Since this is Good Friday, I think I'll write today about women in the christian bible. I'd like to write about women and other religions another time, but I have to do a bit more research on a couple of religions to make sure I've got my stuff straight. I know christianity, since I was raised on it, so I'll start with that.
well, if we start at the beginning, we start at Genesis. After god created the heavens and the earth and all that was in it, he decided there should be a keeper of the earth, so he created humans. It is believed that there are five authors of the old testament of the bible, because throughout, you can see differing styles of writing/storytelling. In Genesis, there are two different accounts of the creation story, written by two different authors. One tells the story of Adam being created first, then Eve being created out of one of Adam's ribs. The other says man and woman were created together. It is the first account that is more well-known, and has been used for centuries to relegate women to the status of "sexond sex" (a term coined by the brilliant feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir). Once Adam and Eve were around, they were told not to eat the fruit from one tree in Eden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then one day, as the story goes, a serpent slithered along and began chatting with Eve, and convinced her that the fruit from this tree would make her and Adam like gods and she really should try it and give some to Adam, because god was just being selfish. So, she did. and then it all went downhill. They began to feel shame, and tried to hide themselves from god, who knew something was up and asked Adam what happened. Adam told god that "the woman you gave to be with me gave me the fruit and I ate." This statement is dual-purpose: it established Eve's purpose for existence as relational to Adam, and it blamed Eve fully for The Fall – human kind's fall from the good graces of god into a life of sin and the fate of death, responsible for death and suffering.This story, by the way, is not new. Remember Pandora, who opened that fateful box and unleashed pain, suffering, and disease onto the earth, and then was blamed forever for all the world's problems? and the Blackfoot Indians tell of Feather-woman, who dug up the Great Turnip and unleashed all kinds of bad problems, and was cast out of Sky-Country as a result. And then there's the hebrew legend of Lilith, who was the first woman and Adam's first wife. She refused to make love the way Adam wanted, in the traditional missionary style, man on top. She demanded to be treated as Adam's equal, and of course he refused, and Lilith left. As the story goes, she spoke the unspeakable name of god, and was turned into a demon. She was then depicted as a demon who came out at night to drink the blood of infants and women during pregnancy, becoming the first vampire. Woman being blamed for bad stuff isn't unique to christianity, and it certainly doesn't stop with Eve. Let's look a bit further…
Next we have Sarah, the wife of Abraham. The pharoah of Egypt wanted Sarah for himself, because she was so beautiful. (objectifying women began a long time ago.) So Abraham convinced Sarah to pretend she was his sister in order to save his own life, and she was taken as a concubine to the Pharoah. (Nice way to treat your wife.) Later on, they got back together, and Sarah, who was "barren", told Abraham to take her Egyptian slave Hagar as a concubine so he could have an heir. Any child of Hagar's would be considered Sarah's anyway. (See the trading of women here for the purpose of making male heirs?) So Abraham did this, and Hagar became pregnant. Here the story gets interesting – Sarah becomes jealous of Hagar, and Hagar runs away to avoid mistreatment by Sarah (of course she would be jealous of the woman who could fulfill the female purpose better than she could), returning only when god tells her that her son will father many. She has her son, Ishmael, and later on Sarah, who is past the point of childbearing, miraculously has a child, Isaac. God makes Abraham promise to circumcise all the male children of his tribe through Sarah. Sarah gets jealous again, and forces Hagar and Ishmael out of town. Isaac becomes the father of Esau and Jacob, and the Jewish people trace their lineage through him, while the Arab people trace their lineage through Ishmael – both sons of Abraham. (Abraham plasy an important part in Islam as well.)
Jacob, son of Isaac, finds a woman he thinks is very beautiful, but he cannot afford to buy her (!!!!), so he agrees to work for his uncle, Rachel's father, for 7 years to pay for her. Whent he time comes, uncle substitutes his eldest daughter, Leah, and veils her to disguise her identity (presumably she was not as beautiful as Rachel). Jacob still wants to marry Rachel, so he agrees to work for 7 more years to pay for her. Leah bears him 4 sons, and Rachel gets jealous because she is "barren" and offers her slave to Jacob (remember, these kids will be considered hers), who bears him 2 sons. Leah can't seem to conceive anymore, so offers her slave to Jacob, and he fathers 2 more sons, after which Leah gets pregnant again and has 2 sons and 1 daughter. Rachel's infertility is cured and she has 2 sons, but dies giving birth to the second. This story definitely makes it clear that women's purpose is to have children, and preferably sons, and that if they can't, they become very jealous and competitive.
