Letter to the LCMS’s CTCR

Arnold Voigt Editorial Note: Pastor Arnold Voigt served an Afro-American parish in Mobile, Alabama, and a suburban parish in Littleton, Colorado (where he ministered to those grieving and surviving the tragic school shooting there in April 1999). Having visited and worked in the Middle East ten times, he was recently co-leader of Sabeel-Colorado peace and…
Read more

“…because it is a woman….”

Arnold Voigt The order of creation is the keystone argument used in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) for understanding the relationship of men and women as well as denying women opportunity for ordination to the pastoral ministry. The seeds of this argument and its application go back in the history of Missouri, coming out of…
Read more

Theses on Women in the Church – Part Three

Arnold J. Voigt III. A FEW SELECTED PASSAGES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT PERTINENT TO THE DISCUSSION AT HAND WHICH SPEAK TO THE MANNER IN WHICH OUR HOLY GOD DESIRES WOMEN TO EMBRACE THE GIFTS HE HAS GIVEN THEM IN THE SERVICE OF MINISTRY IN THE NAME OF HIS SON  ▬ Women “In Authority” in the Old Testament  ▬ Genesis 21:12:…
Read more

Theses on Women in the Church – Part Two

Arnold J. Voigt Excursus: “The Order of Creation” or “The Orderings of the Creator”? □ “…because it is a woman…” [emphasis added] (CTCR-WIC, 36) □ “The Order of Creation” paragraph is followed by the words “the concepts which these terms denote are of long-standing importance… Luther for example…” (CTCR-WIC, 21). The purpose of this Excursus…
Read more

Theses on Women in the Church – Part One

Arnold J. Voigt (Revised October 1999) The following contains resources and commentary in dialogue with Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice, A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (St. Louis: CTCR, September 1985). Introduction The question of women’s participation in the life, structure, and…
Read more