Christianity And Women

The roles of women in Christianity have varied since its founding. Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. In 2016, it has been estimated that the female share (aged 20 years and over) of the World's Christian Population is between 52 and 53 percent. The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that Christian women in 53 countries are generally more religious than Christian men. While Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services. In 2020, it has been estimated that the female share of the World's Christian Population is around 51.6%.

Many leadership roles in the organised church have been prohibited to women, but the majority of churches now hold an egalitarian (men and women’s roles equal) view regarding women’s roles in the church. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, only men may serve as priests or elders (bishops, presbyters and deacon-s); only celibate males serve in senior leadership positions such as pope, patriarch, and cardinals. Women may serve as abbesses and consecrated virgins. A number of mainstream Protestant denominations are beginning to relax their longstanding constraints on ordaining women to be ministers ( priesthood), though some large groups, most notably the Southern Baptist Convention, are tightening their constraints in reaction. Most all Charismatic and Pentecostal churches were pioneers in this matter, and have embraced allowing women to preach since their founding.

Christian traditions that officially recognise saints as persons of exceptional holiness of life do list women in that group. Most prominent is Mary, mother of Jesus who is highly revered throughout Christianity, particularly in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, where she is considered the "Mother of God". Both the apostles Paul and Peter held women in high regard and worthy of prominent positions in the church, though they were careful not to encourage anyone to disregard the New Testament household codes, also known as New Testament Domestic Codes or ''Haustafelen''. The significance of women as the first to witness the resurrection is a content to be recognised across the centuries. There were efforts by the apostles Paul and Peter to encourage the brand new first-century Christians to obey the ''Patria Potestas'' (lit., "Rule of the Fathers") of Greco-Roman law.Powell, Mark A. ''Introducing the New Testament''. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic. 2009. p.337. The New Testament written record of their efforts in this regard is found in  , , , and , , , , and .Stagg, Evelyn and Frank Stagg. ''Woman in the World of Jesus''. Westminster Press, 1978. As may be seen throughout the Old Testament and in the Greco-Roman culture of New Testament time, patriarchal societies placed men in positions of authority in marriage, society and government. The New Testament only records males being named among the 12 original apostles of Jesus Christ. Yet, women were the first to discover the Resurrection of Christ.

Some Christians believe clerical (clergy) ordination and the conception of priesthood post-date the New Testament and that it contains no specifications for such ordination or distinction. Others cite uses of the terms presbyter and episkopos and or . The early church developed a monastic tradition which included the institution of the convent through which women developed religious orders of sisters and nuns, an important ministry of women which has continued to the present day in the establishment of schools, hospitals, nursing homes and monastic settlements.

Theology

Mary the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha have been among the women identified as key to the establishment of Christianity. Karen L. King, Harvard Professor of New Testament Studies and the History of Ancient Christianity, writes that the history of women in ancient Christianity has been almost completely revised in the last twenty years. Many more women are being added to the list of women who made very significant contributions in the early history of Christianity. The new history comes primarily from recent discoveries of biblical text that had been neglected through the ages.King, Karen L. "Women In Ancient Christianity: The New Discoveries

Accessed 30 July 2015>.

The belief that Mary Magdalene was an adulteress, the wife of Jesus, and a repentant prostitute can be traced back to as far as the fourth century. Because of the acceptance of the opinion in an influential homily of Pope Gregory the Great in about 591. The historical error became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity. In his homily, the Pope mistakenly identified Magdalene not only with the anonymous sinner with the perfume in Luke's gospel, but also confused her with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Karen King concludes that the discoveries of new texts by biblical scholars, combined with their sharpened critical insight, have now proved beyond any doubt that the disreputable portrait of Mary Magdalene is entirely inaccurate.

Mary Magdalene was a prominent disciple and significant leader in the early Christian movement. Her designation as the very first apostle of Jesus has helped promote contemporary awareness of the leadership of women in Christianity.

