Romans 16:7 says that Junia was "of note among the apostles." A female apostle? The early Church Fathers, Jerome and John Chrysostom, thought so. The Eastern and oriental Orthodox Churches think so. Desiderus Erasmus thought so. The majority of textual evidence favors it. The translators of the King James Version of the
Bible thought so.
The name
Junia is clearly a female name and was common during the first century. The male form of the name,
Junias, does not occur in the
Bible and is only known to have occurred once in the extra-biblical Greek literature.
A female apostle would put a large dent in the world view of many conservative Christians who seem to have forgotten what Paul said in
Romans (but they remember his seemingly contradictory statement in
Galatians). The full participation of women in the Church challenged the "order of things" as did many Christian practices.
Pederson points out that many modern commentators feel that Paul, in each of his letters to the churches, was addressing local questions. The seeming inconsistency between his statements may reflect that fact.
In his letters Paul clearly and often spoke of women who taught and prophesied. He even sent one woman, Phoebe, as his official representative, carrying his personal letter, to the leaders of the church in Rome.
Pederson is insistent that this is not some sort of faddish, liberal-feminist reinterpretation of biblical history but a return to the original customs of the churches before an official church hierarchy rose up and imposed, intentionally or unintentionally, the male domination which was the norm in the outside world.
Everything that is possible to be known about the Apostle Junia is tracked down using church traditions, the early Church Fathers, and secular history. Branching off from this, Pederson chases down whatever information is available on other prominent early female Christian leaders such as Prisca, Lydia, Chloe, Theda, Agnes, and Phoebe.
She is correct in her assertion that, in discarding the veneration of the saints and their relics, protestants have lost some of their connection to their own history. Pederson calls not for a return to Catholic practice, but for a renewed commitment to studying the lives of the saints.
This is an excellent, well-researched book which is, at the very least, challenging to some very strongly held modern Christian beliefs which may or may not be correct. Quoting Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage (d. 858), "A custom without Truth is merely an ancient error."
Pederson, Rena,
The Lost Apostle: Searching for the Truth About Junia (San Francisco: Josse-Bass, 2006)
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