http://www.christian-thinktank.com/femalex.html Christian Distinctives-- Women in the Heart of God (Updated: 01/25/97) 1. Introduction 2. Overview--A Survey of Misconceptions, Objections, Pushbacks 3. Women in the Old Testament 1. The Pre-Monarchy Period (Gen - 1st Samuel 7) 1. The historical data in the narratives; 2. The legal data from the Law of Moses; 3. The literary data of the biblical text itself. 2. The United Monarchy (I Sam 8-I kgs 12; "Leisure Lit") 1. The historical data in the narratives; 2. The literary data in the narrative literature; 3. The "portrayal" data in the "leisure" literature. 3. The Divided Monarchy 1. The data in the historical narratives ; 2. The data in the prophetic literature . 4. The Exilic/Post-Exilic Community 4. Women in The NT and Early Church 1. In the life and ministry of Jesus 2. In the historical literature of the Apostolic circle. 1 of 2 8/3/2004 10:53 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/femalex.html 3. Women's roles in the early church. 4. Paul and Women. 5. Concluding Remarks Suggested reading Feminism and the Bible, Mardi Keyes, IVP: 1995. [This small booklet is the best thing I have read on this subject! Outstanding work...I recommend it to all thoughtful folk.] Apology to Women: Christian Images of the Female Sex, Ann Brown,IVP: 1991. (The best book I have seen on this subject.) Woman in the Bible by Mary J. Evans, IVP:1983. A Dictionary of Women in Church History, Mary L. Hammack, Moody:1984. [Incredible book--lists snapshot bios of outstanding extra-biblical women, by period: Ancient Church History (ad 33-590, 47 entries), Medieval (ad 590-1500, 50 entries), Reformation (ad 1500-1650, 70 entries), Expansion and Denominationalism (ad 1650-1800, 80 entries), Revivals, Missions, Further Expansion (ad 1800-present, 580 entries).] Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity, volume 1, Carroll Osburn (eds), College Press: 1993. The Christian ThinkTank...[http://www.christian-thinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations) 2 of 2 8/3/2004 10:53 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/femintro.html Women in the Heart of God (Intro) Introduction I am amazed at God's heart for women. I had a precious woman recently tell me--with a wondrous joy--that she "knew God the Father in a way that ONLY daughters could." I have pondered this much, for as a father of daughters myself, I know EXACTLY what she means. I have noticed that in the confrontation between Nathan the prophet and King David in 2 Samuel 12 that Nathan's parable has the man loving the precious sheep "as a man loves his daughter." I have noticed the challenging examples of the female leaders of the early church--their ferocious commitment to the Lord of Love. Yet I have noticed the abuses against women, as well as the slander against God, and the inflammatory (yet groundless) attempts to label God 'misogynist' or 'Male supremacist'. Writers of all persuasions make strange claims about the Living and Loving Lord, when it comes the subject of women. The two MAIN arguments I hear (from outside of Christian circles) is that (1)The OT Law treated women like sub-humans (e.g. property); and that (2) in the NT, Paul carried on this great tradition! The arguments I hear from WITHIN Christian circles concern (1) women leadership roles in the church; and (2) the 'authority' relations between husband and wife. This study will try to surface the data and make some initial assessments on those positions. It will be essentially inductive from the text, and will in main confine itself to the 'canonical approach'--I will start with the Book that the early church gave us. I will not try to sort through potential sources and the like, but focus on the finished product--the literary product we call the Bible. What I have discovered so far--my main thesis......is that God has revealed in this Book an incredible heart of love and appreciation and respect for His daughters, and He has used them to accomplish great acts of honor for His Name in biblical history. The sources of data we will use for this study: 1 of 2 8/3/2004 10:54 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/femintro.html The Bible (primarily) Information from the Ancient Near Eastern literary and inscriptional remains Extra-biblical literature (e.g. Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha) Other historical writings The Christian ThinkTank...