Christian views (attitudes and beliefs) about women vary considerably today as they have throughout the last two millennia, evolving along with or counter to the societies in which Christians have lived. For much of Christian history, the role of women in the life of the church both local and universal has been downplayed, overlooked, or simply denied. Male leadership was assumed in many spheres of life, not only in the church, but also within government, society, and the family.^[1] As gender roles have shifted in society and in many churches, Christians are being challenged to re-evaluate their historic positions.^[2] There are differing interpretations of biblical text, differing traditions of various churches and differing cultures in which these churches exist. Some groups express an official view of gender expectations within their congregations and within secular society, while others do not. The Bible and Christianity historically have been interpreted as prescribing separate gender roles, with women often being excluded from church leadership. For the first 19 or 20 centuries after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ (according to Christian belief), institutionalized Christianity was very unfavorable to women in pastoral, exegetical or leadership positions. A gender-based hierarchy, supported by Complementarian view, has been established to place woman under the man's authority and protection — in the church, in marriage, and in secular society.

Contents 1 Contemporary issues 1.1 Two principal views today 1.1.1 Christian Egalitarianism and Complementarianism 1.1.2 A matter of biblical interpretation, not authority 1.2 Christian Egalitarian views 1.2.1 Overview of Christian Egalitarian beliefs 1.3 Complementarian Christian views 1.3.1 Overview of Complementarian beliefs 2 Historical background 2.1 Old Testament 2.1.1 Creation narratives 2.1.2 The Fall of humanity 2.1.3 Old Testament Post-Creation Views 2.2 Jesus' interactions with women 2.2.1 Jesus had women disciples 2.2.2 Jesus and his mother 2.2.3 Mary Magdalene 2.2.4 A woman who touched Jesus' garment 2.2.5 Jesus and the woman taken in adultery[51] 2.2.6 The woman at the well in Samaria[51] 2.2.7 Mary and Martha[51] 2.2.7.1 Tension over roles[51] 2.2.7.2 The grieving sisters[51] 2.2.7.3 The anointing at Bethany[51] 2.2.8 Jesus on family relationships 2.3 Women's roles in the early Christian Church 2.4 Women and the historical Christian Church 2.5 Current church views of women's roles 2.6 Prayer to Mary and the Saints 2.7 References and notes 2.7.1 Catholic Church references 2.7.2 Literature on the history of women in the early Christian Church 2.8 See also 2.9 External links

Contemporary issues

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Two principal views today

A controversy of major proportions has spread through the church. With these solemn words, author and theologian John Piper introduced his 1991 book which was the first major challenge to what today is called "Christian Egalitarianism." Some 19th century Christian authors^[3] began codifying challenges to the centuries-old traditional views unfavorable to women both in the church and in society. Only since the 1970s have more diverse views become formalized. Recent generations have experienced the rise of what has been labeled by some as “evangelical feminism” — a movement that has had a profound impact on all of life, challenging some traditional basic Christian interpretations of Scripture with respect to roles for women.^[4] There are two major viewpoints in this debate. They are known as the Christian Egalitarians and Complementarians.

• Christian Egalitarians (from the French word égal meaning equal) advocate a biblical basis for gift-based, rather than gender-based, ministry of Christians of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic classes^[5]
• Complementarians (the name selected by their group to suggests both equality and beneficial differences between men and women)^[6] believe the Bible teaches that men and women have different but complementary views of women and men.

The two sides of the debate disagree on many issues, while also agreeing on most biblical principles that are not gender-related.

Christian Egalitarianism and Complementarianism

Although much of the literature settles on the terms Complementarianism and Christian Egalitarianism, some object to the term "Complementarianism" being used to describe "a milder form of the historical hierarchical view."^[7] The polar opposites of the complementary view are now called "Christian Egalitarians," although some authors also use the term "Biblical Egalitarians" to describe the equality view of roles for women and men. The term "Evangelical Egalitarians" has also been used occasionally. A few writers still use the word "feminist" or "evangelical feminist," but not without considerable objection, primarily because the term "feminist" is most often associated with Secular Feminism, and therefore becomes ambiguous. A very representative reaction against the "feminist" term being used in this context appears on the God's Word to Women website:^[8]

We do not identify ourselves as feminists. Placing the word Biblical before feminist, or saying Christian feminist does not solve the problem. The word feminist has come to be identified with a radical posture that maintains that women have few differences from men, or denies the need for men, or at best presents men as lesser beings like some of the TV sitcoms. We believe man and woman offer a completion and strength to each other. Woman was created as a help (counterpart, partner) to man – not inferior in any way

– God's Word to Women

To add to the confusion, at least one author preferring to use both terms, describes himself as a "complementary egalitarian." He defines that as "full interdependence and 'mutual submission' within marriage, and the only differences in roles are 'based upon biological differences between men and women'." He also prefers to refer to the non-equal position as "ultra-soft patriarchy."^[7] Wayne A. Grudem, co-founder of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the chief Complementarian organization, objects to Webb's use of "complementary" and "egalitarian" together to describe a thoroughly egalitarian position. Calling the terminology "offensive and confusing," he reasons that doing so simply confuses the issues by using complementary for a position totally antithetical to what complementarians hold. Grudem finds Webb's description of complementarians' position as “patriarchy" to be especially pejorative because of its connotations in modern society. He would also reject the term “hierarchicalist” because he says it overemphasizes structured authority while giving no suggestion of equality or the beauty of mutual interdependence^[6]

A matter of biblical interpretation, not authority

The gender issue debate is not over the authority of the Bible but its interpretation. Probably most people in this debate agree on the Bible's authority, but disagree on how to interpret some very challenging passages. It is not enough to state, "I believe the Bible, and therefore my position is true." One must also grapple with the interpretation of key passages.^[2] On the issue of interpretation, William J. Webb,^[7] professor of New Testament at Heritage Theological Seminary, Ontario, Canada, says our main difficulty in this regard is knowing what is transcultural and therefore applicable today, versus what is cultural and therefore not binding in our present situation. To exemplify his cultural-transcultural hermeneutic, Webb uses the institution of slavery. Christians today largely see that slavery was cultural in Bible times and not something that should be re-introduced or justified. However, Christians in bygone eras have viewed slavery as transcultural and justified slavery on the basis that (a) it is found in the Bible and (b) it is not explicitly banned there.^[7] Webb recommends that the Scriptures be examined in light of the cultural context in which they were originally written and read. Those utilizing what he calls a "redemptive approach" would understand that although slavery is found in the Bible, the same Scriptures also contain ideas and principles which, if developed and taken to their logical conclusion, would bring about its abolition and prohibition. He believes that when the cultural has been separated from the transcultural and the Scriptures are followed to their logical conclusion, an egalitarianism will replace biblical patriarchy in connection with the roles of men and women. Specifically, Webb claims that texts like Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 3:11 and 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 indicate that the patriarchy of the Bible and biblical times is not the final word on male/female relationships.^[7] The argument is over whether each gender has biblically-assigned roles, privileges and restrictions, primarily in marriage and in church leadership. Each viewpoint understands certain key scriptures differently. To cite just one of many questions that have been raised in this "controversy of major proportions,"^[4] does the following passage from Ephesians 5 literally mean that wives are expected, in all times and all places (irrespective of civil law in effect at the time), to be submissive to their husbands? Further, does "head" in verse 23 mean "authority over" or "boss of," or does it mean something entirely different?

