Modern Myth of Ordination
This is an important topic. Not just for theology geeks. Here for your perusal is an old and a new resource. Both are by writers not of inferior learning. One writer, in fact, was the Professor of Oriental Languages at a major university.
There is no office of elder. Christian elders - literally older ones - are rather appointed (ordained) to the work of non-professional, informal oversight and shepherding.
1 Peter 5: The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger...
There is plenty of squabbling over the "ordination of women". We might want to figure it out first for the men.
The fact that ordination is one of the Roman Catholic sacraments should also raise doubts.
When the early Christians read or heard about elders, there were thousands of years of unquestioned history and tradition regarding their identity. In fact, the first elders recorded in Genesis were the elders of the Egyptians. So common it was in the ancient world to respect the elders and to regard them as the natural leaders.
But please do not use this information as an excuse to grab the "ordained" clergy parking places at the local hospital.
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Are we this far off the beaten path?
After posting this file, I went to google a few days later to check if it had been indexed. To my surprise, the phrase "myth of modern ordination" only appeared once on the entire internet.
I thought to myself: This myth, no doubt has been referred to previously as simply the "myth of ordination." Again, nothing but a few search results from Buddists who were complaining about their own ordination program.
There is no such thing as Christian ordination which gives one saint higher authority or privilege over another. Truly, it is a myth. The good news is that many recognize its mythical nature but use other terminology when writing about it.