Gender Specific Spirituality

[Nootmeg]

Do you think men and women differ spiritually? Is there a difference between the way a woman prays and the way a man prays?

It seems to me the pews are generally more filled with women then men. Same goes for prayer groups, and at Eucharistic adoration. Why?

 

[dove51]

I have seen studies that say women on the whole are generally more likely to be religious than men, but the cause is not usually given. And that does seem true when I attend a church, of any denomination, that women outnumber men.

I am not sure if that means that there is a difference in spirituality between men and women. I would venture to say that between two devout people of opposite genders, there would not be much difference. I don’t think there can be a whole lot, since we are all more or less the same when it comes to being creatures made by God–I think we all long for the same spiritual things, all feel certain spiritual desires and needs. Galatians 3:28 comes to mind.

I think if there is a difference, it comes from our own society and our own cultural understanding of religion and gender. Faith, singing and praying in church, gathering together to submit (don’t hate me for this, but I think submission is something that comes more naturally to us women) to something greater than ourselves…I can see how that might not always appeal to our culture’s view of masculinity. Whereas I think in Jesus’ time and before (and perhaps a little later), it was very masculine and admirable to be a great religious man, but now it is seen as somewhat feminine, or “wussy” by some people.

I don’t know if that made much sense, and I hope it didn’t offend anyone, but that’s what I think of the matter.

 

[bpbasilphx]

And yet, Orthodoxy seems to appeal to more men than women, at least with converts.

 

[yesukristus]

You may see more women at church / religious gatherings because women as a whole tend to prefer to do things in groups, while men tend to see no major differences in doing things in groups or going it alone. Still, this depends on many many factors, so I’m not sure how correct I am.

 

[NTOT]

Do you think men and women differ spiritually? Is there a difference between the way a woman prays and the way a man prays?

It seems to me the pews are generally more filled with women then men. Same goes for prayer groups, and at Eucharistic adoration. Why?

Women have a natural tendency to be superfulously spiritual. The men that are spiritual tend to be more sincere in their beliefs.
Though there are superfulous men as well as devout women.
You don’t generally see many men who are are religious unless they really believe their faith. Many women come to Church because they see it as a social activity.
As far as who dominates attendance at Church. Mostly elderly women. Adolescents of either gender are generally absent. Adult men are fewer than adult women which is influenced heavily by work schedules. Children of either gender are accompanied by their mothers.

 

[beckycmarie]

It seems to me the pews are generally more filled with women then men. Same goes for prayer groups, and at Eucharistic adoration. Why?

Peter Kreeft comments on this very thing:

Julie Loesch Wiley argues that if Jesus had been born a woman in the male-dominated world of the first century, his life and teaching of unselfish love for others would not have been as arresting and as instructively scandalous as it was. For women, in all times and places and cultures until modern feminism, have always been in general more altruistic, less power-greedy, less violence-prone, more self-emptying, and more naturally religious than men. (You still see more women than men in church.) In becoming a man, Jesus in a sense let women be and went after men to transform them—not into women, and certainly not into wimps, but into men like himself. He redefined manliness and power as the courage to suffer instead of the lust to dominate; giving instead of taking. Women were a little less in need of that lesson.

Source: Sexual Symbolism (excerpt from Women in the Priesthood) by Peter Kreeft

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I don’t have quotes off hand, but St Teresa of Avila, states differences that women have in regards to the interior life.

Jim