The New Testament Gospels, written toward the last quarter of the first century CE, acknowledge that women were among Jesus earliest followers.
* 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.
* Jesus spoke to women both in public and private and allowed them to set examples of faith. According to two gospel accounts, an unnamed Gentile woman understood and was praised by Jesus when arguing that his ministry is not limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who have faith.;
* A Jewish woman honored him with the extraordinary hospitality of washing his feet with perfume.
* Jesus was a frequent visitor at the home of Mary and Martha, and was in the habit of teaching and eating meals with women as well as men.
* When Jesus was arrested, women remained firm, even when his male disciples fled into hiding. Women accompanied him to the foot of the cross.
* It was women who were the first witnesses to the resurrection, chief among them being Mary Magdalene. These gospel accounts reflect the prominent historical roles that women played in Jesus' ministry as disciples.

In one of her several books, Linda Woodhead notes the earliest Christian theological basis for forming a position on the roles of women is in the Book of Genesis where readers are drawn to the conclusion that women are beneath men and that the image of God shines more brightly in men than women. The following New Testament passages and more recent theological beliefs have contributed to the interpretation of roles of women in Christianity through the centuries.
* Women will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
* The rule remains with the husband, and the wife is compelled to obey him by God’s command. He rules the home and the state, wages wars, and defends his possessions. The woman, on the other hand, is like a nail driven into the wall. She sits at home, she does not go beyond her most personal duties. (Luther, Lectures) Properly speaking, the business of woman, her task and function is to actualize the fellowship in which man can only precede her, stimulating, leading, inspiring." (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics)

Biblical authority and inerrancy

In general, all evangelicals involved in the gender debate claim to adhere to the authority of the Bible. Egalitarians typically argue that the dispute has arisen because of differences in interpretation of specific passages.
Nevertheless, Wayne Grudem and other complementarians have accused egalitarians of adopting positions which deny the authority, sufficiency and inerrancy of scripture.

Church practice

Christian leaders throughout history have been patriarchal, taking names that underscore female leadership in the church. These include father, abbot or abba meaning father, and pope or papa also means father. Linda Woodhead notes that such language excludes women from the exercise of such roles. She also notes a sentiment in 1 Corinthians which exemplifies pattern of Christianity of all varieties where Paul explains that women should be veiled in the church to signal their subordination to men because the head of every man is Christ and the head of a woman is her husband and that women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as even the law says.

However some Christians disagree with the idea that women should not have leadership positions, popular female preachers like Joyce Meyer, Paula White and Kathryn Kuhlman have had leadership roles in Church. It is mentioned in the Old Testament that women such as Deborah and Huldah were Prophets. In the New Testament Philip was said to have four daughters who prophesied.

Biblical inerrancy

The egalitarian and complementarian positions differ significantly in their approach to hermeneutics, and specifically in their interpretation of biblical history. Christian egalitarians believe that males and females were created equally without any hierarchy of roles.Walther, Emily, and George H. Walther. "Celebrating Our Partnership." ''Priscilla Papers,'' Autumn 1991 Volume 5, Issue 4. God created ''both'' woman and man in his own image and likeness. God made the first couple equal partners in leadership over the earth. Both were jointly commissioned to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth, subdue the earth and rule over it. At the Fall, God prophesied to Eve that one result of sin entering the human race would be that her husband would rule over her.

Conservative Christian theologian Gilbert Bilezikian points out that throughout the Old Testament era and beyond, just as God had prophesied, men continued to rule over women in a patriarchal system which he sees as being a compromise or accommodation between sinful reality and the divine ideal. The coming of Jesus is understood as moving forward from Old Testament patriarchy, re-instituting full equality of gender roles, as succinctly articulated in .

New Testament passages, such as "²²Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. ²⁴As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands" which teaches submission of wives to husbands, are typically understood by egalitarians as a temporary accommodation to a harsh 1st century culture where Roman law Patria Potestas gave fathers enormous power over the ''familia'' which included wife, children, slaves, and adult dependents. That power give the father/husband the right to kill his wife under a variety of circumstances.

Gilbert Bilezikian writes that "the poison of hierarchy generated by the fall (of mankind) had permeated relationships to such an extent that those very disciples Jesus was training in the ways of servant hood insisted on substituting hierarchy for servant hood. They kept competing among themselves for the highest status and for positions of preeminence." Bilezikian continues: "To settle the issue once for all times, Jesus sharply delineated the basic difference between social organisation in the secular world and in the Christian community". He concludes that "Consequently, there is no mandate and no allowance in the New Testament for one adult believer to hold authority over another adult believer. Instead, the overall rule calls for mutual submission among all believers out of reverence for Christ".

The Christian egalitarian hermeneutic has received a highly systematic treatment from William J. Webb, professor of New Testament at Heritage Theological Seminary, Ontario, Canada. Webb argues that a major challenge is determining which biblical commands are "transcultural" and therefore applicable today, versus those which are "cultural" and therefore only applicable to the original (1st century) recipients of the text. His "redemptive movement" hermeneutic is justified using the example of slavery, which Webb sees as analogous to the subordination of women. Christians today largely perceive that slavery was "cultural" in biblical times and not something that should be re-introduced or justified, although slavery was (a) found in the Bible and (b) not explicitly banned there. Webb recommends that biblical commands be examined in light of the cultural context in which they were originally written. According to the "redemptive approach", slavery and women's subordination are found in the Bible; however, the same Scriptures also contain ideas and principles which, if developed and taken to their logical conclusion, would bring about the abolition of these institutions.Webb, William J. ''Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis.'' InterVarsity Press, 2001. . Webb understands biblical issues of slaves and women to be ''cultural'' principles, applicable to that culture, but the biblical principles about homosexuality to be ''transcultural.'' According to that ideal, biblical patriarchy should be replaced by the "all one in Christ Jesus" proclamation of which says "There is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Some other New Testament instructions that are almost universally considered "cultural" and therefore only applicable to the original (1st century) recipients of the text are for women to wear veils when praying or prophesying, Christians to wash each other's feet (a direct command from Jesus in the Upper Room discourse), the instruction, appearing five times in the New Testament, to greet one another with a holy kiss—among others.

In contrast to egalitarian teaching, complementarians teach that male priority and headship (positional leadership) were instituted prior to the Fall and that the decree in merely distorted this leadership by introducing "ungodly domination." Complementarians teach that the male leadership seen throughout the Old Testament (i.e, the patriarchs, priesthood and monarchy) was an expression of the creation ideal, as was Jesus' selection of 12 male apostles and New Testament restrictions on church leadership to men only.

Complementarians criticize Webb's hermeneutic. Grudem argues that Webb expects Christians to pursue a "superior ethic" to that found in the New Testament, therefore undermining the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. He claims that Webb and some other evangelicals misconstrue the biblical teaching about both slavery and women, and inappropriately confuse the two. He writes that slavery is tolerated in Scripture but never commanded but in some cases is criticized, whereas wives are explicitly commanded to submit to their husbands and male leadership is never criticized. Additionally, Grudem believes that Webb's "redemptive-movement" hermeneutic (itself a variation of the "trajectory" hermeneutic commonly employed by egalitarians) ultimately relies on subjective judgments that are incapable of producing certainty about ethical views.

Gender and the image of God

Complementarians have traditionally held that Christian ministers ought to be men, because of the need to represent Jesus Christ, who was the "Son" of God, and incarnate as a male human being. A related position is that while both male and female were made in the image of God, the woman shares in the divine image ''through the man'' because she was created out of him, and is his "glory."

