South African Presbyterian women in leadership in ministry (1973–2018)

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title South African Presbyterian women in leadership in ministry (1973–2018)
 
Creator Duncan, Graham A.
 
Subject history Bantu (Reformed) Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA); Elders; gender; Ministers; Presbyterian Church of South(ern) Africa (PCSA); Uniting Presbyterian church in Southern Africa; women
Description The issue of women in the ministry has been a vexed one historically. In many denominations, the ordination of women has been represented by some form of struggle, which culminated in the first ordinations of women during the second half of the 20th century. This article investigates the process towards the ordination of women in two Southern African Presbyterian denominations – the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (renamed the ‘Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa’ in 1979) and the Presbyterian Church of South Africa (renamed the ‘Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa’ in 1958), prior to their union in 1999 to form the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. This article focusses on women in leadership in ministry, not exclusively on women ordained to the ministry of ruling or teaching elder (minister). It begins with an historical overview and proceeds to an investigation of developments in the two relevant denominations. The terms ‘leadership’ and ‘ministry’ are used separately and together and are considered to be synonymous. The article uses primary sources from the records of both denominations considered and suggests that the process was gradual and progressive as the worth of women in leadership was recognised following the general acceptance of the biblical and theological arguments.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-02-12
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical enquiry
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v75i1.5180
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 75, No 1 (2019); 10 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5180/12377 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5180/12376 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5180/12378 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5180/12365
 
Coverage South Africa — Female
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Graham A. Duncan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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