摘要：The article starts from a growing ecumenical consensus on the importance of prophetic diaconia in relation to the global challenges of the 21st century. The specific question addressed concerns how the churches can lay a better foundation for prophetic diaconia by discarding their traditional gender structure. The more churches free themselves from the patriarchal aspects of their traditions, the more credible they become as social critics – and the more they are free to do their work for the world’s healing. The article builds on a master’s thesis in educational management on deacons as the whistle-blowers of the Church, a role which is coded as female and related to a predominantly male-coded resistance, questioning, and criticism. The article argues that this shows a hitherto neglected area of research that deserves more extensive studies in the future.