²²Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. ²⁴Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

– Ephesians 5:22-24, KJV

The current Christian debate over women in ministry leadership and their role in marriage often hinges on different understandings of the meaning and significance of Galatians 3:28. Those believing it to be evidence of equality firmly ground their affirmation of the equality of men and women on Paul’s statement that “there is no longer male and female.” Those believing the verse doesn't mean that dismiss this passage as irrelevant to the discussion of women’s leadership in the church and roles in marriage because of a supposed distinction between believers’ equal status in salvation and their roles or function within the church.^[9]

Christian Egalitarian views

Christian Egalitarians interpretation of Scripture bring them to the conclusion that the manner and teachings of Jesus, affirmed by the Apostle Paul, abolished gender-specific roles in both the church and in marriage. One of many scripture passages which they interpret as advocating full equality of responsibility and authority for both women and men is the following:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

– Galatians 3:28

Christian Egalitarians interpret Galatians 3:28 as expressing that the overarching teaching of the New Testament is that all are "one in Christ." They understand it to mean that a Christian distinctive is any restrictive distinctions of race, national origin, slavery, or gender. Contrary to what some critics have alleged, there is no evidence that any contemporary Christian views blur the natural biological uniqueness of each gender. David Scholer, prominent New Testament scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary, affirms this view. He believes that Galatians 3:28 is “the fundamental Pauline theological basis for the inclusion of women and men as equal and mutual partners in all of the ministries of the church.”^[10] Galatians 3:28 represents "the summation of Paul's theological vision," according to Pamela Eisenbaum, a modern American Jew and New Testament scholar.^[11] Christian Egalitarianism holds that the submission of the woman in marriage and womanly restrictions in Christian ministry are inconsistent with the true picture of biblical equality. The equal-yet-different doctrine taught by complementarians is considered a contradiction in terms.^[12] A Baptist theologian, without agreeing with the view, has correctly explained the biblical Egalitarian view this way:^[13]

God created men and women equally to bear the divine image. Therefore, in Christ there not only is equality as to one’s status before God, but a declaration of equality in all matters, including undifferentiated roles in both the home and the church. Because males and females are equal in Christ, they are both “equal to serve” without any gender-based scriptural qualifications.

– Peter Schemm, 2003

Alexander Strauch, also a Complementarian author not affirming the Christian Egalitarian position, summarizes the Christian Egalitarian view this way:^[12]

According to the evangelical [egalitarian] view, true biblical equality assures that both men and women are full and equal partners in life. The concept of mutual submission and responsibility determines the relationship between men and women in both marriage and the church. Women and men are free to exercise in the church any and all gifts they possess. Men hold no unique, leadership-authority role solely because of their gender. Leadership and teaching in the church is to be determined by spiritual gift and ability, not gender.

– Alexander Strauch

Conservative theologian Roger Nicole, a Baptist considered an expert in Calvinism and regarded as one of the preeminent theologians in America, is a Christian Egalitarian and also a Biblical Inerrantist. He recognizes that biblical egalitarianism is still viewed by many as inconsistent with biblical inerrancy, although he disagrees. He writes that "the matter of the place of women in the home, in society, and in the church is not an issue that can be conclusively determined by a few apparently restrictive passages that are often advanced by those who think that subordination represents God’s will for women."^[14]

I believe that most, if not all, of the restrictions on women in society have no basis in Scripture, and that those maintained in the Church are based on an inadequate interpretation of a few restrictive passages, which put them in contradiction with the manifest special concern and love of God for women articulated from Genesis to Revelation.

– Roger Nicole, 2006

Overview of Christian Egalitarian beliefs

The foundational verse for Christian Egalitarian beliefs is 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." Men, Women and Biblical Equality^[15] was prepared in 1989 by several evangelical leaders to become the official statement of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE). The statement lays out CBE's biblical rationale for equality as well as its application in the community of believers and the family:

Introduction

The Bible teaches the full equality of men and women in Creation and in Redemption.^[16] The Bible teaches that God has revealed Himself in the totality of Scripture, the authoritative Word of God. ^[17] We believe that Scripture is to be interpreted holistically and thematically. We also recognize the necessity of making a distinction between inspiration and interpretation: inspiration relates to the divine impulse and control whereby the whole canonical Scripture is the Word of God; interpretation relates to the human activity whereby we seek to apprehend revealed truth in harmony with the totality of Scripture and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To be truly biblical, Christians must continually examine their faith and practice under the searchlight of Scripture.

Biblical Truths

Creation 1. The Bible teaches that both man and woman were created in God's image, had a direct relationship with God, and shared jointly the responsibilities of bearing and rearing children and having dominion over the created order.^[18] 2. The Bible teaches that woman and man were created for full and equal partnership. The word "helper" (ezer), used to designate woman in Genesis 2:18, refers to God in most instances of Old Testament usage.^[19] Consequently the word conveys no implication whatsoever of female subordination or inferiority. 3. The Bible teaches that the forming of woman from man demonstrates the fundamental unity and equality of human beings.^[20] In Genesis 2:18-20 the word "suitable" (kenegdo) denotes equality and adequacy. 4. The Bible teaches that man and woman were co-participants in the Fall: Adam was no less culpable than Eve.^[21] 5. The Bible teaches that the rulership of Adam over Eve resulted from the Fall and was therefore not a part of the original created order. Genesis 3:16 is a prediction of the effects of the Fall rather than a prescription of God's ideal order. Redemption 6. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came to redeem women as well as men. Through faith in Christ we all become children of God, one in Christ, and heirs to the blessings of salvation without reference to racial, social, or gender distinctives.^[22] Community 7. The Bible teaches that at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came on men and women alike. Without distinction, the Holy Spirit indwells women and men, and sovereignly distributes gifts without preference as to gender.^[23] 8. The Bible teaches that both women and men are called to develop their spiritual gifts and to use them as stewards of the grace of God.^[24] Both men and women are divinely gifted and empowered to minister to the whole Body of Christ, under His authority.^[25] 9. The Bible teaches that, in the New Testament economy, women as well as men exercise the prophetic, priestly and royal functions.^[26] Therefore, the few isolated texts that appear to restrict the full redemptive freedom of women must not be interpreted simplistically and in contradiction to the rest of Scripture, but their interpretation must take into account their relation to the broader teaching of Scripture and their total context.^[27] 10. The Bible defines the function of leadership as the empowerment of others for service rather than as the exercise of power over them.^[28] Family 11. The Bible teaches that husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life and that they are bound together in a relationship of mutual submission and responsibility.^[29] The husband's function as "head" (kephale) is to be understood as self-giving love and service within this relationship of mutual submission.^[30] 12. The Bible teaches that both mothers and fathers are to exercise leadership in the nurture, training, discipline and teaching of their children.^[31]

Application

Community 1. In the church, spiritual gifts of women and men are to be recognized, developed and used in serving and teaching ministries at all levels of involvement: as small group leaders, counselors, facilitators, administrators, ushers, communion servers, and board members, and in pastoral care, teaching, preaching, and worship.

