05-22-2019, 10:53 AM
(05-17-2019, 11:56 AM)Ed Hurst Wrote: The authority of those old ladies is buried deep in the Celtic culture; it's a different thing from the influence of women in the Germanic tribal culture. Prior to the arrival of Christian religion in the Isles, they would have been witches; again, the image is different from the German mythology.
But backing up even farther, the only problem is that Celtic men had no tradition in shepherding people that way. Part of the problem you cite with shepherding is the common Protestant confusion between deacons and elders. American evangelical tradition conflates the two, whereas the Presbyterians understood the difference. While an Old Testament covenant shepherding elder role was inherited, in the New Testament they arose organically as the ones everyone followed anyway. At any rate, Presbyterians got the message about elders running the church, but they still never got that involved in guiding the members of the community up close and personal. So the women jumped in and that's how it developed historically, as I understand it.
Brother, you do not know Scotland. Don't be offended, the English don't know them either.