The one daughter, Dinah, has a nasty fate. She is raped. The father of the rapist feels terrible, and offers to have the rapist marry Dinah, and that all the men in the town should be circumcised – displaying their allegiance to Jacob's god, and further allowing intermarriages between the two tribes. Jacob agrees to this – of course, Dinah has no choice but to marry her rapist. Her brothers, however, see things differently and they pillage the city in retribution for their sister's rape. Finally, some sense in the biblical men – not that they do a good thing in pillaging the city, but that they see their sister's rape as a very bad thing!
Much later on, in the book of Judges, we encounter a woman who is NEVER mentioned in bible classes. Her name is Deborah, and she is described as a prophetess, a warrior, and a judge (tribal leader). She forms a massive army and draws up a battle plan against the nasty Canaanites and leads them to battle. The story of Deborah is told in a nice poem, Song of Deborah. How come we don't ever hear about this wonderful female role model?
Judges also tells the story of Samson and Delilah, a much juicier story about a wicked, deceitful, beautiful and seductive woman and a heroicly strong man (think Hercules). Samson has a pact to devote his life to god's service, and in return he is given great strength. The sign of his ongoing pact is that he will not cut his hair. So, Delilah, who has been bribed to find out the secret of Samson's strength, seduces him to find out the secret, and once she does, she has his hair cut in his sleep. Samson loses his strength and is captured, blinded and put to work. Once Samson's hair grows back his strength returns, and he pulls down the temple, killing all inside, including himself (I thought suicide was a bad thing?). Delilah is almost as bad as Jezebel, the queen who makes the worship of Baal commonplace, and which unleashed drought and famine on her people as punishmnet from god. Jezebel did other scheming things, such as arrange for the deaht of a neighbour whose vineyard her husband, king Ahab, wanted. She was cursed by Elijah, prophet of god, to a death involving being eaten by dogs. yikes. No wonder this story is told more widely than that of Deborah – it's way more exciting, and the woman gets her due in the end, proving that women should just be good and keep their mouths shut.
There are two books of the bible named after women. One is Esther, the other is Ruth. Ruth is the great-grandmother to King David, of David and Goliath fame. She gets to take this role because she seduces a man at the behest of her mother-in-law after her husband has died. She is seen as virtuous because of her loyalty to her mother-in-law after the deaht of her own husband. Esther is a Hebrew girl married to the king, and after the king has decrees that all Jewish people in Persia should be killed, she reveals her true identity as a Jew and convinces the king not to go through with it, thus saving all the Jews in the area from certain death. The king decides that Jews should take ervenge on their enemies. Esther's triumph is celebrated in the Jewish festival Purim. So, why don't we hear much about these women?
In the New Testament, there are two women of prominence, but not so much that they had a book named after her: Mary, mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdelene, a figure who is ridiculously controversial. Mary mother of Jesus was impregnated by the holy spirit while she was still a virgin and gave birth to Jesus, son of god (the Virgin Birth, not to be confused with the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary was herself conceived without "Original Sin", the taint of sin passed down from human to human that all began with Eve and her fruit. The Immaculate Conception has no biblical reference.). Some christian teachings, again without biblical reference, held that Mary was always a virgin, never having sex with her husband, Joseph, despite the many biblical references to Jesus' brothers and sisters. That was about the extent of her importance in the bible – sorry all you Catholics out there – although she was present at the crucifixion. Poor Mary – used as a vessel to give birth to the all-important Jesus.Mary Magdelene is, as they say, cloaked in controversy. She is said to be an adulterous prostitute, a wanton woman. She has also been construed as lover and wife of Jesus – lately this story has evolved into mother of Jesus' children. Why not, I say – it was very odd at that time in Israel that a man of Jesus' age not be married. In any case, these stories about Mary M are unsubstantiaed. She was described in Luke only as one of seven women whom Jesus healed by casting out demons, and after this, she was a devoted follower of Jesus – not one of the 12 blessed disciples, but a follower. After all, a woman couldn't be a disciple! Mary did, nevertheless, have a special place in Jesus' inner circle, as she was one who tended his body after the crucifixion and to whom Jesus appeared after the resurrection.