In so doing, the church will honor God as the source of spiritual gifts. The church will also fulfill God's mandate of stewardship without the appalling loss to God's kingdom that results when half of the church's members are excluded from positions of responsibility.

2. In the church, public recognition is to be given to both women and men who exercise ministries of service and leadership.

In so doing, the church will model the unity and harmony that should characterize the community of believers. In a world fractured by discrimination and segregation, the church will dissociate itself from worldly or pagan devices designed to make women feel inferior for being female. It will help prevent their departure from the church or their rejection of the Christian faith.

Family 3. In the Christian home, husband and wife are to defer to each other in seeking to fulfill each other's preferences, desires and aspirations. Neither spouse is to seek to dominate the other but each is to act as servant of the other, in humility considering the other as better than oneself. In case of decisional deadlock they should seek resolution through biblical methods of conflict resolution rather than by one spouse imposing a decision upon the other.^[32]

In so doing, husband and wife will help the Christian home stand against improper use of power and authority by spouses and will protect the home from wife and child abuse that sometimes tragically follows a hierarchical interpretation of the husband's "headship."

4. In the Christian home, spouses are to learn to share the responsibilities of leadership on the basis of gifts, expertise, and availability, with due regard for the partner most affected by the decision under consideration.

In so doing, spouses will learn to respect their competencies and their complementarity. This will prevent one spouse from becoming the perennial loser, often forced to practice ingratiating or deceitful manipulation to protect self-esteem. By establishing their marriage on a partnership basis, the couple will protect it from joining the tide of dead or broken marriages resulting from marital inequities.

5. In the Christian home, couples who share a lifestyle characterized by the freedom they find in Christ will do so without experiencing feelings of guilt or resorting to hypocrisy. They are freed to emerge from an unbiblical "traditionalism" and can rejoice in their mutual accountability in Christ. In so doing, they will openly express their obedience to Scripture, will model an example for other couples in quest of freedom in Christ, and will stand against patterns of domination and inequality sometimes imposed upon church and family.

Complementarian Christian views

Complementarian Christian views, also known as Traditional or Hierarchical views, are theologically and philosophically opposite from Christian Egalitarians in their understanding of what is the intent of the Bible regarding the proper roles for men and women. An overview of their core beliefs was published in 1988 and is known as The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.^[33] The Statement opens with a lengthy set of concerns which they say has moved them in their purpose. Among the concerns they express are:

• cultural uncertainty and confusion over complementary differences between masculinity and femininity
• unraveling marriages
• increasing attention given what they termed to be feminist egalitarianism
• ambivalence about motherhood and homemaking
• claims of legitimacy for illicit sexual relationships and pornography
• upsurge of physical and emotional abuse in the family
• emergence of roles for men and women in church leadership seen as nonconforming to Biblical teaching
• nontraditional reinterpretation of apparently plain meanings of Biblical texts
• a growing threat to Biblical authority.

They attribute these ills to the "apparent accommodation of some within the church to the spirit of the age at the expense of winsome, radical Biblical authenticity which…may reform rather than reflect our ailing culture."^[33] In contrast to how Christian Egalitarians interpret Galatians 3:28, Complementarians believe that the verse refers only to equal availability of all to salvation. They hold that the writer, the Apostle Paul, is saying that all believers, no matter what their racial, social, or gender status, share the same spiritual status in their union with Christ. They do not believe that Galatians 3:28 or any other scriptures put an end to existing – or forbid any further – privileges or restrictions based on race, class, or gender, as a matter of Christian principle. Their understanding is that both Old and New Testaments prescribe a male-priority based hierarchy and gender roles in the church, in marriage, and in secular society. These prescribed gender roles only recently have come to be modified by some Complementarians as being "different but equal." Complementarians now describe men and women as having "complementary non-overlapping" roles in the church and home. American evangelical writer and minister writer John MacArthur Jr. has this to say about what he terms the modern shift with regard to secular feminism affecting the church:^[34]

One of the most devastating, and debilitating, and destructive movements in our day is the "Feminist Movement." It is changing not only the world but sadly it is changing the church, and as a result the Word of God is being dishonored; opponents are having plenty bad to say about us and God our Savior is being dishonored and shamed. Radical feminism has brainwashed our culture. It has brainwashed our culture to the degree that even the church has fallen victim to this.

– John MacArthur Jr.

Overview of Complementarian beliefs

The following are taken from the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,^[33] prepared by several evangelical leaders at a Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, in December of 1987. It was first published in final form by the CBMW in Wheaton, Illinois, in November of 1988:

1. Both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood.^[35]
2. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order.^[36]
3. Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin.^[37]
4. The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women.^[38]
   1. In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
   2. In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.
5. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women.^[39] Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community.^[40]
6. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.
7. In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands' leadership.^[41]
8. In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men.^[42]
9. In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission – domestic, religious, or civil – ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin.^[43]
10. In both men and women a sincere sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries.^[44] Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing subjective discernment of God's will.
11. No man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world.^[45]
12. We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.^[33]

Historical background

Old Testament

Christianity emerged from Judaism,^[46] a patriarchal religion. The connection between Christianity and Judaism is particularly strong since the Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people are a fundamental part of the Christian Bible. The Christian Bible is composed, for the greater part, of the “Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2) of the Jewish people, which Christians call the “Old Testament.” The Christian Bible is also comprised of a collection of writings which, while expressing faith in Christ Jesus, puts them in close relationship with the Jewish Sacred Scriptures. Christians know this second collection as the “New Testament,” an expression correlative to “Old Testament.”^[47] Philip Yancy, in his book The Bible Jesus Read, estimates that "three-fourths of the Bible, the Old Testament, goes unread by Christians.^[48] Relevant to this article is that Christian views about women begin with Jewish views about women as revealed through the Old Testament. Steven Weitzman, Harvard PhD and theology professor at Indiana University, says the Genesis Creation accounts have been used to deprecate women on the alleged authority of the Bible:

