9. 0 One Male God over Women
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Monotheism was a liberating and uniting force in most of the western world. This section explores Judaism and Christianity and what they said about women, as well as explores the lives of the founders and the women who are all over those origin stories. As we are focusing on the impact of these faiths on women's status, this section can seem a bit critical, but remember the social experiences of women in faith are different from their spiritual ones, and despite some of the ways women may have been discriminated against, women from all walks of life flocked toward monotheism.
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The Goddess Ishtar of Mesopotamia, Public Domain
In the ancient world many religions included prominent goddess traditions, attributing to goddesses the creation of the world and the ongoing survival of it. Many polytheistic faiths such as Hinduism presented a belief in the idea of a Divine Feminine, that God, or the Ultimate Being, was either completely without gender or had an equal feminine dimension. This view of a feminine God or goddesses was challenged, however, by the rise of the monotheistic and patriarchal Abrahamaic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all born in the Middle East.
And while the idea of divine feminine takes a back seat, it’s important not to understate how patriarchal pagan societies were– pagan life was certainly not a golden age for women.
The Holy Scriptures of these faiths, the Torah, the remaining books of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Quran, consistently referred to the divine with masculine pronouns and are awash with male titles and images of God such as Lord, Father, or King, Brah. They lead to the equation of God with not just the male gender, but also with traditional concepts of masculinity and male power. In this episode we will explore the complex place of women within monotheistic traditions and how their spiritual and social equality has been both enhanced and hampered by their faith. Welcome back, Sisterhood.
And while the idea of divine feminine takes a back seat, it’s important not to understate how patriarchal pagan societies were– pagan life was certainly not a golden age for women.
The Holy Scriptures of these faiths, the Torah, the remaining books of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Quran, consistently referred to the divine with masculine pronouns and are awash with male titles and images of God such as Lord, Father, or King, Brah. They lead to the equation of God with not just the male gender, but also with traditional concepts of masculinity and male power. In this episode we will explore the complex place of women within monotheistic traditions and how their spiritual and social equality has been both enhanced and hampered by their faith. Welcome back, Sisterhood.
"The Fall of Man" by Peter Paul Rubens, Public Domain
One Male God: From around the 5th century BCE to the 7th century CE, the view of a singular male god was solidified in western culture through a thousand years of monotheistic tradition in which all the major prophets whose works we know were men. These faiths share many views on women, such as the impurity of menstruation–eww!, the need for some degree of male control over women (and in particular female sexuality), and a seeming condoning of economic and social reliance on men even where the genders may be considered spiritual equals. These constraints all relate to the perceived purpose of women–to bear and raise children. It was all about the continuation of the male family line.
Original Sin: The Hebrew Bible is an early Abrahamic account of world events. Many stories within the Hebrew Bible are corroborated by other texts from those eras like the Epic of Gilgamesh, which discusses a great flood similar to that of Noah’s story, making it hard to ignore as both a religious and historical text. Two books of the Hebrew Bible, Ruth and Esther, tell women’s stories and have women’s names. Although many women are featured in the Hebrew Bible, none of the confirmed authors are known to be women. (Though, there are theories that some of them were.)
It begins with the story of Creation, where the idea of a strictly male monotheism is evident. God creates a garden and then the world’s first man, Adam or literally, “Man.” The scriptures say he is made in God’s own image, solidifying the view of God as a male (despite assertions elsewhere that God is beyond human concepts such as gender). From Adam’s rib, Eve, the first woman, is created. God tells them not to eat from the tree of knowledge in the Garden, but Eve is corrupted by a snake and eats from the tree, subsequently convincing Adam to do so too. They become “knowledgeable,” the meaning of which has been debated for milenia, and see their nakedness. God is furious. In the later Christian interpretation, Eve is deemed singularly responsible for the fall of humankind and humans’ expulsion from the Garden because she was tempted by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit. In the 400s, this story was interpreted by Augustine of Hippo who introduced the Christian concept of Original Sin, some interpret it to mean that women were uniquely vulnerable to the temptation of sin.
When later Christians compiled the books of the Bible, they destroyed as blasphemy a collection of books, today known as the Gnostic Gospels. Today, the Gnostic Gospels are regarded as an alternative, rather than a blasphemous, set of books that reveal the story of creation and early humans. They show the diversity of early Christian thinking. These works had a different rendition of the story of Adam and Eve: the snake is not evil, but represents divine wisdom. The snake “convinces Adam and Eve to partake of knowledge while ‘the Lord’ threatens them with death, trying jealously to prevent them from attaining knowledge, and expelling them from Paradise when they achieve it.” In another Gnostic text, Thunder, Perfect Mind,” a feminine voice, often used to represent complex ideas, states in a poem:
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin....
I am the barren one, and many are her sons....
I am the silence that is incomprehensible....
I am the utterance of my name.
None of these scholars were likely women.
Original Sin: The Hebrew Bible is an early Abrahamic account of world events. Many stories within the Hebrew Bible are corroborated by other texts from those eras like the Epic of Gilgamesh, which discusses a great flood similar to that of Noah’s story, making it hard to ignore as both a religious and historical text. Two books of the Hebrew Bible, Ruth and Esther, tell women’s stories and have women’s names. Although many women are featured in the Hebrew Bible, none of the confirmed authors are known to be women. (Though, there are theories that some of them were.)
