ABSTRACT
In the continuing discussion among Anglicans in Australia about the ordination of women, biblical teaching has been a key issue. A critical evaluation of these arguments and a fresh consideration of what the Bible actually says about the ministry of women suggests however, that in neither instance is the case as clear-cut as we have been led to believe. For long centuries the Church simply reflected the attitude of society to women and no one questioned their lowly status. It has been the dramatic change in the position of women in modern Western society that has forced the Church to begin to think afresh. Direct insight into the ordering and life of the Church is found not in the Gospels but in the Acts and the Epistles. The relevant material on ministry divides itself into three categories: theological or normative statements, descriptive statements and regulative statements.
