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The Gnostic Gospels By Elaine Pagels

Decent Essays

The role of women in human affairs, religious beliefs, and social practices are highly concerned by scholars when women involved religious life. “God the Father/God the Mother”, third chapter in the book The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, examines major distinctions between Orthodox Christianity and Gnostic community in the concerns of the roles and characterizations of women by relating scriptural views and texts. While sharing a common topic of women’s role in religious life, “Images of Women in Early Buddhism and Christian Gnosticism” is an article in the book Buddhist-Christian Studies by Karen Christina Lang that discusses the major images and examines four categories of women whose participated in the religious activities of both Buddhist and Gnostics communities. In “God the Father/God the Mother”, Pagels compares the views of women between Orthodox communities and Gnostic sources. The Orthodox Christianity continuous the convention of Trinitarian terms from Jewish description of God that God is considered as masculine and never identified as feminine element while most Near East religions included female and male God. In fact, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theologians usually refrain from framing their God in sexual terms. In Catholics, the “God the Mother” is not defined when people viewing …show more content…

In this regard, the gnostic writings follow Judaism, which including the female aspect of God. Gnostics stated in Genesis that God created humanity in both "the male and female elements” according to the “image and likeness of God” (Pagels 56). This explains that the humanity must have the feminine elements from God. Similarly, there is an example of the male and female elements in humanity which Adam included both sexuality and Eve was born from his side. Orthodox Christians exclude any hints that God hasn’t completely masculine or

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