Christian egalitarians respond by arguing that God is not gendered and that males and females image God equally and without any differences. In addition, terms such as "Father" and "Son", used in reference to God, should be understood as analogies or metaphors used by the biblical authors to communicate attributes about God in a culture where men had the social privilege. Similarly, Christ became a male not because it was theologically necessary, but because 1st-century Jewish culture would not have accepted a female Messiah. Wayne Grudem takes exception to these egalitarian arguments, insisting that Christ's maleness was theologically necessary; he also alleges that egalitarians are increasingly advocating that God should be thought of as "Mother" as well as "Father", a move which he sees as theologically liberal.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity has become a major focus of the contemporary gender debate, specifically in relation to . In 1977, George W. Knight III argued in a book about gender roles that the subordination of women to men is theologically analogous to the subordination of the Son to the Father in the Trinity. Australian theologian Kevin Giles has more recently responded that complementarians have "reinvented" the doctrine of the Trinity to support their views of men and women, suggesting that some complementarians have adopted a heretical view of the Trinity similar to Arianism. A vigorous debate has ensued, with some egalitarians moving towards the idea that there is "mutual dependence" within the Trinity, including "subordination of the Father to the Son", which must be reflected in gender role relations. Wayne Grudem has countered this by asserting that mutual submission in the Trinity cannot be supported by scripture and church history.

Relationship between ontology and roles

Modern complementarians argue that and establish the full equality of males and females in terms of status, worth and dignity. Complementary roles in marriage and church leadership, including the primary authority of men and the submission of wives, are not thought to contradict this principle of ontological equality. The equation of role or functional subordination and ontological inferiority is considered to be a category confusion.
Egalitarian author Rebecca Merrill Groothuis has objected to this position. She argues that "woman’s spiritual and ontological equality with man rules out the sort of subordination
prescribed by gender traditionalists.... It is not logically possible for woman to be essentially equal to man, yet universally subordinate to man on the basis of an essential attribute (i.e., femaleness)."

Prominent women in the Old Testament

Christianity developed as a sect of Judaism in the first century AD. It therefore inherited the depictions of women already existing within the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as The Old Testament).

In the Book of Genesis, the first creation story created man and woman at the same time, the second story of creation names Adam and Eve as the first man and the first woman; in the narrative, Adam was created first, and Eve from Adam's rib. Some commentators have suggested that Eve being God's second Creation indicated female inferiority, but in calling Eve "flesh of my flesh" others say a relationship of equality is implied.

Some women were praised in the Books of Ruth and Esther. The Book of Ruth is about a young Moabite woman's loyalty to her Jewish mother-in-law and her willingness to move to Israel and become a part of their culture. The story ends with her praise and blessing as she is married to an Israelite, who announces that he will now take care of her, and subsequently King David comes from her lineage. In the Book of Esther, a young woman named Esther of Jewish lineage is praised for her bravery as the queen of Persia who saved many from being killed by her pleas to the king.

Women in the New Testament Church

The New Testament describes Jesus setting a values-standard regarding attitudes toward and treatment of women.Bilezikian, Gilbert. ''Beyond Sex Roles (2nd ed.)'' Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1989

Jesus and women

As the founder of Christianity, Jesus never taught nor approved of any kind of subordination of one of his followers over another. Instead, he expressly forbade it in any Christian relationship. All three Synoptic Gospels record Jesus teaching his disciples that ''any'' subordination of one to another, both abusive and customary, is a pagan practice—not something to take place among his followers. Having issued his strong prohibition against subordination of others, he prescribed the Christian alternative to subordination as being the exact opposite: profound service to others, extending even to making the ultimate sacrifice of giving one's life if necessary:

His first phrase, ''"lord it over"'', described the Roman dictators who wielded ultimate and unlimited power. His second phrase, "high officials", referred to lesser Roman officials who, having some limitations of power, ''"exercised authority"'' (not necessarily abusive power) over their citizens. In the nearly identical passages in all three Synoptic gospels, Jesus sternly commanded his disciple that ''"It shall not be so among you",'' clearly forbidding both abusive extreme "lording it over" others, and even more moderate, ordinary "exercise (of) authority" over others. Egalitarian Christians consider that this teaching of Jesus to the men who were the 12 Apostles trumps any subsequent teachings of Paul and Peter that Complementarians interpret as establishing "Husband-Headship" requiring "Wife-Submission", or denying women opportunities to serve in any leadership position within the Church.

Authors Marsh and Moyise also understand this teaching of Jesus to forbid any hierarchy in all Christian relationships, even when there is no connotation of abuse of authority.

