The Women Of The Early Religion

Two forces which gathered strength in the last half of the twentieth century now dominate the world religions at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The first is the globalization of religions and their resulting encounter with each other, and the second is the need to redefine attitudes toward gender as women have stepped forward to insist that their full humanity be acknowledged in the religious as well as the social realm.

In many cultures, the roles of women vary reluctantly. While researching the many aspects of Buddhism, the religion is sometimes practiced differently and the roles of women differs. According to Experiencing World Religions, (Molloy, 127) Buddhism is one of the world's oldest yet most significant religions thus far. It has influenced many cultures, originating from India and making its way to migrate throughout the country of Asia, and women have been involved since the very first day. In today’s society, although men are predominantly inferior over women, women are granted the same opportunities. Just like many other societies in other countries or many other religions there are discriminations and prejucial acts against women. Although, woman are offered the second class citizenship in many Buddhist traditions, a woman's role is very important when helping maintain the religion resulting in mass population of worshipers , fulfilling the duties as caregivers and also wives to their husbands, and also providing any assistance if needed in the community. (Molloy, 127)

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.

Throughout the three literary periods: The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, and The Renaissance; women have been portrayed and treated in different ways. The Iliad by Homer is about the Trojan War fought by the Achaeans and Trojans which was over the capturing of the wife of King Menelaus, Helen of Troy, by Paris. In The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, it is about a group of 29 people who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to worship St. Thomas’s shrine; however, as Chaucer describes all these types of people not many of them are very religious and the stories they tell show the perspective and portrayal of women in this time. In Francis Petrarch’s poetry Rhymes, he describes his love and admiration for a woman who doesn’t love him back, yet Petrarch still confesses his love for her through his poetry. Through these stories and poems, The Iliad, The Canterbury Tales, and Rhymes, from the three time periods, the role of women is a progression of how they were looked at and their role in that time period, by men.

When one thinks about the leaders of early Christianity, an orthodox vision of Jesus’ male apostles and disciples fills their head. While there is no doubt these men were important, their influential women counterparts are often overlooked and underrated. For years, historians were perplexed at the rapid spread of early Christianity, until they considered women. Women had a major role in the rise and spread of early Christianity because they were not only numerous, but also influential in leadership positions and converting others.

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

Life was not easy for women and children in the middle ages. We have abusive spouse and such in today’s time period, but in the Middle Ages abuse was even encouraged “as a way to keep women under control” (Lawler). The children had it worse. The children of the Middle Ages, were abused by men, women and even servants to make them behave. In the Middle Ages, the law did not intervene. If you were a woman of upper class then you were lucky! They typical did not go through the abuse that the lower-class women did. As long as a man didn’t kill his wife during the abuse, he wasn’t doing anything wrong according to the Canon law. (Lawler)

Since the dawn of the Patriarchy there has been a very apparent attack on women and what it means to be a woman (Daly 44-45). This popular theory of misogyny in the Western world first surfaced in 1973 when radical feminist Mary Daly published “Beyond God and the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation (Daly 44-45).” Within the pages of Daly’s book lies controversial attacks of biblical text, more specifically the story of Adam of Eve alongside a call for action for women and men to undo the brainwashing that years of conditioning has caused them (Daly 44-45).

To each society, there is its own set of rules. Many of these rules separate the women from the men or the children from the adults by creating certain duties for each individual. There are many comparisons between the women of Islamic and Roman societies. The roles that are given to these two groups of women show what is expected of them as a wife, the mother of the family, and where they stand politically.

Whether it is in a polytheistic or a monotheistic religion, the gender of divinity is always a topic given great attention. Although Buddhism doesn’t put much focus on gods in the teaching, it does include certain religious aspects such as praying to the higher beings. The feminine divine traits in Buddhism can be found with a closer examination on the feminine metaphors in the Buddhist scriptures. While Buddhas are predominantly in male form, divine beings like Bodhisattvas often appears to be female figures including Kwan Yin and Tara. The concept of Buddha nature is described as “tathagata garbha” at times, which means Buddha womb. The imagery of this spiritual womb nurturing the nature for all beings implies the significance of this feminine feature. Another example is how the Buddha’s wisdom is referred to as a ‘she’ in some Buddhist texts. The involvement of both feminine and masculine traits seems to underline the irrelevance of gender in Buddhahood. On the other hand, in Christianity a prevailing image of God being the ‘Father’ is developed. The teachings of Jesus powerfully delineate God as a kind and merciful father accepting and guiding his children with no discrimination. In fact, there is only one explicit example in the scriptures comparing God seeking a sinner to a housewife in search of a lost coin. In addition to the masculine image of God, it is argued that between two human sexes, Jesus as a male is

“Women as Vessel” quote was used in the Bible to describe the role of early women in the Christian era. That period tells that tells women that God set them under the power of men for their security because they are weaker than the men. In any case, a more careful examination of this statement will uncover that it is not alluding to more fragile edge or constitution of the woman, yet to more uncertain status in the Christian era. It is in this way alluding to a common shortcoming wherein the woman is minimized and not given the chances to completely express her blessings and capacities.

along with the achievements of other nuns, demonstrates that women’s hardship and struggle were valued and respected in Buddhism. This empowered women because it shows that even though women faced personal hardships and they lived in a dominant male society, these women still attained Nirvana. In addition, the creation of the Therigatha is an evidence of women’s literary contribution during the early Buddhism. The Therigatha is honored and respected by the members, demonstrating that women as writers were equally recognized as their male counterparts (Barua, 1997, p. 187). It shows that women were not only acknowledged in their spiritual achievements, but also their ability to write a well-known scripture that could serve as a positive encouragement

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

In world religion, gender inequality has always been a great concern. This inequality did not exist based on the concepts of original religion but through cultural influence and social manipulation. The essence of Buddhism originated from a human being (known as Buddha). And Buddha is the one who achieved the highest enlightenment. Often in Buddhism concept, there was confusion about how much devotion is required to achieve the great “Enlightenment” for monk or nun. Women in the Buddhism face much more challenges to become enlightened. Throughout the essay, I will be focusing on how in Buddhist woman needs to be reborn as a man to be fully enlightened. This means this essay will examine the difficulties women face as a nun and how they

The scholarly article "Images of Women in Early Buddhism and Christian Gnosticism" by Karen Lang explores why negative attitudes towards women persisted in early Buddhist and Gnostic communities even while women engaged in important roles in those particular communities. This article takes a truly critical look at why and how these views of women persisted, why they were so negative and the specific nuances of these negative views. In fact, Lang makes a truly astute and comprehensive observation about these negative views of women: Lang illuminates immediately in her article that while many people view Buddhism and Christianity as completely distinct, perhaps even opposite religions, these religions are in fact somewhat evocative of one another, particularly in their treatment of women, their view of the human condition (as being stricken with struggles regarding sensuality), and the necessity of ascetic practices. Lang explores how these Christian and Buddhist authors both "perceived women as less rational than men and more susceptible to the weaknesses of the flesh; their writings vilified women's bodies as 'impure' and 'defective' by nature. These texts associate women with the body and all of its unpleasant functions. In contrast to men, women were symbols of sensual mentality. Liberation for women involved a transformation of the female body and a repudiation of their female nature" (Lang, 95). This aspect of