INTRODUCTION
From a baby that was born in a manger, to a man that died on the cross, Jesus Christ is the most famous man in the entire ancient world because he was taught to be the son of the hebrew god who had died on the cross for humanity’s sins. Jesus’s life and teachings formed the basis for Christianity, a major world religion. Christianity is one of the most popular religions of the modern western world. Because it is so important , Christians views need to be understood by followers of Christianity, in the context of the societies in which they came from. Understanding the context of Christianity could possibly allow for better adaptation of the ancient manuscript to lives in the 21st century. An example of this - and the topic of this essay is women in early christianity. People today may be surprised that women were activity involved in first century of Christianity. This is important because the world of Jesus and his early disciples is very different from the world we live in today. Another way that society has changed is in the way it treats women. While women are still not always treated as fairly as men , things have certainly have changed in the Western world in regards to women’s rights. For example , in America women can vote and have successful careers outside the home and in some nations women have became leaders in the government . Despite all of this progress, some people, including women, hold a firm beliefs that women should not be given the same rights and responsibilities that men have in religious leadership. A prime example of this is in Catholicism. In this religion, women are not able to become leaders in the church. This has happened despite the head of the Catholic church being in Italy., a fairly progressive state in terms of women’s rights. Looking at the society in the first few centuries of Christianity will show followers that in the beginning of the religion, women did have some power in the church; therefore, the belief that women are incapable of holding high positions in the church in modern times is inaccurate and there should be a consideration for women to hold more power today.
JUDAISM’S TREATMENT OF WOMEN
Even though his life started a new religion, Jesus considered himself Jewish. Judaism has been around for a long time and with this ancient religion came narrow-minded views on women. In the books that were to become the old testament for Christians, the torah for the Jews , there are many views of women that are demeaning to them. In the beginning of the first book, Genesis, women are right away said to be subservient to men. The story goes that when the first man named Adam was lonely, God made women to keep him company. This means that Adam, was created first by God ; people took this to mean that men were more like God than woman are. Another way that women were reduced was through the forbidden fruit. The story goes that because Eve ate the fruit first , the punishment included bad childbirth and that her husband “will rule over her.” Later when God asks for a tally from Moses he only cares about the Men in the group, not the women.
Although one might come to the conclusion that all women had not status or standing in first century Jewish society, some women were able to have higher status . During this time women’s lives depended on their status. There were different status of women and some were slaves. For women who lived in households with lots of means, monetary, they were expected to stay inside. Like many of the men that lived during that time, the majority of women were illiterate. Some times educated people had to assist the non educated in getting documents signed .
WOMEN IN ROME
Women in Roman society had come a long way considering ancient customs . In ancient times, males had all power in relationships . Men could kill their babies and this was not looked down upon especially if it was a baby girl. This shows how women were seen in ancient times; they were not seen as being worthy of life. By 300 BC , women had gained some freedom in marriage, but were not completely free - they had a guardian watch out for a their welfare. A big gain was that women could now get out of marriage without to much trouble. Anther great improvement for women during this time was the opportunity for education. Despite social class Roman girls had more opportunities for a meaningful education. Although not as long as their brother’s education, roman girls were able to become educated citizens. The reason behind all of this education was for the women to grow as apposed to a way to pass down knowledge to her sons.
Sometimes there are leaders that try to reverse progress of a nation for their own political views. Some men might have felt that women’s power was treat to their masculinity , so people activity sought to limit women’s power. This was the case with the Roman emperor Augustus. Augustus tried to bring back the male domaine that was so common in the ancient time, and this proved to be very successful. He taxed people of a certain age that were single. He made parties of the Roman gods, which had previously been celebrations for both genders, only male parties. This was the scene that Christianity emerged in.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY
Now that background knowledge on early christianity is complete it is now time to look at the main focus of this essay, early christianity. Something that should be stated is that people in power tend to put their own spin to a story. Similar to when two people get in a fight one both will have a story to tell and more than likely the stories of what happened will be completely different . With this is mind, it is critical to note that for most of modern history, males have been control of the church and history;therefore some people will see women’s roles in this religion very different. Another thing is that in terms of leadership in the church male leadership within the church was the norm. Because of this , some male leaders in the church will try to deny any participation and contributions made by women.
