultural context, but enlightenment and common sense indicate that the status of women calls for a change.

Women are regarded as home makers and should not be engaged in anything that takes them out of the home. On the other hand, women are regarded as weak and easily taken by emotions. Consequently, they should not be given leadership roles or positions in the society, sacred or secular.

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The average African views women as dependent persons. Women in traditional societies depend on the men who have the power, authority and who could be stable in the face of oppositions and challenges. Women have therefore continued to be treated as minors and inferior in matters of relationships, even in the Church which is God’s new society. However, the coming of Jesus Christ helped to erase this ill treatment of women in the Palestinian world. With the rise of women liberation, feminist theology and gender related interpretive theories; women’s position in the Church is gradually changing. This is a clarion call for the reinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 because people have been conditioned to accept only male priests.

In the Igbo culture, women are not to lead men. Women have their boundaries. They are restricted from performing certain rituals and entering some sacred places. For instance, a woman does not break kola nut or climb the palm tree. Just like in the Jewish culture where women have become prophetesses and judges like Deborah, a woman can serve as priestess in Igbo culture in worship to a goddess and not to a male deity. This cultural bias against women has crept into the Church. However, those who are called by God for the pastoral ministry should not be restricted from the ordination for any cultural reason. Cultural norms are therefore subject to change even though others may see it as deviation.

Culture is dynamic. Consequently, women’s status is changing with the trend in culture.

In the Nigerian society, women have been given chieftaincy titles which used to be given to only men. Women are now occupying some leadership positions which they were denied formerly.

Therefore, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) should emancipate women and give them a chance to exercise their leadership abilities.

160 5.4 Women Ordination

Ordination is a practice by the Church which sets apart, as ministers, people who are called by God and believes to be qualified for the ministry of the word and sacraments. This means that the ordained are set aside for administering of the word of God and sacraments. Agbo (2003) notes that the first proposal for the ordination of women in the Church of Nigeria came from the revolutionary resolution of the Provincial Mothers’ Union quadrennial conference held in Ibadan from 18^th to 23^rd August, 1984. However, the Provincial Synod, which held at the same period, referred the matter to the Episcopal Synod for discussion and decision. Since then, the Movement for the Ordination of Women and the Association of Female Graduates of Immanuel College of Theology, Ibadan has repeatedly pressurized the Church of Nigeria to accept the ordination of women. Oyewale (1987) argues for female ordination in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). He maintains that the exclusion of women from priesthood was really due to male domination. He also believes that women are more dedicated Christians than men.

They are less prone to the temptations of stealing, cockiness and promiscuity. They will make wonderful priests.

All Christian believers are incorporated into the royal priesthood of God. This view is also held by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), thus the 1988 Lambeth Conference says; “we acknowledge that the foundation of all ministry is that of a royal priesthood of all God’s people within which every Christian is called to exercise a ministry of witness, love and service” (Lambeth 1988). The calling of God upon one’s life is for service and not for self gratification.

The accommodation of women as priests will make the ministry of word and sacrament to become a shared ministry. The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) should embark on a

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systematic re-orientation of the people about the equality of every human being as declared by Paul in Galatians 3:28. Also 1 Cor.14:26-40 does not restrict women in the area of ordination but silences noise makers and usurpers of authority.