Notably, there are many stories in the bible about Jesus speaking to and helping women, even treating women as equal to men. This was very much against the role of women in Jewish society at the time, so Jesus was pretty progressive in this regard. Women were not allowed to go to school, were only allowed to enter the temples to a certain point, were not allowed to participate in religious services, had to cover their heads and shut their mouths in the temple, and were sold into marriage at the age of 13 or so. These traditional roles have relaxed in most religions over the years, but the traditional teachings about women that informed many of the roles women have played symbolically and realistically in the christian churches have had their impact on society and the way women are portrayed even today.
Picture taken from Christian Answers.net
A fascinating post. I was aware of some of this already, but theres lots of interesting stuff there I did not know.
glad you enjoyed it!
I came over here from your post on Grrl genius. I expected to be put off by this post when i read the title, because so many people take biblical things out of context, but I think you wrote it well.
However, I find it interesting that your view of the Adam and Eve story is different than how I’ve always viewed it. Granted, Adam blames Eve… but does God? I don’t think so, I think in God’s eyes they both sinned equally – and they both got a punishment for their sin. Unfortunately, one of the parts of woman’s punishment was that “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Which means that this unequal role that woman plays was not part of God’s perfect plan, but instead a result of the sin / part of the curse. One writer I read put it something like this “God didn’t say that woman had to be ‘lesser’ than man, but instead it was something more like ‘Don’t be surprised, my dear lady, if man just plain rules over you'”. It helps me understand all the other references you talk about, they’re culturally relevant for the time because as a result of sin, man is ruling over women. I think your point that Jesus doesn’t treat women like lesser beings emphasizes this.
Also, in my life – the emphasis has always been on Adam, MAN, as the sinner and the cause of the fall (not woman, to the point where I’ve wondered why no one talks about woman’s role in the sin), and growing up I have heard a lot about the other women – Ruth and Esther. Just a thought.
oooh, neat! I have never heard of such a thing, blaming Adam for the Fall. I don’t think I like it, either, for it seems to tacitly assume that what Eve did wasn’t important, but what Adam did – which was supposedly just doing what Eve had already done – was way more important. I haven’t heard the “equal blame” theory, but it makes sense to me considering the doctrine that god treats all sins equally. I think the main idea, though, is that the “big C” Church has construed the story so that women can be made inferior and be blamed for all the sin of the world. Like I hinted at in the post, much of christianity is closely tied to myths and legends that came before, from pagan and Greek mythology, like Pandora’s box. Another example is the placement of Christmas on the calendar – it has nothing to do with when Jesus was born, and everything to do with making an easy transition from the pagan winter solstice celebration.
I’m glad to hear you were taught about Ruth and Esther growing up. I was a little bit, but not a whole lot.
Thanks for stopping by, Rochelle! Glad you found the post interesting enough to follow up. See you again I hope!
You’re right that much of Christianity is similar to pagan and greek mythology, but I believe that most of the pagan and greek mythology came after these stories in the Bible, which leads me to believe that the pagan and greek stories were loosely based on Jewish stories, not the other way around.
Winter solstice came before Christmas as we know it today, of course, but that’s different because the Christmas celebration as we know it isn’t in the Bible at all where these other stories are.
I’m very interested in Biblical things and especially how culture today is looking at issues (abortion, homosexuality, women’s rights) and trying to find answers in the Bible. I’ll keep watching your posts, i’ve gotcha bookmarked :)
REBECCA AND PREGNANCY.
I’m passinate about REBECCA.
She is going through an incredibly painful pregnancy and she asks the first rhetoric spiritual question of God in the Old Testament, “why all this suffering,and why all this pain?”
Women who have had difficult pregnancies and have suffered from infertility will identify with this Biblical matriarch!
http://www.naomiharrisrosenblatt.com
EVE AND ADAM.
Women have suffered for centuries because of men’s interpretation of the story of the Garden of Eden. God knew all along that Eve would be the one to cross the boundaries because of her God-given drive to “make” a baby. She offers sexuality to Adam as the only way in which she can have a child, but Adam was free to resist her.
The creator, an omniscient God, knew all along how his creatures would respond. As I see it they did not commit a sin but they were responsible EQUALLY to the consequences.
As I see it their “sin” lay in the fact that they did not take responsibility for having disobeyed God and instead blamed each other.
There’s a lot more on this subject in my book “After the Apple”. http://www.naomiharrisrosenblatt.com/.
