My teacher suggested that for my Latin project on Religion in the Roman Empire and now around the world, I research the topic of if any religions are anti-female.
As I know very little about this topic I’ve come to the experts.
Therefore, and I’m sorry if this is at all offensive, is Catholicism at all “Anti-Female”?
Why?
Or Why not?
Are there any religions with Anti-female beliefs?
I just considered that I’ve never heard of a female Pope or Archbishop and that the Bible shows Eve to have tempted Adam and wished to know what people thought. Thanks
There is a church hierarchy that doesn’t give women some of key leadership roles. During the Medieval Ages, women in Christian nations weren’t often permitted roles where they had authority over men. Women are expected to obey their husbands, unless commanded to do something that violates God’s laws.
In Medieval and ancient Israelite society, if men also grew up in a class that was beneath that of the nobles or of the kings, they were expected to obey their authorities without question, unless commanded to do something that broke God’s laws.
In the Christian religion, everyone grows up beneath God and is expected to obey him absolutely. He is an absolute monarch.
Christianity and Judaism have been traditionally hierarchical religions. That is eroding under the influence of modern society, which asserts the rights of the individual now on every level of culture and society.
I do not see the traditional Christian practices as anti-woman, when it places the man as the head of the household, or as anti-man, when it requires that a man obey his sovereign. Really, saying that the woman must submit to the man doesn’t require much more of her than it does of the man, for the man has to submit to his sovereign in the same way. He must bend to ecclesiastical and secular authorities. And all must submit to God.
None of this is anti-human. It isn’t anti-woman and it isn’t anti-man. The idea (read Mary Astell) is that the people one must submit to have been given authority by God, and submission to them is spiritual training for submission to God. God will ultimately demand perfection of every person (and his grace gives us the means to come into this), so he is not so easy a sovereign to obey than an earthly sovereign. If we cannot submit to earthly leaders, how can we expect our souls to be in good shape to submit to divine authority?
Every human is equally valuable. Not every human has the same role, however. Some roles have more authority than others. One can call the monarchical system anti-most-men, or the male/female relationship anti-woman, if one is looking at it from a strictly modern, secular perspective. But really both systems are designed to spiritually train the soul, and both purify a human to make him or her ready to ascend to the Kingdom of God. The material world is full of symbols of the glory of God.
Submission in modern times is often seen as weakness. In our society, rebelliousness is constantly praised in popular culture and films. Submissive people are seen as cowards. In Christian culture, however, submission is a virtue. Many Christians aren’t cowards. The Early Church Fathers submitted to the Roman Empire and were martyred, and they conquered the Roman Empire’s soul for Christ through non-violent methods. They were not cowards but heroes, in their passive submission to the Emperor and in their vigorous, charismatic service to God.
Mary Astell wrote that if one had an abusive husband, marriage could even serve as a form of martyrdom for a woman, and that in this time too she should submit to him, and in this way submit to Christ.
It is much harder to turn the other cheek than it is to strike back. It is much more virtuous to turn the other cheek. Submission is a virtue, and doing it toward one’s Earthly authorities trains the soul for submission to heavenly authorities. And submission links oneself to the heart of God. Look at how Christ submitted to earthly authorities! Never was there such injustice as that which was perpetrated against him. He told his disciples not to fight in his defense, however, and he chose not to call legions of angels to his aid. He chose instead to submit, and he was glorious in his humility.
Here is what the scripture says on this point:
Philippians 2:5-11:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Was Jesus’ submission to such injustice as the Jewish authorities perpetrated against him a wrong act? If he was the hero of a modern movie, he’d have taken a sword and led his disciples to war, defeating Israeli authorities and the Roman Empire’s legions
. Instead, he decided that submission was a higher calling than justice. His followers should emulate him forever. Whether they be woman or man, they should accept the role God has given them with humility, and should function within it in submission to the hierarchies of the time, knowing that these represent Christ for us.
We can argue with them if they’re doing wrong, but ultimately, when the authorities over us have made a decision (even a bad one), and they do have a legitimate role in power, their decision must be final. That is the only way to have an ordered society, as opposed to a chaotic one.
