Mortal Remains
Still At It, with Good Help
I regard James Altena's "Role Reversals: Sex, Women's Ordination & the Rejection of Hierarchy & Equality" (January/February 2019) as the finest piece Touchstone has published on this subject—a significant admission from the person who has himself done most of that publishing. The issue will not go away for the same reason that mistakes about homosexuality will not: all of these are fundamental, "constitutional" matters, responses to which define the Church. When we received Richard Mason's letter, to which James responds in this issue, I was moved, without consulting him, by my own somewhat proprietary interest to write what follows. The similarity of our responses is striking.
Lewis's Example
A great many people are fond of C. S. Lewis's writings and are attracted by the notion of mere Christianity as he explained it, but find it convenient to forget that he, at least, did not think the ordination of women to be a Christian practice at all, but rather an expression of some other religion. Lewis said this gently in his essay "Priestesses in the Church?", his most explicit treatment of the subject, and I hope we at Touchstone have followed his example of realism and gentility by giving what praise we can to women who profess the Creed, are full of good works, and with genuine sincerity think they have been called and ordained to the presbyter's or the bishop's office.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on liberalism from the online archives
31.5—September/October 2018
The Rise of the Gnostic Liberal State After Christianity by Andrew Latham
more from the online archives
26.5—Sept/Oct 2013
The Perils of Pragmatism in Christian Attitudes Toward the Liberal Arts by Robin Phillips
32.2—March/April 2019
Flight from the Absolute: Cynical Observations on the Postmodern West, Volume II by Paul Gosselin by Louis Markos
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
