Author: Ryrie, Charles
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Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is a classic work by Charles Ryrie, first published in 1958 and now in 2011. Ryrie’s unique layout of the book includes an introduction and three sections: The introduction covers the life of women in the Greek and Roman world; in “Part I” he covers the life of women in the life of Christ; in “Part II” he covers the role of women in the apostolic age; and in “Part III” he covers the status of women in the apostolic fathers and apologists.
There are areas of interest to our current issues around 2025. Ryrie would be a complementarian had that title been around in his day. He does use the term “complementary” (p. 16) one time. Ryrie took a no divorce position, only allowing for the desertion of an unbeliever as a reason for divorce. He took a silence position of women praying or otherwise speaking to the congregation. He also took a unique 3-category description of widows (supported by family; supported by the church but not enrolled; enrolled in a list of those over 60 and supported by the church). Ryrie did not believe that the NT church had deaconesses officially. Neither Romans 16:1 nor 1 Timothy 3 suggest that women were in any official elected office.
This book, much like almost all of Ryrie’s works, remains a valuable source for reference in our own day of many voices on church polity and on the family.