It begins with the story of Creation, where the idea of a strictly male monotheism is evident. God creates a garden and then the world’s first man, Adam or literally, “Man.” The scriptures say he is made in God’s own image, solidifying the view of God as a male (despite assertions elsewhere that God is beyond human concepts such as gender). From Adam’s rib, Eve, the first woman, is created. God tells them not to eat from the tree of knowledge in the Garden, but Eve is corrupted by a snake and eats from the tree, subsequently convincing Adam to do so too. They become “knowledgeable,” the meaning of which has been debated for milenia, and see their nakedness. God is furious. In the later Christian interpretation, Eve is deemed singularly responsible for the fall of humankind and humans’ expulsion from the Garden because she was tempted by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit. In the 400s, this story was interpreted by Augustine of Hippo who introduced the Christian concept of Original Sin, some interpret it to mean that women were uniquely vulnerable to the temptation of sin.
When later Christians compiled the books of the Bible, they destroyed as blasphemy a collection of books, today known as the Gnostic Gospels. Today, the Gnostic Gospels are regarded as an alternative, rather than a blasphemous, set of books that reveal the story of creation and early humans. They show the diversity of early Christian thinking. These works had a different rendition of the story of Adam and Eve: the snake is not evil, but represents divine wisdom. The snake “convinces Adam and Eve to partake of knowledge while ‘the Lord’ threatens them with death, trying jealously to prevent them from attaining knowledge, and expelling them from Paradise when they achieve it.” In another Gnostic text, Thunder, Perfect Mind,” a feminine voice, often used to represent complex ideas, states in a poem:
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin....
I am the barren one, and many are her sons....
I am the silence that is incomprehensible....
I am the utterance of my name.
None of these scholars were likely women.
"Abraham, Sarah, and the Angel" by Jan Provoost, Wikimedia Commons
Judaism: Gender differences found in Hebrew literature suggest women were subordinate to men in ancient Jewish tradition. In fact the first book, Genesis, is often called “God’s curse to womenkind.” One example of women’s subservience to men is evident in the story of Judaism’s founder, Abraham, a man from Ur who accepts that there is only one true God. As in most patriarchal cultures, his wife Sarah follows him on his spiritual journey.
It was essential for the patriarch to have an heir, so it was very common in ancient cultures of the Fertile Crescent for men to take on concubines, or secondary wives, even at the request of the primary wife. The stability of the family relied upon a new generation. Sarah was super worried Abraham would have no heir with her so she gave him an enslaved woman named Hagar, in order to produce a male heir. In the story, God hadn’t intended this– he wanted Abraham to have a child with his wife by correcting their behavior. Because of her selflessness, Sarah becomes the first person in the Bible to have a healing– God allows her to become pregnant and produce a male child, Isaac.
Things did not remain all hunky dory. In the Book of Genesis we learn that Abraham betrays his wife to save his own skin. Hebrew stories tend to portray their male protagonists with flaws, so it is worth noting that the men’s stories were sometimes examples of what NOT to do. In this instance, a famine causes the couple to be refugees and Abraham worried that his beautiful wife would be a prize Egyptians would like. He begs her to pretend to be his sister so they won’t kill him to get her. The Pharaoh finds her desirable and she becomes his concubine, rewarding her “brother” with wealth. Hey, great plan, Abe. Abraham saved his own skin at the expense of his wife. Abraham pulls the same trick with their next host, the king Abemelek of Gerar. God spoke to the king and told him to return Sarah to her husband, and until he did so no woman of Abemelek’s court would conceive. Despite Abraham being responsible for the lies, only Sarah is blamed for the misfortune of all these women: “For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house… because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” Abraham threw Sarah under the chariot.
It was essential for the patriarch to have an heir, so it was very common in ancient cultures of the Fertile Crescent for men to take on concubines, or secondary wives, even at the request of the primary wife. The stability of the family relied upon a new generation. Sarah was super worried Abraham would have no heir with her so she gave him an enslaved woman named Hagar, in order to produce a male heir. In the story, God hadn’t intended this– he wanted Abraham to have a child with his wife by correcting their behavior. Because of her selflessness, Sarah becomes the first person in the Bible to have a healing– God allows her to become pregnant and produce a male child, Isaac.
Things did not remain all hunky dory. In the Book of Genesis we learn that Abraham betrays his wife to save his own skin. Hebrew stories tend to portray their male protagonists with flaws, so it is worth noting that the men’s stories were sometimes examples of what NOT to do. In this instance, a famine causes the couple to be refugees and Abraham worried that his beautiful wife would be a prize Egyptians would like. He begs her to pretend to be his sister so they won’t kill him to get her. The Pharaoh finds her desirable and she becomes his concubine, rewarding her “brother” with wealth. Hey, great plan, Abe. Abraham saved his own skin at the expense of his wife. Abraham pulls the same trick with their next host, the king Abemelek of Gerar. God spoke to the king and told him to return Sarah to her husband, and until he did so no woman of Abemelek’s court would conceive. Despite Abraham being responsible for the lies, only Sarah is blamed for the misfortune of all these women: “For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house… because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” Abraham threw Sarah under the chariot.
Rahab featured in James Tissot's The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies, Wikimedia Commons
Women featured in the Hebrew Bible seem to have power and autonomy, although they were socially unequal. Rahab, for example, was a prostitute who sheltered Hebrew spies during the invasion of Canaan. Deborah, is the only female judge in a male-dominated culture, and Esther, the influential Persian Queen saves the Jewish people by foiling a plot to murder them by the evil minister, Haman.
Some women are derided in the Old Testament. Jezebel, persecuted the prophets and clung to idolatrous religion and thus earned such a reputation for wickedness that even today her name is used to describe a deceitful woman. Her story shows that she had her own beliefs and had some agency to act upon them.
