Kvinnligt ledarskap i den tidiga kyrkan. Några exempel och en tolkningsram

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of women leaders in the early church. It argues that, while several recent studies have focussed on and acknowledged the fact that women had prominent roles in Pauline churches, explanations for such leadership roles — and why women were ultimately marginalised in the emerging mainstream church — fail to accurately define and categorise the broader ancient context of the church and so fall short of locating the appropriate comparative material. It is maintained that the closest analogy for the earliest Christ- believing communities was the same as for the Jewish synagogues, namely the Graeco-Roman associations, the collegia. Understanding women leadership in the ancient synagogue is therefore crucial when considering the prominent roles of women in the early churches. Other factors that affected the position of women in the church include charismatic-prophetic definitions of leadership. The later marginalisation of women in the mainstream churches, already witnessed in the Pastoral letters, should be seen as an adaptation to Graeco-Roman public society, which took place beginning in the second century for a variety of reasons, among which we find the so- called parting(s) of the ways between Jews and Christ-believers as well as an increasing acceptance of Christianity among the upper strata of (non-Jewish) society.