Bishops 'n stuff

[philmophlegm]

I don't want my AKICOLJ posts to become debates on controversial issues, so please don't post opinions here. I am interested in facts, not opinions. Also, I'm not a christian, so this really isn't anything to do with me.

The question is this:

One of the arguments used against the idea of women priests, bishops etc in various christian churches seems to be that there is no biblical precedent. But apart the jewish establishment, is there _any_ precedent in the new testament that suggests how a christian church should be organised? On a related note, is there any such precedent in the books that were left out of the biblical canon?

Comments

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Yes. There is the Book of Acts, which suggests that in fact a Christian church shouldn't be too organised at all. However, as the Church got a little bigger, they did appoint deacons to take care of the admin side of things (ensuring widows and orphans were looked after, and so on).

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

And there seem to have been deaconesses.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

True.

[ex-robhu.livejournal.com]

It should be noted that there's no disagreement by those who oppose women bishops (or vicars) on this issue. The Sidney Anglicans (who you might consider to be the most conservative of all Anglicans) also have the most women deacons.