WOMEN IN CHURCH OFFICE
Ron Cammenga
With this 16 page pamphlet the Rev. Ron Cammenga makes his contribution to a growing genre of articles on the subject of the role of women in the church. Like Dr. G . Knight, the Rev. R. Sikkema, and Mrs. Laurie Vanden Heuvel, the Rev. Cammenga, pastor of the Hull (Iowa) Protestant Reformed Church, is opposed to the ordination of women to ecclesiastical office. Although his style is not as scholarly and irenic as others who have addressed this issue (e.g. Knight), nonetheless he makes a strong case in a very forthright manner.
If one wants a concise and cogent presentation of the Biblical position regarding this topic, this pamphlet can be readily recommended. The author addresses the pertinent Biblical passages and views the current debate as the product of the spirit of the age infecting the church. Ultimately this issue is not about who is “for” or “against” women, but how one views the Scriptures. Writes Cammenga, “The underlying issue, . . . is Scripture and the church’s confession of the inspiration, infallibility, and authority of Holy Scripture.”
The last two sections of this pamphlet under the headings “Our Calling to Stand Against this Movement” and “The Positive Calling of Women” are considerably more polemical. In these, Cammenga expresses his opposition tc women voting at congregational meetings, teaching catechism, birth control, and abortion. He defines the positive role of women in the church almost exclusively in terms of childbearing (I Tim. 2:15) and contends that if a woman has no children she should be known “as was Dorcas for her good works and for her almsdeeds.” Having introduced such a wide range of subjects these sections could have been expanded or, better yet, omitted. They are not essential to his basic premise that while women may be involved in many ways in serving God’s church, the Scripture excludes them from being “ministers, elders or deacons.”
For the price of a postage stamp one may obtain copies of this pamphlet free upon request by writing to: The Reformed Witness, P.O. Box 181 , Doon, Iowa 51235.
Reviewed by Richard Blauw, Zutphen CRC, Hudsonville, Michigan