…Jews and Christians, throughout their history, have used the story of Adam and Eve to justify second-class status for women. Paul and other early Christians looked to the Adam and Eve story to put the blame for the Fall on Eve and derived from that the conclusion that women should not be allowed to hold positions of authority or to teach. Fast forward to the nineteenth and twentieth century and the rise of feminism: The Bible has been reinterpreted to support the idea that women are in every way the equal of man, each created in the image of God. "If you look at Genesis Chapter 1, where God says, 'Let there be light,' you see at the end of the chapter that the creation of woman is different from the story of how woman is created in the Garden of Eden, where Eve is the helpmate to man, created to serve. In Genesis, Chapter 1, man and woman are both created equally in the image of God. Recent feminist biblical scholars have looked at Genesis 1 as a kind of countertext to the Garden of Eden story. It shows how complex the Bible's attitude toward women is." —Prof. Steven Weitzman, PhD, U. of Indiana^[49]

Creation narratives

The creation of Adam and Eve is narrated from somewhat different perspectives in Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 2:24. The Genesis 1 narration declares the purpose of God, antedating the creation of the sexes.^[50] It has been called the "non-subordinating" view of woman.^[51] God gave the human pair joint responsibility and "rulership" over his creation.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

– Genesis 1:26-27

Gen. 5:1-2 reaffirms that perspective and has been described as interpretative of that decree of God's initial purpose.^[50]

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man" [Heb. Adam].

– Genesis 5:1-2

The Genesis 2 narrative has been called the "subordinating view" of woman for two reasons: man is created first, and woman is created out of man.^[51]

...But for Adam (or the man) no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs (or "took part of the man's side") and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib (or "took part of the man's side") he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

– Genesis 2:20b-24, NIV

"…for Adam there was not found an help meet for him" KJV. "…no suitable helper [ēzer kenegdo] was found" (NIV). The word translated "suitable" (kenegdo) means "face to face" and denotes equality and adequacy.^[14] Woman for centuries has been instructed to be "an "helpmeet" for her husband. However, any text search of both Old and New Testaments (every translation) will demonstrate that the noun "helpmeet" does not appear anywhere in the Bible. It has become a distorted contraction of the two KJV words, the noun "help" and the adverb "meet," the latter being Shakespearian English for "corresponding to" or "suitable," a phenomenon that has been corrected in all later translations.^[52] Although the Genesis 2 passage is often cited as biblical evidence that subordination represents God’s will for women, Theologian Roger Nicole disagrees. He believes women's place in the home, in society, and in the church is not an issue that can be conclusively determined by a few apparently restrictive passages. He writes that the starting point must be at the creation of humanity, as Jesus himself exemplified by quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 in response to a question by the Pharisees (Matt. 19:4–5, Mark 10:6–7).^[14]

The Fall of humanity

Eve's weakness has sometimes been blamed for causing Adam's fall, and thus for humanity's fall into original sin.^[53] This claim was frequently made during the Middle Ages and was a subject in John Milton's classic epic, Paradise Lost. There is no mention of subordination in scripture until the end of Genesis 3:16. There, God explains what will become the natural consequences of the woman’s disobedience, now that they both are in a fallen (sinful) state: “He [your husband] will rule over you.” For eons this has been colloquially called "The Curse." However, theologian Nicole does not see it that way:^[14]

This passage is not a commandment, but a prophecy that has been fulfilled extensively over the centuries in all the earth. Whatever we may do to alleviate God’s curse is legitimate in the matter of subordination, no less than in providing some relief from the pains of the delivery of children (3:16) and the sweat in cultivating the ground and earning a living (3:17–19).

– Roger Nicole

In addition, those who argue that Judaism is founded upon patriarchal principles point out that religious and governmental authority within Jewish cultures has usually been restricted to the male gender. However, even in the Jewish Scriptures there are countercurrents to this patriarchal emphasis. For example, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Subsequent to God making Adam in his image he made Eve (Genesis 1:26).

Old Testament Post-Creation Views

The Bible is the only literature in the world up to our century which looks at women as human beings, no better and no worse than men, according to classicist Edith Hamilton. She writes that the Old Testament writers considered them just as impartially as they did men, free from prejudice and even from condescension.^[54] However, it cannot be said that the society and culture of Old Testament times were consistently favorable to women. The status of woman in the Old Testament is not uniform. There is a male bias and a male priority generally present in both the private life and public life of women. However, it never becomes absolute. In the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) of Exodus 20, both male priority and gender balance can be seen. In the tenth commandment, a wife is depicted in the examples of a neighbor's property not to be coveted: house, wife, male or female slave, ox or donkey, or any other property. In this perspective, wife along with other properties belongs to the husband. On the other hand, the fourth commandment does not make any distinction between honor to be shown to parents: "father and your mother." This is consistent with the mutual respect shown for both parents throughout the Old Testament.^[51] Double standard and male priority can also be seen in Moses' orders on what to do with the captured Midianites: "Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves" (Numbers 31:17-18 NASB). The women of Israel were most honored and influential within the family. They gained considerable respect on the birth of her first child, especially if it was a male child (Gen. 16:4, 29:31-30:24). Even here, she was honored because of her function of providing a male heir, not because of her value as a person. On a positive note, Proverbs 1:8 tells a son not to reject his mother's teaching, and Proverbs 31:10-31 eulogizes the ideal wife, even though she is idealized for her hard labor for her family. The laws of inheritance favored the male. A male Hebrew slave was freed after six years of servitude, while a different set of rules covered female slaves (Exodus 21:1-11). Judges 19 records a most degrading use of a daughter by her father. "The gruesome story of his using his concubine to protect himself defies imagination." Infidelity to God is portrayed as an "adulteress," not an "adulterer."^[51] The Bible portrays Rebekah, Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Esther, and Judith and their contributions to the nation of Israel with faithfulness and extreme candor. These women are represented in the Old Testament as multidimensional human beings – self-reliant, resourceful, influential, and courageous – but at the same time capable of resorting to morally questionable means in order to accomplish their ends.^[55]

The Old Testament presents strong female role models, like the Judge Deborah, Judith and Queen Esther, who were depicted as saving the Hebrew people from disaster. In the book of Proverbs, the divine attribute of Holy Wisdom is presented as female.^[56]

Deborah was a prophetess who actually ruled Israel (Judges 4:4). When the Israelite men were too afraid to assume leadership, Deborah shamed Barak, the military commander of Israel’s army, for failing to assume his God-given leadership. Ultimately, he refused to advance against the enemy without Deborah’s presence and commanding influence (Judges 4:8).^[57] Huldah, a married prophetess (2 Kings 22:13-20), found the Book of the Law that the previous generation had neglected. She was trusted by Josiah, king of Judah, to be the one to verify the authenticity of the Book of the Law. Huldah’s husband was keeper of the wardrobe in the court.^[58]