Jezebel wasn’t the only woman with agency in Hebrew stories. The Queen of Sheba for instance is written about extensively in the Abrahamic faiths, although some consider her a mythological character. She is a wise and respected queen from Arabia who finds clever ways to protect and mother her people including marrying an enemy to save her people from war, only to kill him on the night of their wedding. Following this unbelievable event, the Jewish King Solomon hears of her power, but he is really panting after her spectacular throne, and demands she come submit to him. After an exchange, she eventually comes with an entourage, only to find Solomon had stolen her throne and was sitting on it. In some versions of the story, she accepts defeat and submits to him to save her people. Humbling herself before a powerful male king, she crossed a glass floor to approach him and, thinking it was water, lifted her skirts to reveal her hairy legs. Boy, that Solomon was a charmer.
Modern female scholars, across Abrahamic faiths, read her story differently. She was a wise queen who put her people before her pride. And accepted humiliation to avoid war. Scholars can draw wildly different conclusions.
Some women are derided in the Old Testament. Jezebel, persecuted the prophets and clung to idolatrous religion and thus earned such a reputation for wickedness that even today her name is used to describe a deceitful woman. Her story shows that she had her own beliefs and had some agency to act upon them.
Jezebel wasn’t the only woman with agency in Hebrew stories. The Queen of Sheba for instance is written about extensively in the Abrahamic faiths, although some consider her a mythological character. She is a wise and respected queen from Arabia who finds clever ways to protect and mother her people including marrying an enemy to save her people from war, only to kill him on the night of their wedding. Following this unbelievable event, the Jewish King Solomon hears of her power, but he is really panting after her spectacular throne, and demands she come submit to him. After an exchange, she eventually comes with an entourage, only to find Solomon had stolen her throne and was sitting on it. In some versions of the story, she accepts defeat and submits to him to save her people. Humbling herself before a powerful male king, she crossed a glass floor to approach him and, thinking it was water, lifted her skirts to reveal her hairy legs. Boy, that Solomon was a charmer.
Modern female scholars, across Abrahamic faiths, read her story differently. She was a wise queen who put her people before her pride. And accepted humiliation to avoid war. Scholars can draw wildly different conclusions.
Virgin Mary, Public Domain
Jesus: These stories were well known when Jesus Christ, a Jew born under Roman rule, preached the story of a loving God who absolved sin and forgave. Women, including his mother, Mary, became immediate followers. His teaching was recorded in the four gospels and other books in the New Testament in which women were portrayed on the extremes: either so pure as to be unattainable, or whores.
Mary, or the Virgin Mary, has always been central to the story of Christianity and fits into the unattainable category. In the New Testament, God sends an angel to Mary to tell her that she will bear the son of God: Jesus. Mary's epic and pregnant journey to Bethlehem has been told and reenacted in churches around the world for millennia. But Mary's virginity, central to the story, has no basis in history. Mary would have been very young at the age she was betrothed to Joseph, perhaps 12. A year after their betrothal, she would've been sent to live with Joseph and his family. Had she become pregnant out of wedlock in that time, she would have been terrified, as the consequences were severe, including the possibility of being sold into slavery or stoned to death. Yet the New Testament tells us that Joseph was visited by an angel and told to marry her anyway. Some haters tried to slander Mary’s story by claiming she was raped by a Roman soldier, and even provided a name of one, but this story was likely concocted to discredit Jesus.
In the Greek and Roman tradition, virgin births were common. Dionysos was the son of a virgin. Jason was the son of the virgin Persephone. Plato’s mother, Perictione, was a virgin. Attis a Phrygo-Roman god was born to the virgin Nana, on December 25 no less. Even Emperor Augustus, traced his lineage back to Romulus and Remus, who were born by a god to a virgin priestess.
In 1896 a German scholar purchased fragments of what would later be determined to be Gnostic gospels. These 1st century Christian texts were not incorporated into the official Bible, but are still used by scholars today. Combined, these fragments and complete works comprised over fifty different texts with different authors dated during and after the life of Jesus. They included gospels, poems, and myths, you guessed it, very different from those selected by the early Christian church to be in the Bible. One of these authors, uncopied for almost two millennia, was named after, and maybe authored by, a woman: Mary Magdalene.
Mary, or the Virgin Mary, has always been central to the story of Christianity and fits into the unattainable category. In the New Testament, God sends an angel to Mary to tell her that she will bear the son of God: Jesus. Mary's epic and pregnant journey to Bethlehem has been told and reenacted in churches around the world for millennia. But Mary's virginity, central to the story, has no basis in history. Mary would have been very young at the age she was betrothed to Joseph, perhaps 12. A year after their betrothal, she would've been sent to live with Joseph and his family. Had she become pregnant out of wedlock in that time, she would have been terrified, as the consequences were severe, including the possibility of being sold into slavery or stoned to death. Yet the New Testament tells us that Joseph was visited by an angel and told to marry her anyway. Some haters tried to slander Mary’s story by claiming she was raped by a Roman soldier, and even provided a name of one, but this story was likely concocted to discredit Jesus.
In the Greek and Roman tradition, virgin births were common. Dionysos was the son of a virgin. Jason was the son of the virgin Persephone. Plato’s mother, Perictione, was a virgin. Attis a Phrygo-Roman god was born to the virgin Nana, on December 25 no less. Even Emperor Augustus, traced his lineage back to Romulus and Remus, who were born by a god to a virgin priestess.
In 1896 a German scholar purchased fragments of what would later be determined to be Gnostic gospels. These 1st century Christian texts were not incorporated into the official Bible, but are still used by scholars today. Combined, these fragments and complete works comprised over fifty different texts with different authors dated during and after the life of Jesus. They included gospels, poems, and myths, you guessed it, very different from those selected by the early Christian church to be in the Bible. One of these authors, uncopied for almost two millennia, was named after, and maybe authored by, a woman: Mary Magdalene.
