Wilfried Härle

Von Christus Beauftragt Wilfried Härle

Some 50 years ago the Evangelical Church allowed the ordination of women. The introduction lacked a well-founded theological reasoning and provoked plenty of disputes. At the same time the Dutch Jesuit Haye van der Meer published a comprehensive study on the priesthood of women (1962/1969), concluding that none of the arguments provided enough reason to deny women to be ordained as priests, which to this day has hardly had any impact. In the last two years, however, the discussion has gained momentum: the Anglican Church introduced the ordination of women as priests and bishops, whereas the Lutheran Church in Latvia abolished it. And moreover, Pope Francis recognized Mary Magdalene as a true and authentic evangelizer. How is all of this connected to the biblical and theological foundations of the Christian Churches? In this publication renowned systematic theologian Wilfried Harle (Heidelberg) presents a biblical-theological justification for the ordination of women, which will certainly provide fresh impetus to the ecumenical debate on this important topic.