The Persecution of Women in the Church

[Sister Alvear]

Many have been the enemies of women seeing in her evil such as second-century theologian Tertullian who saw materialism as a basic sickness in the world. He had a dualistic view of life: light was opposed to dark, good to evil and spirit was opposed to matter. One's sexuality was the most basic expression of matter, and was seen as being in opposition to spirit and reason. Woman was the personification of corporeal sensuality and therefore, according to Tertullian and many other similar minded theologians, was basically evil.
John Chrysostom presented women as 'at least filthy' and Cyril of Alexandria reckoned them to be dull-witted. How else can we explain the fact that Mary Magdalene did not recognize the risen Christ? (Swidler, 343-4).

Thomas Aquinas saw women as misbegotten and deformed males. Due to this perverse biology, it was also believed that even in conception women were essentially passive. Males were created for the nobler works of the spirit and the intellectual life. Women were created with respect to their sexuality. It therefore presupposed that women should be subject to men, for women were seen to be less noble, less spiritual and weaker than men (Summa Theologica, I, 921).

[Sister Alvear]

It is interesting to note that every orthodox Jew began his day upon rising with a prayer of thanksgiving: 'Blessed art thou, Lord, for thou has not made me a woman.' Jesus was born into a culture in which women's testimony was not acceptable in a court of law. Women did not belong to the liturgical community, and to this very day the male orthodox Jew does not pray in the company of women.

[Sister Alvear]

I am painfully aware that religious activities in Greco-Roman paganism included cult prostitution and shriek cries described as wild outcries. The Corinthian female dominated religious thought and practice. From the mother goddess Artemis to the women serving their time as sacred temple prostitutes and speaking messages from the gods, the male of Corinth was deeply dependent upon the female. Yet this has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ but sadly it has influenced the thinking of many people. Yet men like John of Chrysostom (who was no champion of women) called Priscilla a “teacher of teachers.”
Just another brief look into what has help form the thinking of many people. Patai says on page 50, "Thus it appears that of the 370 years during which the Solomonic Temple stood in Jerusalem, for no less than 236 years (or almost two-thirds of the time) the statue of Asherah was present in the Temple and her worship was a part of the legitimate religion approved and led by the king, the court and the priesthood, and opposed only by a few prophetic voices crying out against it at relatively long intervals."
Even though we know all these things and many more we still can not judge Godly women by these things. Just as we cannot judge men because of idol male gods neither can we judge women because of idol goddess.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Felicity

Well, what about him?

Ask me again in PM

[Felicity]

I think it is intrinsically evil to think of woman in this way.

God looked at all His creation including women and said, "It is good!"

And Jesus Himself manifested nothing but love, mercy, compassion, and kindness to women. Some of His best friends were women.

So anything less than saying what God said when it comes to "woman" is in direct opposition to His own words and His own attitude toward them.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Sister Alvear

Many have been the enemies of women seeing in her evil such as second-century theologian Tertullian who saw materialism as a basic sickness in the world. He had a dualistic view of life: light was opposed to dark, good to evil and spirit was opposed to matter. One's sexuality was the most basic expression of matter, and was seen as being in opposition to spirit and reason. Woman was the personification of corporeal sensuality and therefore, according to Tertullian and many other similar minded theologians, was basically evil.
John Chrysostom presented women as 'at least filthy' and Cyril of Alexandria reckoned them to be dull-witted. How else can we explain the fact that Mary Magdalene did not recognize the risen Christ? (Swidler, 343-4).

Thomas Aquinas saw women as misbegotten and deformed males. Due to this perverse biology, it was also believed that even in conception women were essentially passive. Males were created for the nobler works of the spirit and the intellectual life. Women were created with respect to their sexuality. It therefore presupposed that women should be subject to men, for women were seen to be less noble, less spiritual and weaker than men (Summa Theologica, I, 921).

WOW! and I thought Tertullian was a one-off!

[Sister Alvear]

It wasn’t until later that Tertullian a well-known Ante-Nicene Father of the Third Century said that no woman has the right to speak in the church, teach or baptize or anything that pertains to the function of a man or a place in the ministry. He started putting labels on what was deemed as a “manly function” or what a person’s place was in ministry. Perhaps this is what he needed to do because of the upcoming priest and nun separation groups of the Roman Catholic Church. We are no part of that heresy.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Felicity

I think it is intrinsically evil to think of woman in this way.

God looked at all His creation including women and said, "It is good!"

And Jesus Himself manifested nothing but love, mercy, compassion, and kindness to women. Some of His best friends were women.

So anything less than saying what God said when it comes to "woman" is in direct opposition to His own words and His own attitude toward them.

Im pretty sure Adam looked at Eve too and went "it is good...is this for me? Thanks God!"...of course that was before he tasted her cooking and saw her in the morning

[Felicity]

Thanks for all this great info Sis. Alvear!

[Praxeas]

Hey, why don't we just refer to the man from now on as Tert for short?