Section of the Gnostic Gospel, Public Domain
Mary Magdalene and Jesus, Public Domain
The Gnostic gospels made Mary Magdalene a controversial figure because they show a much more involved, and spiritual version of Mary. These gospels were condemned as heresy by the young Christian empire. What has been uncovered from the Gospel of Mary is still missing large portions. Her account makes her central in the aftermath of Jesus’ passing. In Chapter 5, the grieving disciples turned to Mary to hear the words of Christ. She said, “What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.”
Things get tense by Chapter 9, however, when Peter asks, “Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?” Mary weeps at his doubt only to be defended by Levi, who says, “Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.”
These and other parts of the text suggest that Mary was closer to Jesus than the other disciples.
A translation by the historian Elaine Pagels reads, “the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples, and used to kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. The rest of [the disciples were offended] . . . They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?’ The Savior answered and said to them, ‘Why do I not love you as (I love) her?’”
Was the idea of a female partner to Jesus too much? Or was Mary’s gospel and those of her supporters repressed because of the jealousy of the other disciples? Did Jesus truly love her more?
Christian thinkers of the period created a landscape where obedience, self-abnegation, and perpetual remorse were the only acceptable attitudes for women. Why? This comes back to the function of women–to have children.
Early Christian leaders certainly did seem to hold some contempt for women. Saint Paul, who spread the faith in the first century, wrote the most quoted line to silence and subordinate women in 1 Corinthians 14:34: “Women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church.”
Interpreting this line politically, Paul was writing his letters to Christians in Rome and Corinth, with advice on how to avoid being slaughtered by the pagan-Roman majority. Roman’s were very patriarchal compared to the early Christians. So in other words, he’s saying women should keep quiet in church in order to help the Christian minority stay “under the radar,” and keep them safe.
For sure, this line is difficult to interpret because he may even be quoting a Roman law. But regardless, the effect was that a lot of people interpreted it to mean that Paul wanted women to shut up.
Things get tense by Chapter 9, however, when Peter asks, “Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?” Mary weeps at his doubt only to be defended by Levi, who says, “Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.”
These and other parts of the text suggest that Mary was closer to Jesus than the other disciples.
A translation by the historian Elaine Pagels reads, “the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples, and used to kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. The rest of [the disciples were offended] . . . They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?’ The Savior answered and said to them, ‘Why do I not love you as (I love) her?’”
Was the idea of a female partner to Jesus too much? Or was Mary’s gospel and those of her supporters repressed because of the jealousy of the other disciples? Did Jesus truly love her more?
Christian thinkers of the period created a landscape where obedience, self-abnegation, and perpetual remorse were the only acceptable attitudes for women. Why? This comes back to the function of women–to have children.
Early Christian leaders certainly did seem to hold some contempt for women. Saint Paul, who spread the faith in the first century, wrote the most quoted line to silence and subordinate women in 1 Corinthians 14:34: “Women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church.”
Interpreting this line politically, Paul was writing his letters to Christians in Rome and Corinth, with advice on how to avoid being slaughtered by the pagan-Roman majority. Roman’s were very patriarchal compared to the early Christians. So in other words, he’s saying women should keep quiet in church in order to help the Christian minority stay “under the radar,” and keep them safe.
For sure, this line is difficult to interpret because he may even be quoting a Roman law. But regardless, the effect was that a lot of people interpreted it to mean that Paul wanted women to shut up.
Mary Magdalene proclaiming “The First Easter Homily" by Margaret Beaudette, Public Domain
Another prominent Christian thinker, Tertullian, said: “The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives on even in our times so it is necessary that the guilt should live on also. You are the one who opened the door to evil, you are the one who plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, you are the one who deserted the divine law; you are the one who persuaded himwhom the devil was not strong enough to attack. All too easily you destroyed the image of God, man. Because of your deception, that is, death, even the son of God had to die.” Well, doesn’t that just clear everything up?
Tertullian's philosophy and obsession with women’s subjugation became common by the Medieval era. Popular literature portrayed women as subversive, tending to connect women with the wild forces of nature. Men became suspicious of women’s sexuality and fought to suppress it. Once again, sex for women was not supposed to be at al about sex, but just about reproduction.
The myth of Adam and Eve as justification for female subordination, led historian Rosalind Miles to assert that it was “the single most effective piece of enemy propaganda… Eve did not fall, she was pushed.” And certainly its repetition among early modern writers and the continued denial of women’s education supports this.
The two Marys with central roles in the New Testament were stripped of their substance and became known not for their spirituality and guidance of Jesus, but for their sexuality: Mary the impossibly virgin mother and Mary the whore. Were these stories repressed because they did not fit the church's vision of womanhood? This is a tricky question because that vision of women’s role in society was evolving in the early Christian period.
The fact that information was withheld or forcibly repressed reveals the greatest error in traditional history: we disproportionately attribute achievement to men because of a lack of sources about and by women. Women were generally not taught to read and write so they could not leave source documents; also women were confined to households so they did not contribute to public discourse as often. This suggests that it was impossible for women to create sources by women, not that women’s writings were repressed. It’s a subtle difference but it’s an important one.
Tertullian's philosophy and obsession with women’s subjugation became common by the Medieval era. Popular literature portrayed women as subversive, tending to connect women with the wild forces of nature. Men became suspicious of women’s sexuality and fought to suppress it. Once again, sex for women was not supposed to be at al about sex, but just about reproduction.
The myth of Adam and Eve as justification for female subordination, led historian Rosalind Miles to assert that it was “the single most effective piece of enemy propaganda… Eve did not fall, she was pushed.” And certainly its repetition among early modern writers and the continued denial of women’s education supports this.