Jesus' interactions with women

This section presents some of the New Testament records of Jesus' interactions with women.^[59] According to New Testament scholar Dr. Frank Stagg and classicist Evelyn Stagg, the synoptic Gospels of the canonical New Testament^[60] contain a relatively high number of references to women. The Staggs find no recorded instance where Jesus disgraces, belittles, reproaches, or stereotypes a woman. These writers claim that examples of the manner of Jesus are instructive for inferring his attitudes toward women and show repeatedly how he liberated and affirmed women.^[51] According to one story, an unnamed Gentile woman taught Jesus that the ministry of God is not limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who have faith (Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28).^[61]

Jesus had women disciples

The gospels of the New Testament, written toward the last quarter of the first century CE, often mention Jesus speaking to women publicly and openly against the social norms of the time.^[1] From the beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means (Luke 8:1-3). He conversed with women both in public and private, and apparently he learned from them.^[62] Kenneth E. Bailey spent 40 years as a Presbyterian professor of New Testament in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus. He writes about Christianity from a Middle Eastern cultural view.^[63] He finds evidence that Jesus had women disciples in several New Testament passages. He first cites the reported occasion when Jesus’ family appeared and asked to speak with him. Jesus replied:

"Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

– Matthew 12:46-50, emphasis added by Bailey

Bailey argues that according to Middle Eastern customs, Jesus could not properly have gestured to a crowd of men and said, "Here are my brother, and sister, and mother." He could only have said that to a crowd of both men and women. Therefore, the disciples before him were composed of men and women. Bailey calls the report in Luke 8:1-3 "remarkable":

Soon afterward he went through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women...who provided for them out of their means.

– Luke 8:1-3

Jesus and his mother

Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41–52). The canonical Gospels offer only one story about Jesus as a boy — Luke's story about the boy Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple. According to Luke, his parents, Joseph and Mary, took the 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem on their annual pilgrimage to the Passover. Mary and Joseph started their journey home without Jesus, thinking he was somewhere in the caravan with kinsmen or acquaintances. When his parents found him three days later, Mary said, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." The boy Jesus respectfully but firmly reminded her of a higher claim he must answer: "Didn't you know I had to be about my Father's business?"^[51] (pp. 103–104, 224) It is noteworthy that in obedience to his parents Jesus left and was subject to them.

The wedding at Cana of Galilee (John 2:1–11). Mary told Jesus the wine was in short supply. Today his reply may seem curt: "Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour is not yet come" (John 2:4).

Neither here nor elsewhere does Jesus renounce the mother-son relationship as such, but here, as in Luke 2:49, he declares his vocational (ministerial) independence of his mother. He has an "hour" to meet, and Mary, though his mother, can neither hasten nor hinder its coming.^[51] (pp. 103–104, 236)

Most scholars believe that in Jesus' reply to his mother there was no disrespect. According to Matthew Henry's Commentary, he used the same word when speaking to Mary with affection from the cross.^[64]

Scholar Lyn M. Bechtel disagrees with this reading. She writes that the use of the word "woman" in reference to Jesus' mother is "startling. Although it would not be improper or disrespectful to address an ordinary woman in this way (as he often does: see John 4:21, John 8:10, John 20:13-15), it is inappropriate to call his mother 'woman'" (Bechtel 1997, p. 249). Bechtel further argues that this is a device Jesus uses to distance himself from Judaism.

However, Bishop William Temple suggests there is no English phrase that represents the original "Woman, leave me to myself." "In the Greek it is perfectly respectful and can even be tender — as in John 19:27…. We have no corresponding term; 'lady' is precious, and 'madam' is formal. So we must translate simply and let the context give the tone."^[65]

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene (also called Miriam of Magdala) is among the women depicted in the New Testament who accompanied Jesus and his twelve apostles, and who also helped to support the men financially (Luke 8:2–3). According to Mark 15:40, Matthew 27:56, John 19:25, and Luke 23:49, she was one of the women who remained at Jesus' crucifixion. The New Testament says she saw Jesus laid in a tomb. Mark 16:9 says that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene. The New Testament also says that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Asbury Theological Seminary Bible scholar Ben Witherington III confirms the New Testament account of Mary Magdalene as historical: "Mary was an important early disciple and witness for Jesus."^[66] He continues, "There is absolutely no early historical evidence that Miriam's relationship with Jesus was anything other than that of a disciple to her Master teacher." Jeffrey Kripal, Chair of Rice University's Department of Religious Studies, writes that Christian Gnostic texts put Mary Magdalene in a central position of authority, but these texts were excluded from orthodox Biblical canons. Kripal describes Mary Magdalene as a tragic figure who maintained an important role later diminished by the male church leadership (Kripal 2007, p. 51). Kripal explains that gnostic texts suggest an intimate, possibly sexual relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but that Jesus' sexuality is absolutely ambiguous based on the available evidence: "The historical sources are simply too contradictory and simultaneously too silent on the matter" (Kripal 2007, p. 50). According to Kripal, the gnostic texts "consistently [present] Mary as an inspired visionary, as a potent spiritual guide, as Jesus's intimate companion, even as the interpreter of his teaching" (Kripal 2007, p. 52). Kripal writes that theologies of the European Middle Ages likely invented the notion of a sexual relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus: "The medieval Catharists and Albigensians, for example, held that Mary was Jesus's concubine. The great Protestant reformer Martin Luther also assumed a sexual relationship between the two, perhaps to give some historical precedent for his own dramatic rejection of Catholic celibacy" (Kripal 2007, p. 52).

A woman who touched Jesus' garment

Jesus practiced the ministry of touch, sometimes touching the "untouchables" and letting them touch him. Among the things considered defiling (disqualifying one for the rituals of religion) was an issue of blood, especially menstruation or hemorrhage. One such had been plagued with a flow of blood for 12 years, no one having been able to heal her. She found the faith in a crowd to force her way up to Jesus, approaching him from behind so as to remain inconspicuous, and simply touching his garment (Mark 5:27). When she touched Jesus' garment, the flows of blood stopped. Jesus turned and asked who touched him. The disciples tried to brush aside the question, protesting that in such a crowd no individual could be singled out. Jesus pressed his inquiry and the woman identified herself and declared to the crowd the blessing that had come to her. Jesus treated her not only as having worth but as doing a responsible thing. He did not rebuke her for what the cultic code of holiness would have considered as having defiled him. Rather, he relieved her of any sense of guilt for her seemingly rash act and said, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace!" (Mark 5:34). Fontaine writes, "The 'chutzpah' shown by the woman who bled for 12 years as she wrests her salvation from the healer's cloak is as much a measure of her desperation as it is a testimony to her faith" (Fontaine 1996, p. 291). She writes that "the Bible views women as a group of people who are fulfilled, legitimated, given full membership into their community, and cared for in old age by their children" (Fontaine 1996, p. 290), and that barren women risked ostracism from their communities. Fontaine notes that when disabled people are healed, the act "emphasizes primarily the remarkable compassion of the one doing the good deed, not the deserving nature or dignity of the recipient" ((Fontaine 1996, p. 290). She writes that they "serve as marvelous plot devices that show off the power of God or the anointed one" (Fontaine 1996, p. 294).

