Essay Example on Women and Christianity: A Historical Perspective

Discussions on the status of women have been conducted, especially in recent years. This is responsible for the growth of the women's movements in the West (Western countries) despite mixed evidence on the same (Clark). However, there is evidence in the New Testament that indicates the role of women and their contribution to early Christianity. For instance, in the letters of Paul, he greets women as well as addressing them as coworkers. He goes ahead to refer to them as "deaconess," which is translated from the original Greek word. Moreover, he even calls one of them as an Apostle. Certainly, it is hard for the current generation to tell what really these words or nouns used by Paul to address women meant as many centuries have passed since then; however, plenty of evidence is available concerning the activities women were involved in in the early church.

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It is fair to appreciate that women had a significant impact on early Christianity, especially in the house churches, as it is evident in the New Testament era itself. Since there were no churches in the early Christianity, early Christians and communities used to meet in houses of people, and it is evident that women used to own some of these houses that held such meetings (Clark). This is evident in the New Testament, letters of Paul, in the book of Acts, which talks about women owning houses in early Christianity. Such evidence is vital in terms of analyzing the role of women as they might not have been providing kitchen services but also contributed to the growth of the early church. Moreover, with the provision of space for Christian meetings in their houses, this should have probably provided an avenue towards the strength of the early church, and so the power.

However, it is still evident that women's activities were curtailed in early Christianity, especially in the hierarchy of clergy members, including deacons, presbyters, and bishops, where women were neither allowed to be priests nor bishops. This altogether might have limited women's activities and contribution to the development of early Christianity; still, however little their contribution was, it should not be taken for granted at any cost. It is explained that many fathers wrote about the issue of women not being given high authorities and positions in the church but instead be excluded from such arrangements, even though women still had roles to perform (Clark). It is particularly true as some women joined groups such as the deaconesses or widows in the fourth century. In this paper, a number of these deaconesses are discussed despite being excluded from priestly duties.

Thecla

Thecla is a historically recognized character, especially in the fourth century and a literary character from the second century of Christianity. In the document named, "The Acts of Paul and Thecla, this character appears once more where the document was then later on labeled the Apocryphal Acts (King). Thecla is said to be an aristocratic woman (young at that time) who adhered to Paul's teachings as it is evident from the text that upon her listening and giving attention to Paul's message of sexual renunciation, Thecla goes ahead to give up her fiancee stating the desire to follow and join Paul in the missionary works. However, her family is very much opposed to the move Thecla just made as her mother gets to the extent of letting her daughter be burned at the stake so as to prevent Thecla's move and wish.

Instead, Thecla is so focused on her move as she goes ahead to be baptized in a pool of seals after such a dramatic occurrence of events with her family, thus enabling her to carry out her missionary duties, that is, teaching and preaching the gospel even until her old age. Therefore, from Thecla's story, it is clear that some early women gave up earthly riches such as sex and marriage just for the sake of missionary activities and follow the teachings of Apostles. Several other stories of women are highlighted in the Apocryphal Acts of such kind of women as Thecla, Thecla being a good example and role model for other women to copy and adopt Christianity through participation in missionary trips.

From Thecla's story, it is evident that the man message is that both young and mature women should put into consideration not engaging in early marriages (for young) and sexual renunciation & abstinence (for adult or married women) so that they can participate in fully spreading God's will. For instance, in the Acts of Thecla, we find the beatitudes as from the speech by Paul, where he states about the blessed persons such as bodies of virgins and the chaste. This primarily talks about sexual purity as being blessed. However, such moves by the men and women of the early church against sexual activities and marriage, as well as societal abandonment, are depicted as causing problems in the early Christian writings. When analyzed in the current world, such moves will be portrayed as a rebellion to adolescence (Clark).

Also, in the teachings and works of Jesus, He is portrayed to be in the company of women. Women are said to appear frequently during the mission of Jesus in spreading the gospel despite the fact that these women are not mentioned, i.e., by name. However, this could be the reasoning that Jesus used to associate Himself with persons looked down upon in society and outcasts. Also, it could be with the argument that Jesus used to consort with sinners. So women might have been part of associates, which is portrayed by several gospels such as the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus is seen to be accompanied by women on many occasions. Here (Gospel of Luke) is where we find several other stories of women such as Mary & Martha.

