Scott McKnight and F.F. Bruce
In the Spring of 1981, Kris and I and the kids were living in Nottingham England and I was doing research for my PhD at Nottingham University. I had a desk at home, and often studied there. Late in the morning we got a phone call, I picked it up, and at the other end of the line was F.F. Bruce — who introduced himself and kindly invited all of us up to his home in Buxton the next Saturday for tea (which is more than a drink). We gladly accepted and the next Saturday we got ourselves up there (bought a Bakewell tart, too). I gave to Professor Bruce a brand new copy of Leon Morris’ book Testaments of Love, which he appreciated, and we had a splendid time (apart from Lukas spilling a glass of “orange squash” [a drink] on his rug, which he said was the norm for his home).
The reason I bring this up is that I asked Professor Bruce, because I had an audience with him, about women and ministry. My question was a big one: “Professor Bruce, what do you think of women in the ministry and how texts like 1 Cor 14 and 1 Tim 2 apply to the issues at hand.” Here was his response, and I shall never forget it and I sum it up here.
“First, I think 1 Cor 14 is textually corrupt."
"Second, I think Paul would roll over in his grave if he thought we were turning his letters into a new Torah. "
"And third, as for what I think about women in ministry, I’m for whatever causes the freedom of the Spirit.”
What struck me most were answers 2 and 3.
In his words we find a paradigm for a new work of God in our midst.
Link
In the Spring of 1981, Kris and I and the kids were living in Nottingham England and I was doing research for my PhD at Nottingham University. I had a desk at home, and often studied there. Late in the morning we got a phone call, I picked it up, and at the other end of the line was F.F. Bruce — who introduced himself and kindly invited all of us up to his home in Buxton the next Saturday for tea (which is more than a drink). We gladly accepted and the next Saturday we got ourselves up there (bought a Bakewell tart, too). I gave to Professor Bruce a brand new copy of Leon Morris’ book Testaments of Love, which he appreciated, and we had a splendid time (apart from Lukas spilling a glass of “orange squash” [a drink] on his rug, which he said was the norm for his home).
The reason I bring this up is that I asked Professor Bruce, because I had an audience with him, about women and ministry. My question was a big one: “Professor Bruce, what do you think of women in the ministry and how texts like 1 Cor 14 and 1 Tim 2 apply to the issues at hand.” Here was his response, and I shall never forget it and I sum it up here.
“First, I think 1 Cor 14 is textually corrupt."
"Second, I think Paul would roll over in his grave if he thought we were turning his letters into a new Torah. "
"And third, as for what I think about women in ministry, I’m for whatever causes the freedom of the Spirit.”
What struck me most were answers 2 and 3.
In his words we find a paradigm for a new work of God in our midst.
Link
4 Comments:
I am very interested in this statemement:
“First, I think 1 Cor 14 is textually corrupt."
I wonder if he has written on it?
Hi, Mark. It's good to see you are posting again. How was DFW?
Monk-in-Training, Gordon Fee, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, has a great discussion of the corruption of the text in 1 Cor. 14. He also believes that the verses in question about women were not original to Paul.
Can someone please talk more about this? As a woman, I have huge issues with Paul -- probably because I came to the Bible after having read every feminist translated into English. Please?
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