In most religions at this time it is important to note that Judaism , and therefore Christianly and later Islam, do not have a female god. This is in stark contrast to Greek mythologies with female Goddess like Hera and Aphrodite. In christians there is God his son and the holy sprit. While some may argue that God is neither male nor female. The relation to God in both the gospels are always use male pronouns. This means that God and his son are male. This would have been accepted at this time because it was a male dominated society and people would be less likely to acknowledge that God would send his daughter to save all humanity. Some people have pointed to Jesus’s mother as another Eve. Eve and Mary have been compared because they are both virgins. While Eve disobeyed God and was blamed for sin, Mary is seen as a savor because she carrie birthed and raised the son of God.
PAUL
Paul was an important apostle because he helped the teaching of Jesus—which would latter becomes a separate religion,Christianity— grow. He was actually a jewish man who was hurting christians but got a conversion experience. The work after his conversion lead him to due a lot of work that laid down the foundation for early Christianity.
Paul names certain women in his letters —that would latter make their way into the bible , that appear to have played a big role in early Christianity. One such person is Phoebe, Phoebe was a women who lived in Rome who Paul cared deeply about. He asked the people of rome to include her in the religious family. Paul and Phoebe had a relationship in which they helped each other accomplish their goals in spreading the Christen faith. The ability to help each other instead of Paul dominating the relationship would have been rare to see in those days. Phoebe was not the only one who was mentioned by name in the Bible there are other women in Paul’s writing. These women helped Paul out a great deal.
Paul also had views on marriage that had major implications for his followers men and women alike. A big problem for early christens was interfaith marriages. Some women who were Christians and were married to a non believer practiced abstinence with their husbands to pressure them to convert. Paul advocated against this practice encouraging them to simply educate the men. Paul says that if women and men were in a interfaith marriage they had permission to leave that relationships. He basically has the same rules for men and women. This again is not surprising considering the time in which he was living and spreading his message too. Later the Shepherd of Hermas , who had visions from god the most famous one was to practice abstinence, said similar things about both sexes having the ability to leave their lover due a faith difference. This was important because it gave women the same right to leaving marriage as men. This was probably done to help spread the religion. This spreading of the religion might have been more of a pressing need then women’s rights;however, it still gave women equal rights as men. This was a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately the trend toward equality would not last.
MEN REGIN SURPME
Women had power that men had in the early stages of Christianity; however, this glimmer of equality did not last . This did not last because in order for Christianity to spread and be accepted in male dominated cities , women would have to take a back seat. This means that all the progress that this religion was trying to be had to be dismantled for it to be accepted by men. The Gnostics, christians that were trained in ancient philosophy , held similar views when they claim that Jesus has to change Mary’s sex so she can be included into the group.
One way to take away power from women is to restrict their education. This was done by early christians to make women easier to force into submission. One way this was done was a proclamation that women should be silent in church. This was done because women were seen as dangerous to people in power. Men felt that women should not lead; therefore silencing their voices was a way to take away some of that power.e
Tertullian was a man who advocated for the removal of women from the church. He said that women were not the same as men. He said that women were bad because of what Eve had done. Tertullian was appalled that women were priests and did everything in his power to destroy their power in the church. This was different then Paul who had been inclusive of women those days were long gone. Turtullian was not the first man who hated women and tried to silence their work in the Church. Other people,Jerome , Clement of Alexandria, and Augustine discredited women’s role.
CONCLUSION
The start of Christianity is important for all followers of Christianity to know. People should be able to know that those first christians teachers were women. This is important because it may provide a reason for women to gain leadership roles within the church. It matters because a God that is said to create everything had to care about women. It matters because women are people to with the potential to be influential leaders. It also matters because a religion that was started 2000 years ago has to be able to adjust and adapt to the times. For people in the west this means examine the role of women, and other minority groups. Being inclusive always pays off in the end. It always is the best way for people to learn how to interact with each other. It also adds a new perspective. It is not just something for little kids to sing about in church or Sunday school it should be lived all the time.
Biography
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