Naomi,
thanks so much for your comments. Actually, your book “After the Apple” was recommended to me as one I would find interesting. I’ll have to add it to my reading list.
I’m agnostic myself, so the veracity of the stories hold little interest for me. I’m most concerned with the way women have been portrayed through various interpretations of the bible stories and how that has had an impact on real women through the ages.
Rochelle, you got it backwards. Holy Babble stories were based on myths and legends from the Egyptians.
The Virginia Monologues
The Dumbest Story Ever Re(Told)
by Virginia atheistmuse@gmail.com
It’s the story of the Son of God, the Light of the World. He was born on December 25th of a virgin mother who was impregnated by God himself. He had 12 disciples, performed many miracles, and was worshipped as the savior of mankind.
His followers were baptized, took part in ceremonies in which they ate bread and drank wine symbolizing the body and the blood of the Son of God. They held Sundays sacred, and believed in heaven and hell. They believed that God would grant them immortality and eternal salvation in the afterlife.
The Son of God held a Last Supper with his followers, before ascending to heaven. His followers believed that there would be a Day of Judgment in which the dead would be resurrected, and then a final conflict which would destroy the unbelievers and bring the triumph of light over darkness.
You probably think I’m talking about Jesus Christ. You’d be wrong.
The man I am describing is Mithra, and he was worshiped over much of the world over 800 years before a Jew named Jesus was born.
[…]
The virgin birth is one example. It was a common thread that ran through the Pagan, Greek, and Roman religions both before, and during the time of Christ. Horus was born of the virgin mother Isis. The virgin Devaki gave birth to Krishna. The ancient Egyptian god Ra was born of a virgin mother as well. Attis, the Phrygian god, was the son of the virgin Nana. And Dionysus, the Grecian God, was the son of Zeus from the virgin goddess Persephone. Hercules, Theseus, and Perseus were all sons of virgin mothers. In short, immaculate conception was a common story in most religions and was well known to every adult of the time. If you wanted your god (or son of god) to be believed in and followed, he had to come from a virgin birth.
Death and resurrection was another common event. A pre-Christian deity named Attis, (coincidentally called “The lamb of God”) was crucified and his subsequent resurrection was celebrated annually, with ritual communions of bread and wine. Of course, he was also born of a virgin mother. Osiris, an Egyptian god was also resurrected. The Vine God, Dionysus, after being born in a manger, was followed by his disciples while he performed miracles including turning water into wine. He declared himself the Son of God, was charged with blasphemy, and crucified. He rose from the grave three days later, and the women weeping at his tomb did not recognize him until he assumed his divine form.
continues here:
http://godlessbastard.com/YourTwoCents.html
lots more available from google
I don’t know why any female would be christian considering it was (and still is) the tool of patriarchy.
Loved what you had to say… really encouraging as I’m feeling very low at the moment, in a world where a Christian feminist is the manifestation of Satan. I like to keep my views quiet in the real world because so few people would ever understand. but here is a website that I think you’d find interesting…
also…. hard as I find it to believe…..
before Judaism and Christianity there was the worship of the mother goddess, whom most worshiped including the Jews (Solomon refers to her – Asherah-. Whose symbol of wisdom is the snake, fruit for strength is the fig and walked around half naked as she was the symbol of fertility. Does that sound like a familiar person? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to make a really villainous creature out of her, in order to promote another God? and wouldn’t it be useful to make the women of that culture understand that they can no longer be in the prime spot for the uplifting of the new world religion? I’m still a Christian… but not happy, (mainly because I’ve only just passed through my feminist awakening – and I’ve heard that its always a little shaky for a while) especially with the men that have used a story to oppress the women that Jesus loves…
J – very interesting. sorry it took me so long to get back to this comment – I’m always interested in talking religion, and always interested in alternative explanations that shake up the roots of christianity. I’m tired of fundamentalist-traditionalist types using christianity as an excuse for treating people unequally, particularly women and queer people. I’m just sick of it. I don’t think Jesus’ teachings had anything to do with that.
Rachel – thanks for your comment, and welcome. I should tell you, don’t take this post out of context – I am not a christian. I was raised christian, but left it behind me many years ago. I am at best an agnostic on the subject of even whether god exists, so organized religion based on a belief in god is questionable for me right from the start. I wrote this post to confront the depiction of women in christianity and the bible and to demonstrate the patriarchal nature of christianity.
