Pauld2leo.wordpress.com (Book 13) ‘And God Created Women’ (Non-Fiction) By C. Paul Di Tullio
Chapter 2 – ‘Onward, Christian Women!’
Is Christianity Oppressive to Women?
Sometimes our Christian heritage must be overcome, not celebrated….LINDA HARTZ RUMP
From the beginning of Christianity, women have been included in the New community. In some times and places, they have found the church more affirming and liberating than their surrounding cultures. But in others, the church has fallen far from its Bible—which sees both sexes as of equal worth.
During its early years, Christianity taught a spiritual unity that at least potentially mitigated the harshness of Roman law, in which women were considered non-citizens with no legal rights. Inequality was everywhere in this system; for example, while men’s adultery was assumed, women’s was punishable by death. Over against this culture, the ideal of the early church is captured in the words of Paul, “Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Eph 5:21). And women did, as we will see, gain some status “in Christ,” filling key roles within the church.
This continued to be true in the Middle Ages, when society at large assumed women would marry and bear many children—indeed, among the elite, parents often arranged or forced marriage on their daughters. Monastic life offered many women an attractive alternative. This was a life of devotion, scholarship, travel, and spiritual fellowship and equal dialogue with male monastics and church leaders.
Nonetheless, the potential equality embedded in Jesus’ message often failed to pan out in the teachings and practice of the church. In Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership (InterVarsity Press, 2003), Dr. Sarah Sumner examines the church’s decidedly spotty record on treatment of women.
Sumner cites several expressions of a deep prejudice against women in the writings of the Church Fathers. The first is from a 3rd-century treatise titled “On the Dress of Women,” written and presented to an audience of women by Tertullian—the influential teacher and coiner of the term “Trinity.”
Here Tertullian likens all women to Eve, calling them “the devil’s gateway,” “the unsealer of that forbidden tree,” and “she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack.” It was because of Eve, Tertullian argued, and therefore because of all womankind, that “God’s image, man” was condemned to death, and that the Son of God himself had to come and die. In light of this, he added, how dare any woman “think about adorning yourself over and above your tunics of skins?”
Sumner also cites Ambrose, the bishop of Milan from 374 to 397 A.D. In his treatise “On Paradise,” Ambrose wrote that “though the man was created outside Paradise, an inferior place, he is found to be superior, while woman, though created in a better place, inside Paradise, is found inferior.” For Ambrose, it was a fact of nature that men are superior to women.
Augustine, probably the most famous theologian in all of church history, believed that God did not create the woman for any reason other than procreation. Explicitly he said, “I cannot think of any reason for woman’s being made as man’s helper, if we dismiss the reason of procreation.”
He felt that companionship was no part of God’s plan for the relationship between the sexes. For the purpose of conversation, he argued, “how much more agreeable it is for two male friends to dwell together than for a man and a woman!”
Declares Sumner, “If the church fathers were prejudiced against women, and we know it, then we should be careful not to absorb their bias.” In other words, “Traditional Christian thinking is not the same thing as biblical thinking about women.”
Tertullian lived in a Roman culture where marriage and women were degraded. And much of early Christian thought was influenced by Plato and Aristotle, neither of whom were Christian thinkers. Aristotle believed that women were irrational in relation to men and unequal in virtue.
The idea that women are equal in worth to men has only recently received widespread acceptance. As Sumner argues, we must face the difficult fact that we do not read Scripture objectively, but rather through the lenses of a long tradition of gender inequality. When we try to set these lenses aside, we begin to see a God who is counter-cultural in this respect. He is not a respecter of persons—He shows no partiality! (Acts 10:34)
From the Bible emerge three clear pictures about women. Together, they show that God is an equal opportunity Creator, Forgiver, Equipper, and Empowerer.
The first picture is one of Creation: we see that like men, women are created in God’s image. It takes both male and female to bear God’s image. We are bone of man’s bone and flesh of man’s flesh. (Gen. 2:23).
Right after the first woman was formed and introduced to the first man, the man was told that from that time forward, “therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined (cleave) to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” God blessed both man and woman and charged them both to have dominion over the earth. God intended them to experience oneness and to work—have dominion—side by side. That’s the first picture, the creation picture.