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery^[51]

Main article: Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

The story appearing in most Bibles as John 7:53–8:11 Jesus was teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem. Some scribes and Pharisees interrupted his teaching as they brought in a woman who had been taken in the very act of adultery. They stood her before him, declared the charge, reminded him of Moses' command that such women be stoned, and then asked, "What do you say?" After a time of silence, Jesus stooped down and wrote with his finger on the ground. The text includes no hint of what he wrote. The woman's accusers were after Jesus, not just her. She to them was a worthless object to be used to trap Jesus. Finally, Jesus stood up and said to the accusers, "Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone." He stooped down once more and again wrote on the ground. In his answer Jesus did not condone adultery. He compelled her accusers to judge themselves and find themselves guilty — of this sin and/or others. No one could pass the test, and they slipped out one by one, beginning with the eldest. When Jesus and the woman were finally alone, he asked her a simple question, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She simply replied, "No one, Lord." His final word to the woman was one of affirmation and commission: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more." While acknowledging that she had sinned, he turned her in a new direction with real encouragement. Jesus rejected the double standard for women and men and turned the judgment upon the male accusers. His manner with the sinful woman was such that she found herself challenged to a new self understanding and a new life.

The woman at the well in Samaria^[51]

The long account about Jesus and a woman of Samaria, found in John 4:1–4 is highly significant for understanding Jesus in several relationships: Samaritans, women, and sinners. By talking openly with this woman Jesus crossed a number of barriers which normally would have separated a Jewish teacher from such a person as this woman of Samaria. Jesus did three things that were highly unconventional and astonishing for his cultural-religious situation:

1. He as a man discussed theology openly with a woman.
2. He as a Jew asked to drink from the ritually unclean bucket of a Samaritan.
3. He did not avoid her, even though he knew her marital record of having had five former husbands and now living with a man who was not her husband.

The disciples showed their astonishment upon their return to the well: "They were marveling that he was talking with a woman" (John 4:27). A man in the Jewish world did not normally talk with a woman in public, not even with his own wife. For a rabbi to discuss theology with a woman was even more unconventional. Jesus did not defer to a woman simply because she was a woman. He did not hesitate to ask of the woman that she let him drink from her vessel, but he also did not hesitate to offer her a drink of another kind from a Jewish "bucket" as he said to her, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). Salvation was coming to the Samaritan woman from the Jews. Although she was a Samaritan, she needed to be able to drink from a Jewish "vessel" (of salvation) and Jesus no more sanctioned Samaritan prejudice against Jew than Jewish prejudice against Samaritan. The key to Jesus' stance is found in his perceiving persons as persons. He saw the stranger at the well as someone who first and foremost was a person — not primarily a Samaritan, a woman, or a sinner. This evangelized woman became an evangelist. She introduced her community to "a man" whom they came to acclaim as "the Savior of the world" (John 4:42). Jesus liberated this woman and awakened her to a new life in which not only did she receive but also gave. The Bible says she brought "many Samaritans" to faith in Christ (v. 39). If the men in John 1 were the first "soul winners," this woman was the first "evangelist" in John's gospel.

Mary and Martha^[51]

Luke and John show that Jesus had a close relationship with the sisters Mary and Martha. They are featured in three major stories:

1. A tension between the two sisters over roles (Luke 10:38–42));
2. Grief at the death of their brother Lazarus, followed by his being raised (John 11:1–44); and
3. The anointing of Jesus by Mary (explicitly in John 12:1–8); presumably in Mark 14:3–9; Matthew 26:6–13).

Tension over roles^[51]

Only Luke relates the story of tension between Martha and Mary on the occasion of the visit of Jesus to their home (Luke 10:38–42)). While Martha prepared the meal, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and "she was hearing his word" (Luke 10:39). Martha became distracted and frustrated over having to serve the meal without any help from her sister. Finally she openly shared her feelings, stood over Jesus who was either seated or reclining, and complained: "She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Jesus gently rebuked Martha for being so distracted and troubled over many things, when only one thing was necessary. He then affirmed Mary and her choice of "the good part" which would not be taken from her. Mary's choice was not a conventional one for Jewish women. She sat at the feet of Jesus and was listening to his teaching and religious instruction. Jewish women were not permitted to touch the Scriptures; they were not taught the Torah itself, although they were instructed in accordance with it for the proper regulation of their lives. A rabbi did not instruct a woman in the Torah. Not only did Mary choose the "good part," but Jesus related to her in a teacher-discipleship relationship. He admitted her into "the study" and commended her for her choice. In the tradition of that day, women were excluded from the altar-oriented priestly ministry, and the exclusion encroached upon the Word-oriented ministry for women. Jesus reopened the Word-ministry for woman. Mary was at least one of his students in theology. Jesus vindicated Mary's rights to be her own person — to be Mary and not Martha. He showed his approval of a woman's right to opt for the study and not be compelled to be in the kitchen. Jesus established his own priorities in declaring, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding out through the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)). Martha needed to be reminded of the priority of Word over bread. Luke's account of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha puts Jesus solidly on the side of the recognition of the full personhood of woman, with the right to options for her own life. By socializing with both sisters and in defending Mary's right to a role then commonly denied to Jewish women, Jesus was following his far-reaching principle of human liberation.

The grieving sisters^[51]

John 11:1–44 is about the raising of Lazarus from four days in the tomb. The central figure, however, is Jesus, identified as "the resurrection and the life." When the brother of Mary and Martha became ill, they sent for Jesus. For some undisclosed reason, Jesus did not arrive until four days after Lazarus died. The grieving sisters, Martha first and then Mary, met Jesus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and then proclaimed himself as "the resurrection and the life." Martha gently reproached Jesus, "Lord, had you been here, my brother would not have died." She hastened to express full confidence that God would grant whatever Jesus asked him to grant. Martha reflected a spiritual understanding beyond that required for preparing and serving a meal (John 11:21–27). Apparently, Martha and not just Mary had benefited from the study. Mary stayed in the house until Jesus called for her. When Martha went to get her, Mary came quickly fell at Jesus' feet (Mary is at the feet of Jesus in every appearance recorded in John's gospel). She repeated the words Martha already had used: "Lord, had you been here my brother would not have died." Jesus was deeply moved upon seeing Mary and her friends weeping. They invited Jesus to come and see the tomb where Lazarus had been laid. Jesus burst into tears. The Jews standing by understood this as reflecting Jesus is love for Lazarus, "see how he loved him" (v. 36). The foursome of Jesus, Mary, Lazarus, and Martha had a close relationship as persons, with neither denial of gender differences nor preoccupation with it. Here were persons of both genders whose mutual respect, friendship and love carried them through experiences of tension, grief, enjoy. Apparently Jesus was secure enough to develop such a relationship with two sisters and their brother without fear for his reputation. When necessary, he could oppose them without fear of chauvinism. Jesus had much to do with the liberation and growth of Martha and Mary.

