2018 "Created for Partnership" CBE International Conference
Kari Kukkanen is a long-time board member of RaTas, Christians for Equality. He has retired from the teacher position at a Christian College in Helsinki. He has two adult sons.
Watch NowWhen rightly understood, Gen. 2:24-25 and Eph. 5: 21-33 provide an almost formula-like description for a pleasurable, loving, faithful marriage of oneness built on equality and mutuality. Modern science teaches what the writers of Genesis and Ephesians could not have known.
Watch NowThe ordination of women has been a contentious issue in the history of the church. For almost nineteen centuries, churches have debated whether women should hold leadership positions within the body of Christ. Despite what women have done in the history of the church, some churches have found it difficult to ordain women to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament based on cultural tradition. In fact, the question of ordination is still unanswered in many churches today.
Watch NowThis recording examines how early church leaders viewed women. It begins with Jesus Christ, moves to Paul, and highlights how various early church leaders’ insights into Paul’s teachings are helpful in guiding us to understand those statements as Paul intended them, namely as affirmations of women and their leadership roles in the church. Some church leaders did this in spite of reflecting elsewhere the demeaning attitudes toward women common in their culture. This illustrates a gradual shift away from the New Testament’s affirmations of the equal standing of men and women in Christ.
Watch NowAs a change agent in the community, the body of Christ must come to an understanding of the biblical concept of the image of God. An understanding of humanity as the bearer of that image—regardless of any classification society or culture might impose—is intrinsic to the church’s engagement in seeking justice.
Watch NowThis recording examines the pivotal and strategic role of women in the ministries of Jesus and Paul respectively. In addition, it will consider theological and missiological reasons for women’s full and free participation in the church’s mission at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Watch NowPaul and the Leadership of Women: Irreconcilable or Inextricable? The Historical Context of Ephesians and Corinthians
Watch NowExplorations of Genesis 2 intent on recovering God's ideal for the interrelationship between male and female often zoom in on the creation of Eve. We are better able to appreciate how the narrative supports that ideal when we engage the whole chapter.
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