Gender and the Church

Professor of religious studies Karen Armstrong finds in the early Christian Church examples of hostility toward women and fear of their sexual power, which she contends led to the eventual exclusion of women from full participation in a male-dominated church.

Once Jesus of Nazareth was born, and the New Testament was written, women began to play a larger role in the church. Although men such as Peter were still significant, women became more involved in the establishment of the Church.

As early as the beginning of the Christian Church women had some important but very defined roles within the church. There were roles women could not play, of course, but that does not mean they did not have value to the Christian movement. Unfortunately, there have also been a lot of things overlooked that have been done by women, especially in the New Testament. There have also been arguments that the Christian Church is a "man's church" because men wrote the books of the bible and women did not have much say, apparently, in what happened during that time and how it was recorded. Even though not everyone was certain of the way women were treated in Christianity and whether they were accepted and applauded the way they should have and could have been, there were still many mentions of women doing great things. Scholars have begun to look into what women did during Old Testament and New Testament times, in an effort to have a better understanding of Christianity and the role women played in it in the past.

Gender Issues in Religion Amongst the world religions are many different attitudes towards gender issues and sexuality. A hundred years ago, or even a lot less, these different perspectives did not exist, as they were often considered unimportant, as King noted 'until recently little attention has been paid to gender differences and their impact on religious teaching and practice. '[1] With some religions, their scriptures are considered to be infallible and therefore not to be questioned.

I Timothy 2:12- women be silence, it also talks about why women cannot be pastors perfectly clear, and verse 13 give the cause of verse 11 and12.

Mary has brought a very tough predicament to the table, one that is definitely not easy to solve. I do not know if I will be able to give her the correct advice, but I will share with her what I know. The accepted role of women in the church has been a highly debated argument for centuries. Acceptable roles have changed quite a few times, usually with the denomination. Even the Scriptures can lead to different interpretations that cause the debate to continue. The debates include women being elders or deacons, and whether or not they can be ordained and hold leadership positions in the church.

Women seemed to obtain both domestic and public roles of leadership in early Christianity. It is noted in Paul work that women had a role in hosting Christianity, “It is not surprising then to see women taking leadership roles in house churches.” (Mitchell and Mitchell, 81). Women as leader in early domestic churchers support the idea of liberation of women. Before the superiority of Orthodoxy in Christianity women were able to lead churches in their own

First, a woman’s position in the church as a teacher has many standards set by God. The Lord sets some standards of who a woman is to teach in the church. Gilbert Bilezikian in his book Beyond Sex Roles, states, “According to the Epistle, women were

"A man must pronounce three blessings each day: 'Blessed be the Lord who did not make me a heathen; blessed be he who did not make me a woman; blessed be he who did not make me an uneducated person.’” said Rabbi Judah, a contemporary of first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Josephus said “The woman is in all things inferior to the man”. Throughout centuries, the role of a woman in the church has been a matter of severe controversy, particularly in relation to the Apostle Paul’s view on the subject. Through a close reading of 1st Corinthians 14: 33-38, I hope to provide a close interpretation of Paul’s message on women’s roles in the church, making a case for the “feministic Paul”.

The Holy Bible is full of advice on every issue known to humanity. This advice varies in topics from society's functions to foreign policy and even gender roles. Today's western culture is very confused when it comes to gender roles, swinging over the last over 50 years from a male-dominated society to a large portion of the feminist society fighting for female dominance and the disappearance of chivalry. Society is always searching for answers from science and philosophy but constantly fails to look in the right places. The Bible is the foundation of truth and it requires the ultimate amount of attention if any community plans to be successful for any length of time. The education of modern society on what the Bible says about gender roles is necessary to achieve mutual understanding of beliefs.

When talking about religion and gender, sociologists are interested in how the roles of both men and women differ from one another across many different religions. As with many aspects of the world, women generally are at a disadvantage, especially in the religious realm. Sex segregation plays a role in religion and gender. Women and men often hold positions of very different amounts of power.

Gender roles, and the mere existence of a gender binary, has been a recent topic of conversation for many churches, theologians, and individual believers. As the cultural pressure to remove gender-specific limitations builds, many of those aforementioned have turned to scripture for answers. Seldom are women’s roles in the Old Testament characterized by decision making or personal merits. Rather, a woman’s capacity to produce an heir for their husband complements his dominance and responsible faithfulness and allows God’s plan to be fulfilled through their combined efforts. In the New Testament, through the transformative power of Christ, prominent women became less of an anomaly, but were still held to a different set of standards and expectations than men and were usually still praised according to their actions and their faith. The Pauline epistles, written in the context in which the Church still exists today: the age to come, provide a basis for today’s understanding of women’s roles in marriage and in church leadership. Although there are many instances of women fulfilling God’s plans and proving their worth among the community of Christians, the biblically normative role of women is to avoid authoritative church leadership positions and remain submissive in situations of teaching and interpreting the Word.

The purpose of this brief is to provide you with an overview of how the Catholic Church view women being ordained in the church. The views are based on the traditional and doctrinal references that the Catholic religion is based on. The views are from various resources such as the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican, Pope John Paul II, and the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI. The views described in this brief are based on the traditions of old and their refusal to change the traditions to fit for the twentieth century.

Until recently, women were not allowed to preach or even speak in the Christian Church, but in modern times women are beginning to play a more significant. While sects of Christianity still hold the traditional teachings about women, others have given them equal status within the church, an increasingly accepted interpretation.

1 Timothy 2:11–15 states: “11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 for Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” 1 Corinthians 14:33–35 states: “33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their