The two Marys with central roles in the New Testament were stripped of their substance and became known not for their spirituality and guidance of Jesus, but for their sexuality: Mary the impossibly virgin mother and Mary the whore. Were these stories repressed because they did not fit the church's vision of womanhood? This is a tricky question because that vision of women’s role in society was evolving in the early Christian period.
The fact that information was withheld or forcibly repressed reveals the greatest error in traditional history: we disproportionately attribute achievement to men because of a lack of sources about and by women. Women were generally not taught to read and write so they could not leave source documents; also women were confined to households so they did not contribute to public discourse as often. This suggests that it was impossible for women to create sources by women, not that women’s writings were repressed. It’s a subtle difference but it’s an important one.
The martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus, from the Menologion of Basil II, 1000 CE, Wikimedia Commons
Spreading Christianity: Despite the way the Mary's were portrayed and the attacks on women’s contributions to the faith, women were dedicated to spreading Christianity as in so many ways Christian women were treated better than than non Christians.
Jesus died by crucifixion for the faith and thus early Christians willingly martyred themselves after his example– women too. Two centuries after the death of Jesus, Perpetua was a 22 year old noblewoman and nursing mother. Her slave Felicity was pregnant when both were arrested for being having converted to Christianity in Carthage in north Africa. In prison she wrote an account that is generally recognized as historical, making it the earliest surviving text written by a Christian woman. Perpetua described the anxiety she felt being separated from her unweaned child, how her Pagan father begged her repeatedly to renounce her faith, and how she was eventually reunited with her child and was again able to breastfeed. She said, "Straightway I became well… suddenly the prison was made a palace for me." But her love for her child did not weaken her resolve. She, Felicity, and several male converts held to their faith and were sentenced to death by being attacked by wild animals– a common punishment in Ancient Rome. Felicitas gave birth two days before the execution to a daughter adopted by other Christians, something she considered a miracle. She had been worried her pregnancy would prevent her from joining her friends in martyrdom since Roman law forbade the execution of a pregnant woman. Even in the arena, however, the women were separated from the men so that a female beast, “an enraged heifer”, could kill the women.
Jesus died by crucifixion for the faith and thus early Christians willingly martyred themselves after his example– women too. Two centuries after the death of Jesus, Perpetua was a 22 year old noblewoman and nursing mother. Her slave Felicity was pregnant when both were arrested for being having converted to Christianity in Carthage in north Africa. In prison she wrote an account that is generally recognized as historical, making it the earliest surviving text written by a Christian woman. Perpetua described the anxiety she felt being separated from her unweaned child, how her Pagan father begged her repeatedly to renounce her faith, and how she was eventually reunited with her child and was again able to breastfeed. She said, "Straightway I became well… suddenly the prison was made a palace for me." But her love for her child did not weaken her resolve. She, Felicity, and several male converts held to their faith and were sentenced to death by being attacked by wild animals– a common punishment in Ancient Rome. Felicitas gave birth two days before the execution to a daughter adopted by other Christians, something she considered a miracle. She had been worried her pregnancy would prevent her from joining her friends in martyrdom since Roman law forbade the execution of a pregnant woman. Even in the arena, however, the women were separated from the men so that a female beast, “an enraged heifer”, could kill the women.
Nuns, Public Domain
Convents: Monasteries were common across Europe and as far back as the 300s, and women served in them performing similar duties to their male counterparts, although usually with male supervisors after the seventh century. Inside convents, women became scholars after vowing to be chaste, served the needy, and renounced their earthly possessions. By dedicating their lives to God, women were allowed a choice other than motherhood and domestic servitude. Outside the church, the only option for most women was marriage and that carried risks. Nuns of the early convent period often lived between two and four times longer than their married counterparts. This was largely due to the fact that childbirth was a leading cause of death for premodern women
Convents did not upend the patriarchy, they just provided refuge from it for centuries to come. But there was a limit to their academic and spiritual power. Nuns who forgot or defied the patriarchal power structure might be punished, especially by the Reformation era in Europe. In the 1600s in England for example, one nun who tried to build a school to educate young girls was imprisoned in a windowless cell. Two other nuns began preaching in the streets. When asked who their husband was, the women replied, “They had no husband but Jesus Christ.” The mayor dubbed them whores and instructed the constable to whip them in the public square until blood ran down their backs.
Convents did not upend the patriarchy, they just provided refuge from it for centuries to come. But there was a limit to their academic and spiritual power. Nuns who forgot or defied the patriarchal power structure might be punished, especially by the Reformation era in Europe. In the 1600s in England for example, one nun who tried to build a school to educate young girls was imprisoned in a windowless cell. Two other nuns began preaching in the streets. When asked who their husband was, the women replied, “They had no husband but Jesus Christ.” The mayor dubbed them whores and instructed the constable to whip them in the public square until blood ran down their backs.
Eastern and Western Empire, Wikimedia Commons
Constantine and Hypatia: Eventually the Roman empire split into the West and East. In Rome, Christianity gradually took root in the context of a warring, bankrupt, and tumultuous political landscape. The Eastern emperor Constantine the first, or the Great, demanded religious toleration for all faiths, and he returned sacked Christian churches to the faithful.
He became the first Roman emperor to not really convert, but accept Christianity, his mother Helena’s religion. Roman traditionalists were horrified at his conversion and growing tyrannical rule. He used terror to force conversions and secure his power, which briefly reunited the fracturing empire. Importantly, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea which determined the fate of the Mary's by locking down the canon of texts to be included in the Bible and destroying all others as heresy.
