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Sept 28
Uncontested Dogmas Come Under Fire in Scholarly Book
Ordination sacrament alienates women, exacerbates divide in church

LONGWOOD, FL-The relationship between gender and ministry has long been established in the Christian church-for the most part, church hierarchy is a "men only" affair. Sadly, this makes the sacrament of ordination the "sacrament of discrimination." Additionally, the anthropomorphic understanding of God assigns a masculine gender to Him. "The only people who need this gender are men who are protecting their infrastructure of power," claims biblical scholar and author Adolphus Chinedu Amadi-Azuogu. His book, The Politics of Power and the Ordination of Women: Gender and Power in the New Testament and the Church Today (paperback, 978-1-60266-602-3), addresses this growing problem which is hindering the ordination of women today.

"This is not right because Jesus refrained from using cultic-oriented or gender-specific paradigms that would have excluded women from ritual leadership," says Amadi-Azuogu of the growing divide in the church. "Jesus chose the all-gender model of the shepherd, while rejecting the gender-restricted priesthood. Thus, He opened up church ministry to all genders because He is the God of equal opportunity. He has no gender preferences."

The book, written in a scholarly yet easy-to-read format, is down to earth and edifying. The product of sound biblical exegesis, The Politics of Power... utilizes Amadi-Azuogu's talents as a student of the New Testament to challenge the age of male monopoly and uncontested dogmas.

Adolphus Chinedu Amadi-Azuogu holds a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Bonn, Germany, and a licentiate in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome.

Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,900 titles published to date. Retailers may order The Politics of Power and the Ordination of Women through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing.