Women In Biblical Times
By Mark McFall
Does the Bible portray women in a shameful and degrading light? How does culture play its role in this regard? Was Jesus a male chauvinist? Or, did He have a revolutionary attitude toward women? What about the Paul? After all, so the critics tell us, he did have a "sit-down-and-shut-up!" attitude toward women. As we consider these questions, it is my intent to help round out some otherwise rough edges prevalent in Christian criticisms.
It is no secret that in the time with which the Bible was written (a span of about 1,500 years), women were looked at as inferior to men. Non-religious records tell us that women not only lacked political rights, but they also lacked credibility in the public domain. According to the historian Flavian Josephus who’s writings are contemporaneous with the New Testament, the practice of the exclusion of women in the Jewish government as legal witness went something like this:
"But let not a single witness be credited, but three, or two at the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of the sex." (Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. IV. Ch. Vlll. 15)
In that culture, the common ideology, was, "though the woman is subject to the commandments, she is disqualified from giving evidence" (Jewish Talmud, Baba Kamma 88a). What type of thinking undergirds such a restriction? Perhaps a saying from a collection of separate proverbs found in the deuterocanonical/apocryphal book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) says it best: "better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good" (Sirach, 42:14). Ouch! Though these restrictions and ideologies are rather harsh, they nonetheless reflect the culture of that time. But how does the Bible fare in this regard?
Throughout the Old Testament there are many instances where women play an
important part in God’s plan as seen through the lens of male writers. For
example, Miriam, the prophetess, focused her ministry on the women of
So why does the Bible get such a bad rap in some circles for degrading women?
In my opinion, it’s primarily because of novice interpreters who confuse the
narration of cultural history (see: Gen 19:8; Judg. 11;
Against The Tide
According to Jewish rabbis, women were either incapable or inferior to the process of studying to learn. The Jewish law code known as the Mishnah remarks: "may the words of Torah be burned [first five books of what we know to be the Bible], than that they should be handed over to women" (Sota, 10a), and, "whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her obscenity" (Sota, 21).[1] The Gospels, however, record Jesus overturning this type of ideology. Jesus not only taught women, but, he even went so far as to commend a particular women for her learning over and against her sister who was carrying out traditional tasks (Lk 10:38-42). It is by that attitude, that, Jesus not only caused a stir outside of His circle, but, He also caused a stir within.
For instance, the writer of John hints at a moment of astonishment among Jesus’ disciples as they caught a glimpse of him interacting with a Samaritan woman of foreign origin. To Jesus’ own disciples, this interaction proved perplexing. Why? Because such interaction just didn’t happen. The writer of John notes, that, "they were surprised to see him talking to a woman;" yet, "not one of them [his disciples] said to him, What is your purpose? or, Why are you talking to her?" (John 4:27, tr. BBE). While Jesus’ disciples were marveling over what they saw, they missed the fact, that, to this woman, Jesus had just made his most explicit affirmation that he was the Messiah (See: Jn. 4:1-42).
Moreover, the Gospels as a whole present Jesus as a revolutionary. Jesus not
only thought of women as being equal in rank with men as daughters of Abraham
(Lk.
Idealogical Struggle in Pauline Theology
What about the writings that have come down to us under Paul’s name? Don’t they imply that women should be subordinate? Well, there are three main passages that critics point to in this regard.
In 1 Corn. 11:2-16, the argument ensued is that a man should pray with his head uncovered, while, a woman prays with hers covered. Over in 1 Corn 14:33-35, we see that women are told to keep "silent in churches, for they are not permitted to speak." A similar passage occurs in Tim. 2:8-15, where, the writer categorically states, "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent." But the question arises: do these passages represent the Pauline view on women as a whole?
In my opinion, the answer is "no." We see other portions of books that bear
Paul’s name imply equality. Paul not only addressed women on equal par with men
in correspondences (Phil 4.2; Philemon 2), but, it is through his writings where
we find that it is permissible for women to have leadership roles in the life of
the church. Indeed, Paul noted women as co-workers (Phil 4:3;
Though the gymnutical layouts of scholars who debate the pro’s and con’s of this issue are quite entertaining in their approach (for proposals and counters, see: The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, pg. 1098-1099). The point to be drawn from this Pauline overview is: that, although there does appear to be an element of subordination present, there is much in the way of temperance that gives way to breaking down the assertion that Paul had a "sit-down-and-shut-up!" mentality in how he viewed women.
What about Paul’s famous: "submit to your husband" verses? (Eph 5.22;
By way of recapitulative conclusion, we have become aware of the fact that the biblical writers narrate degrading scenes from within their own culture and environment, but, we have also become aware that the biblical writers were objective in how they communicated those narrations. The fact that biblical writers did NOT emphasize or impose any negative views that they may have had of women on readers speaks volumes. Other passages that suggest dispensational inequality between women and men must be understood and left in their own cultural context, though, unfortunately, there is certain amount of ideological spill over here in the 21st century. For us, Jesus Christ stands as an example as one who went against the popular tide of male dominance to the point of being a revolutionary. For Paul, who’s ideological roots stretch deep into male dominated phariseism, belief in Christ brought about a revolutionary change in attitude toward women, though, that change was not without its struggles. As modern readers looking back trying to understand Paul’s view on women, we see a man who on the one hand worked side by side with women, and on the other hand we see a man who occasionally suppressed them. Though this may have been an area of ideological struggle in Paul’s life, it is the overriding theme of Paul’s institutionalized acceptance of women that has set the correct tone for contemporary Christianity. Indeed, we can see the evidence that women have played an important role in God’s plan throughout history by simply opening up the pages of the Bible under these considerations.
[1] In Old Testament contrast, we not
only see that Joshua read the Torah to the "women of Isreal" (Joshua
[2] Though there is much controversy surrounding the gender of the Junia/Junias. A list of Patristic exegetes who understood the second person mentioned in Rom 16:7 to be the wife of Andronicus are:Ambrosiaster (c. 339-97); Jerome (c. 342-420); John Chrysostom (c.347-407); Jerome; Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-458); Ps.-Primasius (c. 6th cent.); John Damascene (c. 675-749); Haymo (d. 1244); Hatto (?); Oecumenius (c. 6th cent.); Lanfranc of Bec (c.1005-89); Bruno the Carthusian (c.1032-1101); Theophylact (c. 11th cent.); Peter Abelard (1079-1142); and Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160). (Cited from Schultz, n.2).
[3] The term apostolos appears to be fluid in the Pauline letters where we find two types of apostles. See: Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, The Apostleship of Women in Early Christianity ( http://www.womenpriests.org/classic/fiorenz2.htm )
A) Motivation for the purpose of this essay was generated by an exchange of ideas with Rick Gaudreau of The Bad News Page (www.campus.fortunecity.com/defiant/666/) on the Xtianity mailing list.
B) Influences for this essay and recommended resources are: