Analogies,Metaphors and Women as Priests

Abstract

In discussions regarding the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Catholic Church reference is frequently made to the gender symbolism of Scripture. This article examines this gender symbolism, as it is found in Ephesians 5:21–33, to see what relevance it may have to the question of women's ordination. Its conclusion is that it has relevance only if one has already decided (on other grounds) that “headship” is an essentially male quality.