The Ordination of Women and the ‘Maleness’ of Christ
ARCIC-II 58-1C

Author/editor(s): Norris, , R A
Creation: June 1986 (The date of original creation or publication, if known)
Protocol: ARCIC-II 58-1C

Persistent link: https://iarccum.org/doc/?d=1481 (Please use this permanent URL in your publications and bookmarks to link to this document. The files linked below may be modified, but this record will remain at this location.)

Citation:
Norris, , R A. The Ordination of Women and the ‘Maleness’ of Christ, ARCIC-II 58-1C (June 1986). https://iarccum.org/doc/?d=1481.


This essay, by an Anglican priest who is professor of patristics at Union Seminary in New York, has been probably the single most influential theological piece for American Episcopalians. It addresses directly the rationale later offered by the Vatican declaration Inter Insigniores 27, that women cannot be ordained because it is necessary that the priest must bear a ‘natural resemblance’ to Christ who was male (a line of reasoning also taken by the Orthodox Bishop Kallistos in the section ‘The Priest as Icon’ in his widely distributed article ‘Man, Woman, and the Priesthood of Christ.’)