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is a very much discussed character in the gospels, especially in the fourth and fifth centuries' Christian pieces of literature (King). However, nothing practical is known about Mary Magdalene. Rather as portrayed when she was conflated with the sinful women who washed Jesus' feet at a Jewish party and also dried the feet by the use of her hair, she is portrayed as a sinner, but what type of sinner she was, it is not stated (King). That of Mary Magdalene conflates her story. Mary Magdalene is said to be a repentant prostitute (King). Mary Magdalene turns out to be a sinner who repents and given praises in the eyes of God, but how this is perceived of early Christianity is still not known. Moreover, Mary Magdalene is also a witness to the gospel's resurrection, which brings about the differences as portrayed in the letters of Paul. In the letters of Paul, no women are represented as a witness of resurrection as opposed to other gospels where women are witnesses to the resurrection with Mary Magdalene being a central figure.

Mary Magdalene is one of the characters who has appeared in several biblical texts and then raised, developed, & elaborated upon, including many more other characters (Clark). Mary Magdalene is depicted as a sinner who repents; this is used for the fourth and fifth centuries' Christianity transformation to represent all other women sinners that there is still hope such that a prostitute can repent and be part of the Christian community once again.

Moreover, there are other wealthy, powerful women we find in the scriptures. For instance, in the New Testament, several women are mentioned by name and others not named at all. Instead, they are represented as coworkers with participation in missionary works as couples to convince the unsaved people and convert them into following the teachings of the gospel and, therefore, into Christianity. However, little is evident moving into the second and third centuries, respectively, with the evolution of Christianity into the development of male hierarchies of clergies; thus, women getting more and further exclusion from Christianity and gospel duties.

Despite moving into the fourth and fifth centuries, stronger ascetic currents are developed into Christianity, which upon their implementation, a whole new avenue for women's activities is introduced in the church. A number of the women that found their way into the church (Christianity) had control of large amounts of resources and money, which they instead converted the money into monasteries plus, on several occasions, becoming heads of the monasteries on their own. An excellent example of such a woman who owned a lot of property and known in Constantinople as Olympias. She contributed a lot towards the Church of Constantinople as well as the surrounding environs, approximated at about $900 million (Clark).

Churchmen appreciated and liked women of substance such as Olympias, which was very crucial for such charity operations from stable people like her. Such charity operations were used as a source of income for thousands of poor persons, widows, and orphans. Also, this created an avenue upon which the church can make its operations effective such as engaging in activities such as the building of hospitals to offer medical services to all groups of people in the society. Therefore, Olympias is an excellent example of women's contribution to the growth and development of Christianity in the fourth century towards the fifth century. Other women of substance in this era include Malania the Younger & Malania the Elder, who were extraordinarily instrumental both in monastery founding and their directing; this included contributing money towards all these charity missions and operations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a suggestion from a number of people that the early Christianity movement was aimed at equalitarianism. However, this claim is not conclusive. For example, in the letters of Paul, he addresses women as being his fellow friends, patrons, teachers, as well as evangelists the same way he takes men. This shows that early Christianity did not exclude certain groups of people but instead took them all as opposed to the notion of the Jewish communities, such as that of Sepphoris, which excluded women. However, there are still questions such as, since the movement was focused on egalitarianism, does that mean men and women were at par? Also, in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, she (Mary) is regarded as a disciplined teacher and leader in the Christian community. She also suggests and insists on the potential of women to teach. Therefore, from the above stories, it is clear that women participated in early Christianity despite the challenges they faced. However, still, others stood firm like Olympias in building and developing Christianity.

Works Cited

Clark, Elizabeth. "The Roles For Women | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians | FRONTLINE | PBS". Pbs.Org, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/roles.html.

King, Karen L. "Women In Ancient Christianity | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians | FRONTLINE | PBS". Pbs.Org, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/women.html.

LaPorte, Jean. The role of women in early Christianity. Vol. 7. Edwin Mellen Press, 1982.

Miller, Patricia Cox, ed. Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts. CUA Press, 2005.

Scholer, David M., and Everett Ferguson, eds. Women in early Christianity. Vol. 14. Taylor & Francis, 1993.

Stark, Rodney. "Reconstructing the rise of Christianity: The role of women." Sociology of Religion 56.3 (1995): 229-244.