Pagan writings and beliefs ultimately met the same fate. A group called the “parabalani” operated throughout the empire as essentially Christian terrorists, persecuting non-believers. After a brief reprise following Constantine’s death, Theodisius I became emperor, declaring Christianity the state religion and empowering the parabalani and bishops to destroy Jewish and pagan temples and idols.
Ancient Egypt had a long tradition of polytheism and a caste of female-priestesses under the goddess of the alphabet and library. Egyptians in the early centuries saw notable women scholars emerge such as Hypatia and Maria of Alexandria.
Maria for example founded theoretical and experimental alchemy and invented tools used by modern chemists. Little is known about her because none of her original philosophical writings exist. Scholars who wrote about her put her in so many different places and times scholars believe she may be more than one woman. It is possible there were multiple Marias or that women assumed her name for her notability.
He became the first Roman emperor to not really convert, but accept Christianity, his mother Helena’s religion. Roman traditionalists were horrified at his conversion and growing tyrannical rule. He used terror to force conversions and secure his power, which briefly reunited the fracturing empire. Importantly, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea which determined the fate of the Mary's by locking down the canon of texts to be included in the Bible and destroying all others as heresy.
Pagan writings and beliefs ultimately met the same fate. A group called the “parabalani” operated throughout the empire as essentially Christian terrorists, persecuting non-believers. After a brief reprise following Constantine’s death, Theodisius I became emperor, declaring Christianity the state religion and empowering the parabalani and bishops to destroy Jewish and pagan temples and idols.
Ancient Egypt had a long tradition of polytheism and a caste of female-priestesses under the goddess of the alphabet and library. Egyptians in the early centuries saw notable women scholars emerge such as Hypatia and Maria of Alexandria.
Maria for example founded theoretical and experimental alchemy and invented tools used by modern chemists. Little is known about her because none of her original philosophical writings exist. Scholars who wrote about her put her in so many different places and times scholars believe she may be more than one woman. It is possible there were multiple Marias or that women assumed her name for her notability.
Death of Hypatia, Wikimedia Commons
In Hypatia’s case, her accomplishments are well documented by primary sources. Her resistance to the dominant culture and her defiance of growing Christianity led to her demise. She was brilliant and noted by her contemporaries for her intellectualism. She was the only woman to hold a position as an academic at Alexandria’s University and did so wearing the same robes as the male scholars. One primary account described her, saying: “On account of her self-possession and ease of manner, which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in coming to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.”
Hypatia’s high profile proved to be problematic. Hypatia stood between reason and the newly-formed Christian church. Historian Joshua Mark, explained that her “charisma, charm, and excellence in making difficult mathematical and philosophical concepts understandable to her students… contradicted the teachings of the relatively new church.” Hypatia’s world became the center of a religious conflict that disrupted the religious syncretism of the Roman Empire and ultimately cost her life.
Alexandria became a hotbed for the conflict when Cyril became the Christian bishop there and a more moderate Christian, Orestes,was appointed the lesser title of Prefect. Cyril expelled the Jewish population and destroyed pagan temples, their gods and goddesses, and documents, an act that infuriated Orestes. He wrote to the bishop of his opposition, which resulted in a multiple-year political confrontation. Overtime, Cyril fueled Christians fear by turning on Hypatia, one of Orestes greatest supporters, using her pagan beliefs and unnatural position as a famous woman scholar to condemn her. A sympathetic Socrates Scholasticus wrote: “Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace, that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop. Some of them therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal… and dragging her from her carriage… stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs… and there burnt them… surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort.”
Other accounts say that the parabalani pulled her from her carriage and murdered her with oyster shells. The ancient historian, Damascus, told a much different version of the story. He said that the Christian bishop was so shocked when he arrived in Alexandria by the throngs of people coming to listen to a woman that he immediately began to plan her murder. He said: “This information gave his heart such a prick… So next time, when following her usual custom, she appeared on the street, a mob of brutal men at once rushed at her—truly wicked men ‘fearing neither the revenge of the gods nor the judgment of men’ – and killed the philosopher… while she was still feebly twitching, they beat her eyes out… and as a result they laid upon the city the heaviest blood-guilt.”
Much later the story was dramatized by John of Naikiu to emphasize her witch-likeness : “She was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her satanic wiles. And the governor of the city [Orestes] honored her exceedingly for she had beguiled him through her magic.”
Whatever the detail of her horrible demise, Hypatia’s crime was being an educated woman allied with Orestes in opposition to the fanatic Christians in Alexandria.
None of the opponents who faced death for their pagan or Jewish beliefs died in such a way. Orestes himself, the person actually standing in Cyril’s path, disappeared. Had he been a woman would he have met the same gruesome fate? Intellectual life in Alexandria ceased to exist following Hypatia’s murder; the school closed, Hypatia’s writings were destroyed as heresy. Cyril was elevated to sainthood and Hypatia was forgotten until the Renaissance re-interested Europe in the bygone knowledge. Spoiler alert: the Renaissance wasn’t much of one for women.
Importantly, we must ask, was it her womanhood or her pagan-ness that cost her life? Is it possible to segregate the two?
Hypatia’s high profile proved to be problematic. Hypatia stood between reason and the newly-formed Christian church. Historian Joshua Mark, explained that her “charisma, charm, and excellence in making difficult mathematical and philosophical concepts understandable to her students… contradicted the teachings of the relatively new church.” Hypatia’s world became the center of a religious conflict that disrupted the religious syncretism of the Roman Empire and ultimately cost her life.
Alexandria became a hotbed for the conflict when Cyril became the Christian bishop there and a more moderate Christian, Orestes,was appointed the lesser title of Prefect. Cyril expelled the Jewish population and destroyed pagan temples, their gods and goddesses, and documents, an act that infuriated Orestes. He wrote to the bishop of his opposition, which resulted in a multiple-year political confrontation. Overtime, Cyril fueled Christians fear by turning on Hypatia, one of Orestes greatest supporters, using her pagan beliefs and unnatural position as a famous woman scholar to condemn her. A sympathetic Socrates Scholasticus wrote: “Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace, that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop. Some of them therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal… and dragging her from her carriage… stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs… and there burnt them… surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort.”
Other accounts say that the parabalani pulled her from her carriage and murdered her with oyster shells. The ancient historian, Damascus, told a much different version of the story. He said that the Christian bishop was so shocked when he arrived in Alexandria by the throngs of people coming to listen to a woman that he immediately began to plan her murder. He said: “This information gave his heart such a prick… So next time, when following her usual custom, she appeared on the street, a mob of brutal men at once rushed at her—truly wicked men ‘fearing neither the revenge of the gods nor the judgment of men’ – and killed the philosopher… while she was still feebly twitching, they beat her eyes out… and as a result they laid upon the city the heaviest blood-guilt.”
Much later the story was dramatized by John of Naikiu to emphasize her witch-likeness : “She was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her satanic wiles. And the governor of the city [Orestes] honored her exceedingly for she had beguiled him through her magic.”
Whatever the detail of her horrible demise, Hypatia’s crime was being an educated woman allied with Orestes in opposition to the fanatic Christians in Alexandria.
None of the opponents who faced death for their pagan or Jewish beliefs died in such a way. Orestes himself, the person actually standing in Cyril’s path, disappeared. Had he been a woman would he have met the same gruesome fate? Intellectual life in Alexandria ceased to exist following Hypatia’s murder; the school closed, Hypatia’s writings were destroyed as heresy. Cyril was elevated to sainthood and Hypatia was forgotten until the Renaissance re-interested Europe in the bygone knowledge. Spoiler alert: the Renaissance wasn’t much of one for women.
Importantly, we must ask, was it her womanhood or her pagan-ness that cost her life? Is it possible to segregate the two?
Hildegard of Bingen, Wikimedia Commons
Islam: Judaism and Christianity continued to spread, morph, and adapt throughout the world. In the 7th century, the battle for monotheism spread to the Arabian peninsula. This religion, whose tenets were revealed through the Prophet Muhammad, came to be known as Islam. It began as a monotheistic tradition intended to replace Paganism and perfect belief in the One True God as a culmination of the Jewish and Christian traditions. Like Christianity before it, Islam adopted all of the male prophets and stories of the Old and New Testaments. It also followed the Jewish tradition of referring to God, or Allah, a being beyond human categorizations such as gender, with masculine pronouns leading many to imagine God as male. Learn more about women in Islam.
Conclusion: All around the world, religions played a critical role in creating the cultural and belief structures that defined women’s lives. Some feminists go so far as to suggest, “Religions are one of the oldest and the most persistent obstacles on the way of women’s equality and freedom. Indeed, religion is women’s enemy and it is the nature of all religions… to look backwards to past ancient times and antiquated values.”
Even in the Americas, where societies were developing without the benefits of Afro-Eurasian cultural diffusion, many of the Mesoamerican gods that had been gender-less or dual gender were superseded by an all powerful male, sun god, reflecting the military society they lived in.
To this day, the role of women in the monotheistic traditions is a hotly contested topic. We encourage you to revisit these faiths and find the women whose stories have been downplayed or even erased for centuries.
What role did women play in the early days of these traditions, and how have they shaped them in the centuries since? How did women find agency despite official doctrine? How did these faiths affect the day to day realities of female followers of the faiths? And if we look at the evidence, is the monotheistic God really as masculine as patriarchal tradition would have us believe? And those nunneries– what role would they play in pushing back against the male leadership?
Conclusion: All around the world, religions played a critical role in creating the cultural and belief structures that defined women’s lives. Some feminists go so far as to suggest, “Religions are one of the oldest and the most persistent obstacles on the way of women’s equality and freedom. Indeed, religion is women’s enemy and it is the nature of all religions… to look backwards to past ancient times and antiquated values.”
Even in the Americas, where societies were developing without the benefits of Afro-Eurasian cultural diffusion, many of the Mesoamerican gods that had been gender-less or dual gender were superseded by an all powerful male, sun god, reflecting the military society they lived in.
To this day, the role of women in the monotheistic traditions is a hotly contested topic. We encourage you to revisit these faiths and find the women whose stories have been downplayed or even erased for centuries.
What role did women play in the early days of these traditions, and how have they shaped them in the centuries since? How did women find agency despite official doctrine? How did these faiths affect the day to day realities of female followers of the faiths? And if we look at the evidence, is the monotheistic God really as masculine as patriarchal tradition would have us believe? And those nunneries– what role would they play in pushing back against the male leadership?
Draw your own conclusions
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Why would someone give their life for their beliefs?
Rome persecuted Jews and Christians, preferring Polytheism. But over time this perspective changed. Increasing hostilities between believers led to violent executions and martyrdoms. Pragmatically, Romans opted for a policy of religious toleration, but this path was unsuccessful. Jews were expelled from cities, Christian's crucified in parts of the empire. When Constantine adopted Christianity as the official faith, it gave Christians an opportunity at revenge. This inquiry examines the lives of Perpetua and Felicity, two Christian martyrs and Hypatia, a pagan scholar butchered in the street by a Christian mob. This lesson would be well paired with the Stanford History Education Group's lesson Rome and Christianity. 
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Was early Christianity misogynistic?