The anointing at Bethany^[51]

Only John identifies Mary with the anointing in Bethany. The woman remains unnamed in Mark and Matthew ((Matthew 26:6–13; Mark 14:1–3; John 12:1–3)). Jesus is quoted in Matthew as assuring that the story of a woman's sacrificial love and devotion to him will have a place in the gospel wherever preached. Mary probably anticipated Jesus' death, but that is not certain. At least her beautiful deed gave Jesus needed support as he approached his awaited hour. Each of the two sisters Mary and Martha had their own way of ministering to Jesus: Martha, perhaps being more practical, served him a meal; Mary lavishly anointed him.

Jesus on family relationships

Jesus ate with a Pharisee leader one evening, where he invited the gathered guests to follow him (Matthew 12:46). The guests gave reasons why they could not follow him, including marriage and recent financial acquisitions (Luke 14:18–20). Jesus responded, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even life itself — such a person cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). Various expositors suggest that "hate" is an example of comparative hyperbolic biblical language, prominent in some Eastern cultures even today, to imply "love less than you give me,"^[67] "compared to Christ,"^[68] the Semitic idea of "lower preference,"a call to count the cost of following Jesus.^[69] When Jesus was told that his mother and brothers waited for him outside and wanted to speak to him, Jesus created a novel definition of family. He said to the people who were gathered to hear him speak, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, 'Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother'" (Matthew 12:48–50).

Women's roles in the early Christian Church

From the beginning of the early Christian church, women were important members of the movement. As time went on, groups of Christians organized within the homes of believers. Those who could offer their home for meetings were considered important within the movement and assumed leadership roles.^[70] The New Testament Gospels acknowledge that women were among Jesus' earliest followers. Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means (Luke 8:1-3). Although the details of these gospel stories may be questioned, in general they reflect the prominent historical roles women played in Jesus' ministry as disciples.^[1] There were women disciples at the foot of the cross. Women were reported to be the first witnesses to the resurrection, chief among them again Mary Magdalene. She was not only "witness," but also called a "messenger" of the risen Christ.^[71] The apostles had little respect of her witness and that of the other women, saying they "seemed as idle tales" (Luke 24:11). The letters of Paul — dated to the middle of the first century CE — and his casual greetings to acquaintances offer fascinating and solid information about many Jewish and Gentile women who were prominent in the movement. His letters provide vivid clues about the kind of activities in which women engaged more generally.^[72] He greets Prisca, Junia, Julia, and Nereus' sister, who worked and traveled as missionaries in pairs with their husbands or brothers (Romans 16:3,7,15). Paul writes that Priscilla (a.k.a. Prisca) and her husband risked their lives to save his. He praises Junia as a prominent apostle, who had been imprisoned for her labor. Mary and Persis are commended for their hard work (Romans 16:6,12). Euodia and Syntyche are called his fellow-workers in the gospel (Philippians 4:2-3). These biblical reports seem to provide credible evidence of women apostles active in the earliest work of spreading the Christian message.^[62] Paul's letters also offer some important glimpses into the inner workings of ancient Christian churches. These groups did not own church buildings but met in homes, no doubt due in part to the fact that Christianity was not legal in the Roman world of its day and in part because of the enormous expense to such fledgling societies. Such homes were a domain in which women played key roles. It is not surprising then to see women taking leadership roles in house churches. Paul tells of women who were the leaders of such house churches (Apphia in Philemon 2; Prisca in 1 Corinthians 16:19). This practice is confirmed by other texts that also mention women who headed churches in their homes, such as Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:15) and Nympha of Laodicea (Colossians 4:15). Women held offices and played significant roles in group worship. Paul, for example, greets a deacon named Phoebe (Romans 16:1) and assumes that women are praying and prophesying during worship (1 Corinthians 11). As prophets, women's roles would have included not only ecstatic public speech, but preaching, teaching, leading prayer, and perhaps even performing the eucharist meal. (A later first century work, called the Didache, assumes that this duty fell regularly to Christian prophets.)

The Pauline letters mention several women as providing leadership and other support to him and to the early church. Chloe appears to be the head of a household of an extended family (1 Corinthians 1:11). Priscilla is mentioned seven times in the Bible, as a missionary partner with the Apostle Paul and her husband Aquila. Out of seven times Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned as a couple, her name appears before Aquila's five times. Phoebe (also spelled "Phebe") is another woman Paul mentioned (Romans 16:1-2). He attaches to her four titles or attributes: diakonos meaning a deacon (lit. "servant"), sister, saint and prostatis [73] [74] Outside of written religious sources there is also objective evidence to support women's prominent status and roles within the early Christian church. A second century letter of a Roman governor, Pliny the Younger, to Roman emperor Trajan, demonstrates that female servants were leaders in a church in Bythnia. Pliny wrote the letter, dated 112 C.E., asking for advice on how he should handle a situation where Christians were said to have been stirring up trouble. He said he captured and tortured two female maidservants called deaconesses. These women must have been considered important church leaders since the term was similarly applied to Phoebe in the Pauline letters.[75] Art has also been an important objective source showing women in leadership roles. The first or early second century fresco called Fractio Panis depicts a Eucharist ceremony. All the participants, including the main person who is performing the ceremony, are women.[76] A mosaic found in a Roman basilica portrays Mary, two saints and a veiled woman. An inscription states that the veiled woman is Theodora Episcopa which means Bishop Theodora, Episcopa being the Latin feminine term for bishop. On a Greek island called Thera, a commemorative inscription has been discovered on a burial site. It named Epiktas, a female name, as a priest.[77]