Before the second picture, a terrible event occurs. In Genesis 3, there is the temptation and the fall. Given free will, both the woman and the man make disastrous choices. There are stunning consequences, curses from God upon the tempter, the woman, and the man. But, there is Good News: both the woman and the man are eligible for forgiveness. They can both be restored to a right relationship with God.
Again, God himself takes the initiative and provides a way back into fellowship through the life and death of his Son. Jesus is the Light that comes into the world. Men and women who believe in him are placed together into a new family. They become the children of God (John 1:12).
In the new “body of Christ,” men and women are both given gifts for serving one another. Oneness between a man and woman in marriage was always God’s idea. And now, oneness in the body of Christ is God’s idea. He is impartial in the giving of the gifts. “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleases,” (I Cor. 12:18), “for the profit of all.” (I Cor. 12:7).
Where in the Bible record do we see the consequences for women of this new order? In Luke 10, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word, and when her sister, Martha, complained that Mary had left her to do all the serving (traditionally woman’s work), Jesus told Martha that “Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
That is no isolated incident—women are right there in the center of things throughout the New Testament accounts: Women watched as Jesus died. Women were at the tomb. Women were included as Christ followers. They prayed and supported the body of Christ with their gifts and talents. Later, women such as Priscilla served as teachers. This second picture of light shows Jesus not only forgiving women, but equipping women and welcoming women to learn from him and to serve the body.
In the third picture, women are of equal worth in heaven. The third picture is the eternal picture. In heaven, men and women will stand shoulder-to-shoulder praising God. Here is a description from Revelation 22:3-5:
“The throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.”
Has Christianity been oppressive to women? Yes. Is Christ? No. As the apostle Paul insisted, “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us, you are all equal. That is, we are all in common relationship with Jesus Christ” (Gal. 3:28).
In the beginning, God created man and woman to have oneness in marriage. In the body of Christ, the church, God intends for us to have community with one another. In eternity, in heaven, we will be praising God, together. God’s will is for men and women to be together, side-by-side. His heart is oneness.
Linda Rump holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL and is a wife and mother of two adult children.
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The role of women in Christianity
Statements by Christian leaders and commentators
As stated in our menu on the status of women in the Bible, women were considered as property through much of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Jesus later preached a revolutionary message: the equal status and worth of women. He demonstrated this concept throughout his ministry. Paul continued this tradition in the very early days of Christianity.
However, sections of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament), that are believed by many theologians to have been forged in Paul’s name long after his death, show that later church leaders gradually restored the status of women to the lower level that existed before Christ’s ministry.
Some of the great leaders of the Christian church continued this trend of denigrating women. Many denominations continue this sexist policy today by refusing leadership roles to all women.
Church leaders and commentators, prior to the 20th century:
St. Tertullian (about 155 to 225 CE):
“Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil’s gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die.” 1,2
St. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 CE). He wrote to a friend:
“What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman……I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.” 10
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 to 1274 CE):
“As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence.”
Martin Luther (1483 to 1546):
“If they [women] become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that’s why they are there.” 9
Matilda Josyln Gage, et. al, “1876 Declaration of Rights” on the rights of women.
“…we declare our faith in the principles of self-government; our full equality with man in natural rights; that woman was made first for her own happiness, with the absolute right to herself – to all the opportunities and advantages life affords for her complete development; and we deny that dogma of the centuries, incorporated in the codes of nations – that woman was made for man – her best interests, in all cases, to be sacrificed to his will. We ask of our rulers, at this hour, no special favors, no special privileges, no special legislation. We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.”6
The role of women in Christianity
Statements by Christian leaders & commentators
As stated in our menu on the status of women in the Bible, women were considered as property through much of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Jesus later preached a revolutionary message: the equal status and worth of women. He demonstrated this concept throughout his ministry. Paul continued this tradition in the very early days of Christianity.
However, sections of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament), that are believed by many theologians to have been forged in Paul’s name long after his death, show that later church leaders gradually restored the status of women to the lower level that existed before Christ’s ministry.
Some of the great leaders of the Christian church continued this trend of denigrating women. Many denominations continue this sexist policy today by refusing leadership roles to all women.
Church leaders and commentators, prior to the 20th century:
St. Tertullian (about 155 to 225 CE):
“Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil’s gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die.” 1,2
St. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 CE). He wrote to a friend:
“What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman……I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.” 10
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 to 1274 CE):
“As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence.”
