Which, about patriarchy?
Well, off the top of my head I’m fairly well acquainted with Celtic, Roman, Greek, Norse, Slavic, Sumerian, Jewish, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Navajo, Apache, Hopi, Aztec, Tlingit, Ojibwa, and Zulu cultures, and none of them aren’t patriarchal. So…yeah, I feel pretty good saying that.
As to the deaconesses, that’s the rather wide consensus of biblical and patristic scholars.
As to the Early Church…look at the time frame. Paul wrote maybe twenty years after the Crucifixion, and probably much less. Every single New Testament book was written and in its final form by the end of the First Century. When, exactly, is your mythical gender-equal Early Church supposed to have existed?
Have you given thought to this?
• Mary and Martha were close friends of Jesus (Luke 10:38-39)
• Mary anointed Jesus prior to his death. (John 12:3)
• Many women lamented Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 23:27-31 and John 19:25)
• Women were the first to visit Jesus’ tomb on Resurrection morning (Luke 23:55-24:1)
• Early church leaders responded positively to widows’ complaints (Acts 6:1-6)
• Dorcas was “abounding with deeds of kindness and charity” throughout her community. When Peter later raised her from the dead, many townspeople believed in Christ (Acts 9:36-42)
• The church gathered in Mary’s home to pray for Peter (Acts 12:12)
• Women gathered for worship at Philippi, where Paul spoke to them (Acts 16:13)
• Lydia was a successful businesswoman. She became a Christian and prevailed upon Paul and his colleagues to meet in her home (Acts 16:14-15)
• In Thessalonica " a number of the leading women" were responsive to Paul and Silas’ teaching (Acts 17:4)
• In Berea “many…believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women.” (Acts 17:12)
• Priscilla and Aquila, her husband, were partners in church work (Acts 18:2 and 18:19)
• Both Priscilla and Aquila corrected Apollo’s theology (Acts 18:26)
• Paul mention Phoebe as a “servant of the church… a helper of many and myself” (Romans 16:1)
• Paul calls Priscilla “a fellow worker” (Romans 16:3)
• “Chloe’s people” gave Paul information on the Corinthian problems (1 Corinthians. 1:11)
• Paul lets unmarried women “stay as they are” so they can serve the Lord and not be forced into marriage (1 Corinthians 7:28)
• Widows were given special attention, assistance and care (1 Timothy 5:3-6)
Jesus went against prevailing traditions and attitudes toward women. Men did not speak to women in public, did not allow them public prayer and certainly did not allow them to serve in worship services. Jesus spoke to women in public, such as the Samaritan woman at the well (John Chapter 4) and allowed women to become deaconesses. This is contrary to rabbinical trends (Women and World Religions, p 312). Jesus’ attitude toward women would have been depicted as being un-Jewish according to the standards at that time.
The fact that Jesus even conversed with women, going against the prevailing tradition of the time, must have been seen as an outrage. In the bible book of Luke the text validates the importance of women and their contribution to Jesus’ ministry and gives detailed descriptions of how Jesus interacted with them. If Jesus really did treat women as equals, listen to their opinions, taught them and loved them without judgment, women must have flocked to him. Luke commonly uses Jesus’ interaction with women to reveal his concept of Jesus’ character. Two specific examples include Jesus comforting the widow of Nain and having compassion on a prostitute, a practice unheard of in that society or in our own society. Do we have compassion on prostitutes? Do we see them as lonely, lost and exploited or do we look at them as drugged-out women who don’t deserve compassion or forgiveness? Jesus looked beyond externals to the constitution of the soul. In Luke 8:1-3 he includes a summary of the part women played in Jesus’ ministry. Accompanying him are numerous female disciples whom he has healed and who now support him and the male disciples “out of their own resources.
Also according to the Luke gospel, it appears that women were greatly supportive of Jesus in his ministry. In first Century Jerusalem, it was not common practice for a woman to support a man. It isn’t common practice today. It goes against social mores, yet Jesus allowed these women to support him in his work so he could be free about “his Father’s business.” “Unlike his contemporaries, Jesus was not derogatory about women’s nature, ability or religious capacities.” Both women and men came into Jesus’ vision as individual people who don’t have the burden of stereotype. We see Jesus dealing with a woman personally, intimately and against the grain of prevailing male-female relations and boundaries.
Luke also records that Paul converted several “Greek women in high standing” in Macedonia. (Acts 16:14, 17:4) It may be relevant that in Hellenistic times Macedonia was famous for producing aristocratic and royal ladies of outstanding vigor, from Olympia, mother of Alexander the Great, to Cleopatra VII last of the great rulers of Egypt. For early Christian women, economic status significantly shaped the ways they could participate in Christian Communities.
Apparently the Church has redefined this. I just mentioned the Da Vinci Code as this was where I heard her role being questioned. So that is why I am asking. Thanks.
You go jman507!