In this inquiry, students explore the Christian writings about women recorded in the canonized books of the Bible. All of the authors are men. Women's lives across Christendom were impacted by these short lines of text for millennia.
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Was Mary a Virgin?
The “Virgin Mary,” the mother of Jesus Christ has a fascinating story, but one that has changed over time. Her story is important to women’s history because it has defined the way that women in Christendom were seen throughout time. Mary’s status as a virgin, the mother of a human son, or the son of God, or both matters because it reveals the extent of God‘s power and sets a really high bar for women to attain spirituality. To be godly, Mary had to be a virgin. If not a virgin, then she becomes human, and saintly. But she also becomes attainable for other women and cultural and religious dialogue about Women’s virginity and saintliness disappear. To examine the sink worry, students will explore early Christian primary documents and consider the reliability and contradictory nature of those documents. Students will better understand the story of sick Mary and will better understand the historiography of the Bible and other religious texts. In this inquiry, students will examine primary and secondary sources to answer the inquiry question. Students should read the documents and respond to the questions, keeping in mind the big question for analysis and debate.
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St. Mary of Egypt and Moral Progress, Wikimedia Commons
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How did Byzantines portray Mary of Egypt?
Saint Mary of Egypt's story as portrayed in the Byzantine texts and art is interesting for its portrayal of gender and sexuality and gives insights to Byzantine values. In this inquiry, students will examine Byzantine primary sources to more deeply understand cultural values.
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Nuns, Wikimedia Commons
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How did nunneries expand and limit women's opportunities in the Middle Ages?
In this inquiry, students explore primary and secondary material about women inside Medieval convents to determine if these were oppressive institutions, or freeing from the patriarchal burdens.
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Lesson Plans from Other Organizations
- This website, Women in World History has primary source based lesson plans on women's history in a whole range of topics. Some are free while others have a cost.
- The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has produced recommendations for teaching women's history with primary sources and provided a collection of sources for world history. Check them out!
- The Stanford History Education Group has a number of lesson plans about women in World History.
Bibliography
BBC. "Mary." BBC. Last modified August 2, 2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/virginmary_1.shtml.
Beard, Mary. Women & Power: A Manifesto. Liveright Publishing Corporation: New York, NY, 2017.
Helleman, Wendy Elgersma. "From Patristics to the Study of Early Christianity." Evangelical Review Of Theology 38, no. 3 (July 2014): 231-249. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.
Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
Lewis, Berwyn. “There's nothing new about virgin births (just ask Plato).” The Sydney Morning Herald. December 26, 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-s-nothing-new-about-virgin-births-just-ask-plato-20191225-p53mui.html#:~:text=A%20virgin%20rollcall%20might%20include,%2C%20Nana%2C%20on%20December%2025.
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books, 1979, p. xiii-xxiii. Reprinted by PBS with permission. Last modified 1998. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/gnostic-gospels/.
Socrates Scholasticus. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf202/npnf202.ii.x.xv.html.
Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.
Swetnam, Joseph. “The Araignment of Lewde, idle, forward, and vnconftant women, 1615.” Female Replies to Swetnam the Woman-Hater. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1995.
Warren, MJC. “What child is this?” The Conversation. Last modified December 23, 2016. https://theconversation.com/what-child-is-this-miraculous-births-and-divine-parents-in-the-time-of-jesus-70109.
Beard, Mary. Women & Power: A Manifesto. Liveright Publishing Corporation: New York, NY, 2017.
Helleman, Wendy Elgersma. "From Patristics to the Study of Early Christianity." Evangelical Review Of Theology 38, no. 3 (July 2014): 231-249. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.
Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
Lewis, Berwyn. “There's nothing new about virgin births (just ask Plato).” The Sydney Morning Herald. December 26, 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-s-nothing-new-about-virgin-births-just-ask-plato-20191225-p53mui.html#:~:text=A%20virgin%20rollcall%20might%20include,%2C%20Nana%2C%20on%20December%2025.
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books, 1979, p. xiii-xxiii. Reprinted by PBS with permission. Last modified 1998. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/gnostic-gospels/.
Socrates Scholasticus. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf202/npnf202.ii.x.xv.html.
Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.
Swetnam, Joseph. “The Araignment of Lewde, idle, forward, and vnconftant women, 1615.” Female Replies to Swetnam the Woman-Hater. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1995.
Warren, MJC. “What child is this?” The Conversation. Last modified December 23, 2016. https://theconversation.com/what-child-is-this-miraculous-births-and-divine-parents-in-the-time-of-jesus-70109.
AUTHORs |
Chloe Gardner, Kelsie Brook Eckert, Dr. Whitney Howarth
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PRIMARY REVIEWERs |
Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon
Dr. Barbara Tischler, Dr. Jonathan Couser, Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, and Sara Stone |
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Kelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Consultant Professor of History at Maryville College. Chloe Gardner, Consultant PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University Dr. Whitney Howarth, Consultant Former Professor of History at Plymouth State University Jacqui Nelson, Consultant Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University Maria Concepcion Marquez Sandoval PhD Candidate in History at Arizona University |
Chris Canfield
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy ReviewersAncient:
Dr. Kristin Heineman Professor of History at Colorado State University Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon Professor of History at Wilson College Sarah Stone PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University Medieval: Dr. Katherine Koh Professor of History at La Sierra University Dr. Jonathan Couser Professor of History at Plymouth State University Dr. Shahla Haeri Professor of History at Boston University Lauren Cole PhD Candidate in History at Northwestern University |
Remedial Herstory Editors. "9. 0 ONE MALE GOD OVER WOMEN" The Remedial Herstory Project. November 1, 2022. www.remedialherstory.com.
