Women and Christianity

I wandered across an excellent article on the status of women today in Christianity written by Rebecca Groothuis. Regardless of your position on this issue this article is of immense benefit for two reasons:
1 – There is a primary focus upon the biblical text as the grounds for arguments.
2 – The arguments are clear, logical, and rational.

The view expressed below is very close to my own. Here is an excerpt from the article:

What is Biblical Equality?
Evangelical egalitarianism, or biblical equality, refers to the biblically-based belief that gender, in and of itself, neither privileges nor curtails a believer’s gifting or calling to any ministry in the church or home. In particular, the exercise of spiritual authority, as biblically defined, is deemed as much a female believer’s privilege and responsibility as it is a male believer’s.
Biblical equality does not mean women and men are identical or undifferentiated. Biblical egalitarians recognize average differences (both learned and intrinsic) between women and men, and affirm that God designed men and women to complement and benefit one another.
Although it shares with feminism the belief that unjust treatment of women should be remediated, biblical equality is not grounded in feminist ideology, which is derived from cultural factors and philosophies. Rather, biblical equality is grounded simply and solely in the properly consistent interpretation of God’s written word. On this basis, biblical egalitarians (a) affirm that the gifts and callings of the Spirit are distributed without regard to gender, and that all believers in Christ stand on equal ground before God, and (b) repudiate the notion that the Bible grants to men spiritual authority and other religious privileges that it denies to women…..

For more go to: http://www.ivpress.com/groothuis/rebecca/archives/000262.php#more