[http://www.christian-thinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations) 2 of 2 8/3/2004 10:54 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/fempush.html Christian Distinctives-- Women in the Heart of God (Updated: June/2001) Pushbacks, Objections, Stereotypes These are some of the more common mis-understandings that I see voiced in the literature and in coffee-house conversations. I used to wonder to what extent these might true, but after having completed this study, I began to wonder how closely the people who make these statements have examined the biblical data... The detailed data for my responses to these are in the syllabus, and here I only give a few verses to show what the actual evidence is. 1. "God's choice to be incarnated as a man IMPLICITLY de-values women" 2. "Weren't women considered property in the OT, like cows or something? Didn't the Law said a father could even SELL his daughter?!!" 3. "Women were non-persons back then--they had NO legal rights in the system at all!" 4. "The bible teaches that women had NO access to God--except through the male..." 5. "The patriarchy system that God apparently condoned subjected women by restricting their access to social and cultural power." 6. "Doesn't God order women to "obey" their husbands--a clear support for Graeco-Roman patriarchy?!" 7. "Doesn't the bible teach that God cursed women by making them subject/subordinate to men?" 8. "Wasn't there a HUGE double standard in biblical sexual ethics?--weren't women supposed to be 'good', but men didn't have to?" 9. "All the books of the bible were written by men--see, God de-values women again" 10. "The VAST MAJORITY of Israelite/Church leadership is by MEN--see, God de-values women again" 11. "Wasn't Miriam punished for questioning male authority, while Aaron was not?" 12. "Why do men get all the glory in the bible? Why are women only minor characters?!" 1 of 2 8/3/2004 10:55 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/fempush.html 13. "Sure, women could be prophets, but they couldn't participate in government." 14. "But, women were excluded from being priests..." 15. "Women are always pictured as being servile or passive or evil or stupid..." 16. "God is ALWAYS portrayed as a male--women had no way of identifying with Him" 17. "Weren't women always kept separate from the men in worship? They weren't even allowed in the Temples or synagogues. The OT religion just didn't seem to include women." 18. "None of the disciples or apostles were women--a bit unfair, aint it?!" 19. "Paul OBVIOUSLY had a "sit down and shut up" attitude toward women--and we are supposed to trust HIM?!" 20. "The early church was 'by, for, about MEN--women were barely even there, much less significant players (and ESPECIALLY not leaders)." 21. "Weren't OT women WORSE off than even their Babylonian counterparts?" 22. Does female "pain-prone" reproductive physiology indicate that God apparently hates women? The Christian ThinkTank...[http://www.christian-thinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations) 2 of 2 8/3/2004 10:55 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/wmisgyn.html Pushback.... "God's choice to be incarnated as a man IMPLICITLY de-values women" [Note: This is a simple summary of the detailed data in the syllabus. Refer there for sources/discussion. Updated: 01/02/97] A few things come to mind... The first thing that struck me odd about this issue was in the Incarnation. I have never personally assumed that Jesus came as a male due to the alleged fact that God liked males better(!!!!), and it not at all clear how one could defend that position. I personally have always assumed that the gender-choice was an 'incidental' of the incarnation, and not one of any specific revelatory import. When I began thinking of OTHER incidentals: 1. Jesus was also born in a manger/cave; would that fact have 'devalued' being born in a hospital or home? Probably not? 2. Jesus was also a carpenter; does that 'choosing' de-value ALL OTHER OCCUPATIONS?! Probably not. 3. Jesus was born in the 1st Century; does that 'de-value' those born at other times in history? Probably not. 4. Jesus was Jewish; does that 'de-value' Chinese or Anglo-Saxons? Probably not. 5. Jesus was raised in Nazareth; does that 'de-value' Jerusalem? Probably not. The list could go on--with each detail being examined for its 'incidental' character. I DO think there is some significance to the fact that He came as a human (as opposed to animal), and that He came in a sinless character (as opposed to a sinful character.) There MAY BE some significance that he was born of a female-only (instead of miraculously created WITHOUT a mother--the lineage problem would 1 of 2 8/3/2004 10:55 AM http://www.christian-thinktank.com/wmisgyn.html have been solved by the 'legal' Joseph anyway), but I don't have enough confidence in this argument. Where this nets out is that "Choosing" in regards to the Incarnation does NOT seem to be related to "Valuation" at all.