Women and the historical Christian Church

The Roman Catholic Church was the major unifying cultural influence of the Middle Ages with its selection from Latin learning, preservation of the art of writing, and a centralized administration through its network of bishops. Historically in the Catholic and other ancient churches, including the Coptic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, the priesthood and the ministries dependent upon it such as Bishop, Patriarch and Pope, were restricted to men. This was ostensibly because the priest when performing the Eucharist stands in representation of Jesus, and because Jesus himself scripturally selected only male Apostles to lead the Church. Women were allowed to be Deacons in the early church, and with the establishment of Christian monasticism, other influential roles became available. From the 5th Century onward, christian convents provided opportunities for some women to escape the path of marriage and child-rearing, acquire literacy and learning, and play a more active religious role. Abbesses could become important figures in their own right, often ruling over monasteries of both men and women, and holding significant lands and power. Figures such as Hilda of Whitby and Hildegard of Bingen became influential figures on a national and even international scale. In the later Middle Ages women such as Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila, played significant roles in the development of theological ideas and discussion within the church, and were later declared Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. A major spokesman for the Church in the High Middle Ages (11th through 13th centuries) was Thomas Aquinas,^[78] one of the 33 Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church and renowned thirteenth-century theologian. Writings of Thomas Aquinas about women were an opposing influence upon church and philosophical attitudes towards women for centuries.^[79] He began his argument of women and their involvement in the creation story by quoting Aristotle's misogynist view of a woman as being "a misbegotten man." Aquinas reasoned that anything misbegotten or defective should not have existed in the creation story, therefore women should not exist.^[78] He viewed women as having been created for man simply to make procreation possible. Men can gain help and support from other men, but the act of procreation requires a woman, he wrote. By arguing that women were created simply to allow continuation of the human race, he attempted to shut down the argument that God made a mistake in creating women. However, according to Aquinas, the female sex cannot represent Christ because women are incomplete human beings.^[80] The Protestant Reformation by shutting down female convents, effectively closed off the option of a full-time religious role for women. Martin Luther himself taught that "the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household as one who has been deprived of the ability of administering those affairs that are outside and concern the state.." Lectures on Genesis 3:11. John Calvin agreed that "the woman's place is in the home."

Current church views of women's roles

In general, the issues have been what the proper role of women is (a) in marriage; (b) in the church; (c) in society at large. Among the denominations, movements, and organizations that express or have previously expressed a view, there are four main views:

1. Full equality of roles and rights:
   • American Baptist Churches USA
   • Assemblies of God
   • Baptist Union of Great Britain
   • Christians for Biblical Equality
   • Church of the Brethren
   • Episcopal Church USA
   • Evangelical Covenant Church
   • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
   • The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church(LEPC)(GCEPC)in the USA
   • Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland
   • Free Methodist Church
   • Presbyterian Church USA
   • Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) — Quakers have always believed in the legitimacy of women's ministry, with only a few exceptions in the early years. In 1848 at a conference in Seneca Falls, New York, 100 men and women signed a declaration that "all men and women are created equally." Early leaders of the movement were Quaker, including Lucretia Mott.
   • United Church of Canada
   • United Church of Christ
   • United Methodist Church
   • Uniting Church in Australia
   • Many others
2. Full secular equality but restricted ecclesiastical roles and privileges:
   • Eastern Orthodox Church
   • Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
   • Lutheran Church-Wisconsin Synod
   • Orthodox Presbyterian Church
   • Presbyterian Church in America
   • Presbyterian Church of Australia
   • Roman Catholic Church
   • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
   • Many others
3. Restricted roles or rights in both secular and ecclesiastical life:
   • Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
   • Jehovah's Witnesses
4. Forced restricted roles or rights
   • Christian Reconstructionism
   • Dominion theology
5. Mixed
   • Southern Baptist Convention's official position^[81] is to prohibit females from becoming clergy, and to insist that a wife "graciously submit" to the leadership of her husband. Members of an individual ("local") Southern Baptist church are allowed to vote on matters of business of the church that include the hiring of a pastor. However, many churches that have chosen female clergy as their pastor have been disenfranchised by either local or state Baptist associations.

The above lists are examples and are obviously not exhaustive. It is not always clear which category a church or movement falls into. The Wesleyan tradition and the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, as well as a growing number of contemporary Charismatic churches which draw from them, have increasingly accepted women as leaders on an equal footing with men. Roman Catholicism, addresses the issue from the highest levels, including the Papal Office. For instance, Pope John Paul II has addressed this issue in his 1995,^[82] his 1996,^[83] and the 1988 Apostolic Letter,^[84] for examples.

Prayer to Mary and the Saints

The custom of directing prayers of intercession to the Virgin Mary and the Saints is one that has played a major part in Christian practice since the early church. Prayers were directed to those dead Christians who were believed to be in the direct presence of God in heaven. This was done in the hope that the intercession of these "heavenly saints" would join with the prayers of those on earth. Many of the Christian Saints prayed to in this manner are of course, female. The Virgin Mary, in particular, because of her motherhood of Jesus is considered the most effective intercessor and dispenser of Graces. This practice has led to the honouring and devotion to female Saints in those branches of Christianity that recommend such devotions. These include the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Church and the Coptic Churches.

References and notes

• Bechtel, Lyn M. (1996), "A Symbolic Level of Meaning: John 2.1-11 (The Marriage in Cana)", written at Sheffield, U.K., in Athalya Brenner, A Feminist Companion to The Hebrew Bible in the New Testament (1st ed.), Sheffield Academic Press
• Fontaine, Carole R. (1996), "Disabilities and Illness in the Bible: A Feminist Perspective", written at Sheffield, U.K., in Athalya Brenner, A Feminist Companion to The Hebrew Bible in the New Testament (1st ed.), Sheffield Academic Press
• Kripal, Jeffrey John. (2007), written at Chicago, The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion, The University of Chicago Press

Catholic Church references

• "Declaration Inter Insigniores on the question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood." Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 15, 1976.
• Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (On Ordination to the Priesthood)." Pope John Paul II, May 22, 1994.
• "Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity of Women)." Pope John Paul II, August 15, 1988.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church. Many Christians also see Mary as the prototypical Christian, as in the Bible she was the first to hear the Good News of Jesus' coming. She is one of the few of Jesus' followers reported to be present at his crucifixion. Thus she is a woman who is most imitated among Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saints.

Literature on the history of women in the early Christian Church

• Torjesen, Karen Jo. When Women were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church & The Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher, 1995.
• Wiley,Tatha. Paul and the Gentile Women: Reframing Galatians New York: Continuum, 2005.
• MacDonald, Margaret. "Reading Real Women Through Undisputed Letters of Paul." In Women and Christian Origins edited by Ross Sheppard Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo. Oxford: University Press, 1999.
• Witherington, Ben III. Women in the Earliest Churches. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

See also

• Christian egalitarianism
• Christian feminism
• Christians for Biblical Equality an egalitarian organization
• Complementarianism
• Female disciples of Jesus
• Katharine Bushnell Pioneer Christian feminist
• Old Testament views on women
• Quaker views of women
• Women as theological figures
• Feminism
• Christianity

External links

• Christians for Biblical Equality, an egalitarian organization
• The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a complementarian organization
• "The Ministry of Women" — by William MacDonald