Preview

Women and Religion in the Greco-Roman Period

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1269 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Women and Religion in the Greco-Roman Period
Essay #1 Christian women during the Greco-Roman period, according to the church fathers, were allowed few privileges. Women were thought of as being subordinate to men and therefore the men should have all the leadership roles, rights and responsibilities within the church, since they believed women were incapable of handling such a task. According to the newest Revised Standard translation, it was written “women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” Also within the New Testament there is a passage which states, “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” The proper place for Christian women is to keep their mouths shut, exercise authority only over their household and children and never over men, they should also confine themselves to the private, domestic sphere. It would seem quite apparent from these translations that women did not hold any type of leadership role within Christianity, however there is evidence to the contrary. In Dr. Kraemer’s book it said “feminist scholarship has demonstrated irrefutably that women constituted a significant presence in the Jesus movement, despite all the attempts by both ancient writers and subsequent transmitters and translators to obscure that presence.” In the Greco-Roman period, there was an apostle named Junia, Paul found women apostles to be problematic and considered them a threat so he just changed her name to a male’s name. So in studying his writings it would seem that all apostles were male, but in actuality there were women apostles who played very important roles. In the Montanist movement it is noted that Paul requires women to pray and prophecy with their heads covered, which implies that women

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Thousands of years ago, the Goddess was viewed as an autonomous entity worthy of respect from men and women alike. Because of societal changes caused by Eastern influence, a patriarchical system conquered all aspects of life including religion. Today, the loss of a strong female presence in Judeo-Christian beliefs has prompted believers to look to other sources that celebrate the role of women. Goddess religion and feminist spirituality have increasingly been embraced by men and women as an alternative to the patriarchy found in traditional biblical religion.…

    • 1990 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another verse that appears illogical to non-Christians is 1 Corinthians 14:34 NIV in which Paul writes to the following in Corinth saying “Women should keep quiet in the Church meetings. They are not allowed to speak, but they must yield to this rule as the law says.” This is straight out sexism; Sexism by dictionary definition is discrimination based on a person's sex discrimination includes being excluded from or forced to perform a certain action because of sex etc. This is what is happening here, women are…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Let’s take a look at the definition of clergy. It is the group or body of ordained persons in a religion (Goldman 63). Women from many centuries have been ordained into the church but not as pastors or priests but to gather the people and draw them to the church. This is what God has intended women to do, such as Mary of Magdala (Magdalene) and Julia Chatfield. Mary of Magdala is also mentioned later. The men are ordained to the authority positions of the church. This has been happening over many centuries and caused many sacred traditions where women weren’t involved. Though, women play an important role on society and in scripture they should not hold authority over the men in the church.…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Roman Empire, women supervised the household, and also could inherit property. Although they were greatly confined to domestic duties, they had limited freedom, depending on the husband. In the Athens, the only freedom the women had was the domestic duties. They lived in buildings separate from their husband, and could not even eat meals with them. This is very different from the Minoans civilization. They worshipped many female gods, which resulted in them having a great respect for the women of their societies. The women were equals with men, and had a great amount of freedom.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women’s role in the church is continually debated. Scripture points to the idea that woman can be deacons and elders in the church. God created men and women equal and they should be treated as equals on earth. Therefore, women can be leaders in the church if that is what God has called them to do.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theo 202 Se3

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In order to accurately determine whether or not women can hold the position of elder or deacon, one must discern between cultural statements in Scripture and those that are doctrinal. Based on 1 Tim 2:11-15, a statement made…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Did Christ rule out women priests? The Catholic Church does not admit women to Sacred Orders.…

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rome was structured as a patriarchal society which naturally resulted in a diminished role for women. Furthermore, it is especially difficult to accurately describe the lives and roles of women considering all historical written evidence from the period was completed solely by aristocratic men. As a result all historians know about women come from a male perspective and is as a result mired in bias. All power within the family lay with the patriarchal figure, women served subservient roles and were at every social level considered inferior to men. As in most societies, until very recently, women’s primary purpose was seen to be that of child baring and rearing, and the management of the domestic chores and household (Renshaw page 159). At no time in Roman…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Women have long played an important role in the shaping the nation of Israel which has shaped the Christian church of today. Not only were they daughters, wives, concubines, mothers, and grandmothers of men but they were also special agents of the Lord. It was the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah who refused the Pharaoh’s order to kill all males that preserved the life of Moses. (Exodus 1) It was the widow of Zerephath who offered food and lodging to Elijah. (1 Kings) There have been women who prophesied and served as spokeswomen for God such as Miriam (Exodus 15) and Huldah. (2 Kings 22; 2 Chron. 24) There were women such as Deborah who served as both a prophet and a judge doling out justice from under a palm tree for the people of Ephraim during the rule of Jabin. (Judges 4) Women such as these received the call of God to serve Him in the roles he directed, roles which were typically filled by men.…

    • 4887 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    This book looks at the ever present controversial topic of women in ministry. Since the 1990’s and what has been called the “third wave of feminism,”1 men and women have been advocating gender equality in society.2 The theological implications of this have resulted with the question of whether or not limits should be placed on the leadership roles of women in the church. There are two primary views concerning this topic. First, there is the complementarian or traditionalist view which limits the role of women in leadership positions in the church. Second, there is the egalitarian view, characterized by a belief in the equality of all people, which believes that no limits should be placed on the role of women in leadership in the church. The title of this book is a misnomer; the main issue is not women in ministry, but women in leadership positions in the church hierarchy. There does not appear to be a middle ground in this on-going controversial subject, as shown by the four essays and the critical responses to them in this book.…

    • 2130 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    But there are still those that like to use passages like the verses in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 as a law against women serving in church or holding a position. But if these verses are read correctly you will see that woman play a vital part in the ministry of the church. The verse also states to not suffer a woman to teach, so what would our Sunday schools be like with women or what would the women ministry be like without the older women teaching our young women. And also think about the role that women play when church ministry goes out on the mission field. Yes in Ephesians states that the woman should be submissive to their husband, but these scriptures put more of the responsibility of the man to love the woman as Jesus loved the church. As stated in Galatians 3:28, Christ sees man and woman as equal, so why would man try to put limitations on the woman. The same goes for the work place, which woman are so bluntly looked over for positions by men. If a woman has the qualification and the abilities to performed the job, then she must be giving the same opportunities as the man does, to work in that…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    theology notes/syllabus

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Beck, James R. (Ed.). Two Views on Women in Ministry. Revised ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. ISBN: 978-0-310-25437-9.…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Are the ancient biblical stories and the myths of the Greeks irredeemably male oriented? All ancient societies treated women as the inferior gender. It has been historically shown that in the ancient world, men were the leaders, heroes, and kings, and women served primarily as companions, helpers, and child-bearers. In the Old Testament and throughout ancient Greek literature, there is a constant theme of male superiority that cannot be ignored. Men did not believe that women were capable of existing as anything other than the typical “housewife;” it was unthinkable that a woman would actually need an education, let alone earn a living. Rarely was a woman seen doing anything but being dominated by males in some form, whether she was a man’s sexual object, a submissively devoted wife, or a woman being punished for doing what she believed was right. Women had no identities of their own; in every action, they were presided over by a stronger male counterpart. Because female characters lacked power and existed primarily to provide men with companionship and support, ancient Greek and biblical stories can be described as irredeemably male oriented. A woman’s primary role in ancient times was to serve as a companion to a male figure. The most common form of this companionship was as a wife. God created “the woman” because “It is not good for the human to be alone, I shall make him a sustainer beside him” (Genesis 2:18, p9). “The human” was living in a perfect environment, yet something was still missing. God decided that it would be human nature to desire and need a partner. Thus began the practice of wife-seeking. Men were able to choose whomever they desired to be their wife, an idea that is demonstrated in the book of Genesis “…the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were comely, and they took themselves wives howsoever they chose” (Genesis 6:2, p. 26). Women did not get to choose who they married. The entire concept of love, especially from a woman’s point of…

    • 2354 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Abraham and Sarah

    • 2454 Words
    • 10 Pages

    This book explores the stories of the women in the Bible and looks at their difficulties, their subjugation, their triumphs, and the effect they had on the stories they are featured in.…

    • 2454 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To this day, religion is still predominantly patriarchal. There have been, however, exceptions in certain denominations. During American colonial times, women could not even join the church. It was not until over a hundred years after colonization that women could begin the religious candidacy process. Fortunately, as new deities were created, women were given more and more opportunities to exemplify what they had to say for the first time in years. A majority of New Light churches required both male and female candidates to publicly declare their faith before they were fully welcomed by the church. Having the ability to declare their faith without male consent was another larger step in breaking gender roles. Even though women rarely spoke in public, the majority of them still chose to share their stories and express themselves in front of everyone, instead of requesting a minister to read their thoughts for them.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays