At the book launch, those present were greeted by the Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Latvia, Professor Dace Balode, and Professor Valdis Tēraudkalns. Prof. Dace Balode told about the behind-the-scenes story of the book’s creation, namely, that the idea for the book was part of a more extensive project dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The themes examined in the book took shape from the way the Reformation was perceived and assessed in Latvia – both in earlier times and today. In Latvia, the Reformation was an event taken for granted, woven into the course of history, and in its time it did not merit any special coverage. Looking back at the past, Latvia lacks a chronicle of events, especially one that concerns women in the Reformation movement; the aim of the project was therefore to highlight events, to draw attention to the historical events that followed the arrival of the Reformation in Latvia and their development. The project is unique in that the team that worked on creating the monograph brought together the teaching staff of the Faculty of Theology, and former, current and prospective students. In researching the field, the book presents interviews with women pastors – both those who still serve and those who do not. The conclusions drawn from the results obtained gave reason to think that it would be worthwhile to pay attention to the excluded, silenced side of history.
Prof. Dace Balode expressed the hope that the book would shape thinking today, both in the church and outside it.
Prof. Ina Druviete, Vice-Rector of the University of Latvia in the field of the humanities and educational sciences, drew attention to the fact that the book successfully refutes claims that are otherwise mythical and untrue but were accepted as true.
Bishop emerita Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga reminded everyone that history is written by the victors. It has been so for centuries – history was written by men about the achievements of men. Women appear in such history only episodically; the deeds of women, the significance of women in the Reformation have not been reflected; this information has been buried, silenced, ignored.
Pastor and professor Ralfs Kokins pointed out that the things written about in the book are taken for granted all over the world, but in Latvia they are still in progress.
Pastor Ralfs Kokins recalls an event in a congregation in which he served: a woman was appointed as the head of the congregation. After a few weeks, it emerged that one of the elders of the congregation was deeply dissatisfied with the fact that the head of the congregation was a woman. The old gentleman expressed his dissatisfaction loudly, saying that if women were already pastors elsewhere, then the end of the world was near. “The end of the world really is coming soon, if women pastors have already appeared somewhere far away, while here we have a woman as the head of the congregation. And what on earth would happen to the world if all leadership positions were held by women?” so the old man grumbled about the head of the congregation. Pastor Kokins admits that he has thought a great deal about this question – what on earth would happen to the world if women were in leadership positions? – and has come to the conclusion that then there would most certainly be fewer wars, fewer acts of cruelty and less stupidity in the world. It is precisely on the ministry of women that much in the world has rested. In whatever context one frames the office of a woman pastor, the question is about the texts of the Bible and, to some extent, also about the context of our education. Often things are mixed up together.
Such thinking (as in the mentioned incident) is characteristic of the ancient world, but in Christianity it is a matter of being in Christ, in accordance with Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 3:27, 28: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
LLSTA editorial team