Ship of Fools: Ordination of Women Contagion Theory

Thread: Ordination of Women Contagion Theory Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Peter Spence (# 14085) on :

In my travels to and from various religious blogs I've come across the belief that when a bishop ordains a woman he becomes somehow "spoiled" and any male subsequently ordained by him would have either extremely suspect or completely invalid orders. I assume this would be subscibed to by those who prefer the ministry of 'Flying Bishops' in the CoE. Just wondering if this is the official teaching of any Church and what the theological basis is.

Posted by Peter Spence (# 14085) on :

'subscibed' needs an 'r'. PS

Posted by Magic Wand (# 4227) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Peter Spence:
In my travels to and from various religious blogs I've come across the belief that when a bishop ordains a woman he becomes somehow "spoiled" and any male subsequently ordained by him would have either extremely suspect or completely invalid orders. I assume this would be subscibed to by those who prefer the ministry of 'Flying Bishops' in the CoE. Just wondering if this is the official teaching of any Church and what the theological basis is.

I have come across this "tainted hands" theory before, but am not personally familiar with anyone with anyone who subscribes to it. It makes no sense to me, and it appears to be a very poor understanding of sacramental theology, specifically the concept of intention.

Posted by Vade Mecum (# 17688) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Peter Spence:
In my travels to and from various religious blogs I've come across the belief that when a bishop ordains a woman he becomes somehow "spoiled" and any male subsequently ordained by him would have either extremely suspect or completely invalid orders. I assume this would be subscibed to by those who prefer the ministry of 'Flying Bishops' in the CoE. Just wondering if this is the official teaching of any Church and what the theological basis is.

This is the so-called theology of 'taint', and precious few people actually hold it, in my experience.

What they might believe is that, by purporting to ordain women, said bishop has demonstrated that he possesses a flawed idea of what the sacrament of orders is, and thus his intention in ordaining would be defective (the validity of a sacrament being traditionally held to be a case of valid matter, form, and intent).

It may also be the case that people who oppose OoW speak of bishops as being 'spoiled' from 'soundness' or what-have-you, without necessarily attaching any theological force to the statement. It is easy to see how such statements may be mis-read, or even harden into cod-theologies over time.

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :

Ordination of women is one of a group of topics that we have a special board for--topics that may never be settled, and generate a lot of discussion pro and con--so I will send this down there.

So see you at the bottom of the page down at Dead Horses.

Gwai,
Purgatory Host

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