The New Testament of the Bible refers to a number of women in Jesus' inner circle—notably his Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene who is stated to have discovered the empty tomb of Christ and known as the "apostle to the apostles" since she was the one commissioned by the risen Jesus to go and tell the 11 disciples that he was risen, according to the Gospels. In the Gospel of Mary, a work tied to Gnostic Christianity, Mary Magdelene was the only follower of Jesus who legitimately understood his teachings.

According to the New Testament, Christ saved a woman accused of adultery from an angry mob seeking to punish her, by saying: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her".

The Gospel of John^– provides an account of Jesus directly dealing with an issue of morality and women. The passage describes a confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees over whether a woman, caught in an act of adultery, ought to be stoned. Jesus shames the crowd into dispersing, and averts the execution with the words: "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." According to the passage, "They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last," leaving Jesus to turn to the woman and say, "Go, and sin no more."

Another Gospel story concerns Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary where the woman Mary sits at Jesus' feet as he preaches, while her sister toils in the kitchen preparing a meal. When Martha complains to Mary that she should instead be helping in the kitchen, Jesus says that in fact, "Mary has chosen what is better".

The story of Mark 5:23–34, in which Jesus heals a woman who had bled for 12 year suggests not only that Jesus could cleanse his followers, but this story also challenges Jewish cultural conventions of the time. In Jewish law, women who were menstruating or had given birth were excluded from society. Therefore, the woman in Mark was ostracized for 12 years. Jesus healing her is not only a miracle, but by interacting with an unclean woman, he broke from the accepted practices of the time and embraced women.

Both complementarians and egalitarians see Jesus as treating women with compassion, grace and dignity. The gospels of the New Testament, especially Luke, mention Jesus speaking to or helping women publicly and openly. Martha's sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet being taught, a privilege reserved for men in Judaism. Jesus had female followers who were his sponsors, and he stopped to express concern for the women of Jerusalem on his way to be crucified. Mary Magdalene is stated in the Gospels to be the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection. In the narratives, Jesus charged her to tell others of what she had seen, even though the testimony of a woman at that time was not considered valid.

The historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote that women were more influential during the period of Jesus' brief ministry than they were in the next thousand years of Christianity. Blainey points to Gospel accounts of Jesus imparting teachings to women, as with a Samaritan woman at a well, and Mary of Bethany, who rubbed his hair in precious ointment; of Jesus curing sick women and publicly expressing admiration for a poor widow who donated some copper coins to the Temple in Jerusalem, his stepping to the aid of the woman accused of adultery, and to the presence of Mary Magdalene at Jesus' side as he was crucified. Blainey concludes: "As the standing of women was not high in Palestine, Jesus' kindnesses towards them were not always approved by those who strictly upheld tradition. According to Blainey, women were probably the majority of Christians in the first century after Christ.

Apostle Paul and women

In his writings, the Apostle Paul included various commentaries on women.
In his Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul emphasized that Christianity is a faith open to everyone:

The letters of St. Paul—dated to the middle of the 1st century AD—and his casual greetings to acquaintances offer information about Jewish and Gentile women who were prominent in early Christianity. His letters provide clues about the kind of activities in which women engaged more generally.
*He commends with great affection to the Roman community Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae, for she had been the patron of many, including himself.
*He greets Priscilla whose formal Latin name was (Prisca), Junia, Julia, and Nereus' sister.
* When Paul refers to Priscilla and Aquila, he lists Priscilla first in 5 of the 7 times they are referred to by their couple name, suggesting to some scholars that she was the head of the family unit.
# : There he (Paul) met a Jew named ''Aquila'', a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife ''Priscilla'', because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
# : Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by ''Priscilla and Aquila''.
#: They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left ''Priscilla and Aquila''. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
# : He (Apollos) began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When ''Priscilla and Aquila'' heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more adequately (ἀκριβέστερον).
# : Greet ''Priscilla and Aquila'', my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
# : The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. ''Aquila and Priscilla'' greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
# : Greet ''Priscilla and Aquila'' and the household of Onesiphorus.
*He praises Junia (formerly translated as Junias in a few Bibles) as "prominent among the apostles" (NRSV

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