Martin Luther (1483 to 1546):
“If they [women] become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that’s why they are there.” 9
Matilda Josyln Gage, et. al, “1876 Declaration of Rights” on the rights of women.
“…we declare our faith in the principles of self-government; our full equality with man in natural rights; that woman was made first for her own happiness, with the absolute right to herself – to all the opportunities and advantages life affords for her complete development; and we deny that dogma of the centuries, incorporated in the codes of nations – that woman was made for man – her best interests, in all cases, to be sacrificed to his will. We ask of our rulers, at this hour, no special favors, no special privileges, no special legislation. We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.”6
20th century writings/sayings on the role of women:
Reformation Fellowship of the East Valley, Mesa, AZ (circa 1995)
“In the beginning God made man male and female. He made Adam first, and then made Eve from Adam’s rib. This order of creation subordinates wives to their husbands in marriage, and women to men in the church. As an act of submission to their Creator women are commanded to submit to their husbands and to male leadership in the church. Women are not allowed to teach or have authority over men in any formal capacity in the church.” 3
Pope John Paul II (1995)
“Woman’s identity cannot consist in being a copy of man, since she is endowed with her own qualities and prerogatives, which give her a particular uniqueness that is always to be fostered and encouraged… To all in our age who offer selfish models for affirming the feminine personality, the luminous and holy figure of the Lord’s Mother shows how only by self-giving and self-forgetfulness towards others is it possible to attain authentic fulfillment of the divine plan for one’s own life.” 4
Statement by “Christians for Biblical Equality” a conservative Christian organization
“…the Bible, properly interpreted, teaches the fundamental equality of men and women of all racial and ethnic groups, all economic classes, and all age groups, based on the teachings of scripture as reflected in Galatians 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ ” 7
Jerry Falwell
“Most of these feminists are radical, frustrated lesbians, many of them, and man-haters, and failures in their relationships with men, and who have declared war on the male gender. The Biblical condemnation of feminism has to do with its radical philosophy and goals. That’s the bottom line.”
The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (1997)
“…God, by creating Adam first (Gen. 2:18; 1 Cor. 11:8) and also by creating woman for man (Gen. 2:18,20,22; 1 Cor. 11:9), has set the gender-based role and responsibility of males in the most basic unit of society (the family) to be that of leader, provider and self-sacrificial protector (also cf. Eph. 5:25; 1 Peter 3:7), and likewise has set the gender-based role and responsibility of females to be that of help and nurture (Gen. 2:18) and life-giving (Gen. 3:20) under male leadership and protection (cf. 1 Peter 3:7)…” 8
Randall Terry, head of Operation Rescue
“…make dads the godly leaders [of the family] with the women in submission, raising kids for the glory of God.”
Unitarian Universalist Association: statement of principles and purposes. This faith group had been classified as a liberal Christian denomination in past deecades. By 1999, only about 25% of its members regarded themselves as Christian.
“The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member societies and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.”
References:
1. “Women in Islam vs. the Judeo-Christian Tradition.” at: http://www.troid.org/Islamic Info/Women in Islam/women.htm
2. Quoted in:
Karen Armstrong, “The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity’s creation of the sex war in the west,” Elm Tree Books, (1986) Pages 52 to 62.
Nancy van Vuuren, “The Subversion of Women as Practiced by Churches, Witch-Hunters, and Other Sexists,” Westminister Press, Pages 28 to 30.
3. “The Reformation Statement on the Role of Women,” Reformation Fellowship of the East Valley, at: http://www.ids.org/
4. Pope John Paul II, “Mary sheds light on role of women,” Catholic Information Network, at: http://www.cin.org/
5. “Why Women Need Freedom From Religion,” Freedom From Religion Foundation, at: http://www.ffrf.org/
6. Matilda Josyln Gage, et. al, “1876 Declaration of Rights,” at: http://www.pinn.net/
7. “Who we are,” Christians for Biblical Equality, at: http://www.cbeinternational.org
8. “Resolution on women in combat,” The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, at: http://www.cbmw.org/
9. H. Ellerbe, “The Dark Side of Christian History,” Chapter 8, Endnote 103, Page 136
10. Armstrong, “The Gospel According to Woman,” (1986), P. 52-62.
List of links to web sites dealing with women and theology:
“Women & Theology,” Women’s Studies Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, at: http://www.earlham.edu/
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