AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY JOUNAL OF ARTS

The stricture in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent,” has generated quite a lot of arguments especially with the rise of Pentecostalism which gives power to women to teach and exercise authority in the church in the 21st century. To this end, this work, “An Evaluation of Women’s Authority in Public Teaching in the Context of 1 Timothy 2: 11-12 and the Church in the 21st Century” seeks to abridge the contextual socio-cultural situation of the writer’s time and the trending involvement of women in leadership roles and public teaching in many Christian denominations nowadays. Using the historical, hermeneutical and qualitative descriptive methods, it is evident that scholars are divided on whether the restriction on women in public teaching in the church was socio-cultural or universal. The Traditional interpreters argue that the restriction is universal, whereas the Egalitarian interpreters argue that the injunction is peculiar to the cultural situation in Ephesus at that time hence, not universal, while the Feminist interpreters advocate for women inclusiveness in leadership roles, positions and public teaching in contemporary Christian churches. In the light of the historical heritage of the church, where women were greatly used in the Old Testament, New Testament and extra-biblical periods, it is the opinion of this paper that the writer’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 should be a general guideline, while allowance is made for whoever, men or women, God may choose to endow his gifts and talents.

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