I don’t think there is anything at all wrong, however, in taking the teachings of Jesus and making them part of the way you live your life. And, I don’t think there is anything contradictory in what Jesus taught to be found in feminism. Feminism says that men and women and everyone in between are equal and should be treated that way. If I remember correctly from Sunday school, that’s pretty much what Jesus said, too. And for me, what Jesus said is what really matters in the bible. The rest is filler, stories and things that other people said and wrote that should never ever be separated from its historical context. To me, if you want to follow christianity, follow what Jesus taught.
I think you’re on the right track in terms of examining christianity in historical context. it was a religious movement that arose during a particular time and place and political situation, and that should be remembered.
All I can say is, you have to do what feels right to you. If that means perhaps finding another church or sect of christianity that agrees more with what you’re discovering about feminism, then so be it. It is hard to reconcile belief systems sometimes with new information, but it’s usually worth the effort. For what it’s worth, I’ve met some really cool people who attend the Unitarian church. It’s very equality minded and humanist in nature. Also, the Baha’i faith is interesting, as it accepts teachings of prophets from almost all religions and incorporates them into a practice that is also very humanist. Just some ideas to look into – good luck with everything, and please do feel free to come back and comment again, or just use the site as a learning resource and ask any kind of question you like. If I don’t have an answer, at the very least I usually have an opinion! best wishes.
Hiya! I like your Feminism Friday – lots of good stuff.
Regarding Mary Magdalene: I can harsh on Dan Brown’s many distortions of history in the Da Vinci Code with the snarkiest, but the one thing he did get right is that there’s no evidence that Mary Magdalene was the repentant prostitute. Although the Vatican did quietly acknowledge the wrong done to her reputation over centuries at the time of Vatican 2, it’s taken Dan bloody Brown to actually get them off their arses and discussing it meaningfully at the level of dioceses and congregations.
There’s 2 good articles in Catholic newsletters here:
American Catholic News and Australian Catholic News
This post deserves another reading from me, and perhaps I can respond to some of the theological issues that are being raise? ThinkingGirl, I think you do a good socio-analytic response to women in the bible; however, I found myself wondering why the “linear” approach–from “Old Testament” to “New Testament”; from the beginning of God to the end og God?
Tigtog – thanks for coming by! thanks for the links. I’ll check ‘em out after sleep.
Robyn – yes please, by all means! why the linear approach – I dunno, just the way it came out, start at the start kind of stuff I guess.
TG.
I see where you referenced Jezebel.
Did you know why white men during slavery and Jim Crow segregation gave the ephitet “Jezebel” to black women?
It was to justify white men’s daily rapes against black women and girls during slavery and segregation.
That a race of men (white) could have the audacity to call a race of women (black) Jezebels for degrading and defiling that race of women was beyond sick, cruel, and hateful.
It was the ultimate insult. The ultimate cruelty. The ultimate hypocrisy.
To say that the victim was so wanton, so lewd, so lascivious, so immoral, so UNRAPEABLE, that her female descendants should be called Jezebels, spoke of the utmost contempt that white men held towards black women and girls.
If anyone should be considered a Jezebel, it would be all the white men guilty of rape and destruction of black women in America during slavery and segregation, and the white men of today (those who are guilty of it), or any man of any race, who uses black women for sex only, under the guise of “dating.”
HI Ann – thanks for your comment, I’m so glad to see you back (you’re one of my favourite commenters here, you always have such great things to add to the discussion)! I completely agree.
Yes, I did know that black women were referred to as Jezebels. White people have such a habit of exoticizing people of colour, particularly women of colour, which automatically means objectification and dehumanization.
You know what I don’t understand? The hate wrapped up with rape. Rape is a hate crime, pure and simple. What I don’t get is why someone who hates their victim so much would want to join his body with hers? I think I can wrap my head around sodomy more so than penile penetration rape… I just don’t understand why, if you think this person is so vile, so disgusting, so worthy of your hate, you would want to insert the most intimate, private part of your body into her most intimate, private part?
Hate makes no sense.
Excellent Post!
King James Bible – 21:9
And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
In Genesis, there are two different accounts of the creation story, written by two different authors. One tells the story of Adam being created first, then Eve being created out of one of Adam’s ribs.
The other says man and woman were created together. PLEASE DO TELL GIVE US DETAIL ON THIS ACCOUNT