Women in Christianity
Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. Although more males are born than females naturally, and in 2014, the global population included 300 million more males of reproductive age than females in 2016, it was estimated that 52–53 percent of the world's Christian population aged 20 years and over was female, with this figure falling to 51.6 percent in 2020. The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that Christian women in 53 countries are generally more religious than Christian men, while Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services.
The New Testament which is the core of the Christian faith, begins with the Gospel of Matthew. Judaism finds its strength in the study of Jewish scripture and vigorous debate as to its meaning, which was not considered blasphemy then nor down to the present day. Jesus is challenged by the priests with the question if a woman can divorce a man, since Moses himself mentions only a writ of divorce from a man. Jesus claims that men and women are equal in God's eyes because in the beginning God made humankind male and female. If a man can divorce, so can a woman, but it is better to remain one flesh. Throughout the Gospels, he defends the spirituality of women and gathers both boys and girls around him, curing the ailments of both. In perhaps his best known defense of a woman about to be stoned for adultery he challenges anyone without sin to cast the first stone.
Many leadership roles in his day, such as that of priests of the Temple, were taken by men, as they were the family wage-earners. In later centuries, the church organised around the belief of Christ's messianic role maintained the division of labor between men and women, although in the long centuries before birth control, a woman who preferred an intellectual path could join a convent. King John of Magna Carta fame was educated by nuns.
Many churches in modern times have come to hold an egalitarian view regarding women's roles in the church now that childrearing is no longer an almost inescapable role. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, only men may serve as priests or elders ; only celibate males serve in senior leadership positions such as pope, patriarch, and cardinals. Women may serve as abbesses and consecrated virgins. A number of mainstream Protestant denominations are beginning to relax their longstanding constraints on ordaining women to be ministers, though some large groups, most notably the Southern Baptist Convention, are tightening their constraints in reaction. Most all Charismatic and Pentecostal churches were pioneers in this matter, and have embraced allowing women to preach since their founding. Other Protestant denominations such as the Quakers have also embraced female preachers since their inception; the Shakers, a Protestant monastic denomination that originated from the Quakers, were also distinctly egalitarian in their original leadership.
Christian traditions that officially recognise saints as persons of exceptional holiness venerate many women as saints. Most prominent is Mary, mother of Jesus who is highly revered throughout Christianity, particularly in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, where she is considered the "Mother of God". Both the apostles Paul and Peter held women in high regard and worthy of prominent positions in the church, though they were careful not to encourage anyone to disregard the New Testament household codes, also known as New Testament Domestic Codes or Haustafelen. The significance of women as the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus has been recognised across the centuries. There were efforts by the apostles Paul and Peter to encourage brand new first-century Christians to obey the Patria Potestas of Greco-Roman law. The New Testament written record of their efforts in this regard is found in Colossians 3:18–4:1, Ephesians 5:22–6:9, 1 Peter 2:13–3:7, Titus 2:1–10 and 1 Timothy 2:1, 3:1, 3:8, 5:17, and 6:1. As may be seen throughout the Old Testament and in the Greco-Roman culture of New Testament time, patriarchal societies placed men in positions of authority in marriage, society and government. The New Testament only records males being named among the 12 original apostles of Jesus Christ. Yet, women were the first to discover the Resurrection of Christ.
Some Christians believe clerical ordination and the conception of priesthood post-date the New Testament and that it contains no specifications for such ordination or distinction. Others cite uses of the terms presbyter and, as well as 1 Timothy 3:1–7 or Ephesians 4:11–16, as evidence to the contrary. The early church developed a monastic tradition which included the institution of the convent through which women developed religious orders of sisters and nuns, an important ministry of women which has continued to the present day in the establishment of schools, hospitals, nursing homes and monastic settlements.
Theology
, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha have been among the women identified as key to the establishment of Christianity. Karen L. King, Harvard Professor of New Testament Studies and the History of Ancient Christianity, writes that the history of women in ancient Christianity has been almost completely revised in the last twenty years. Many more women are being added to the list of women who made very significant contributions in the early history of Christianity. The new history comes primarily from recent discoveries of biblical text that had been neglected through the ages.The belief that Mary Magdalene was an adulteress and a repentant prostitute can be traced back to an Easter homily given by Pope Gregory the Great in 591, when the pope conflated Mary Magdalene, who was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50. The historical error became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity. Karen King concludes that the discoveries of new texts by biblical scholars, combined with their sharpened critical insight, have now proved beyond any doubt that the disreputable portrait of Mary Magdalene is entirely inaccurate.
Mary Magdalene was a prominent disciple and significant leader in the early Christian movement. Her designation as the very first apostle of Jesus has helped promote contemporary awareness of the leadership of women in Christianity.
The New Testament gospels, written toward the last quarter of the first century CE, acknowledge that women were among Jesus earliest followers:
- From the beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means.
- Jesus spoke to women both in public and private and allowed them to set examples of faith. According to two gospel accounts, an unnamed Gentile woman understood and was praised by Jesus when arguing that his ministry is not limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who have faith.
- A Jewish woman honored him with the extraordinary hospitality of washing his feet with perfume.
- Jesus was a frequent visitor at the home of Mary and Martha, and was in the habit of teaching and eating meals with women as well as men.
- When Jesus was arrested, women remained firm, even when his male disciples fled into hiding. Women accompanied him to the foot of the cross.
- It was women who were the first witnesses to the resurrection, chief among them being Mary Magdalene. These gospel accounts reflect the prominent historical roles that women played in Jesus' ministry as disciples.
- "But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
- The rule remains with the husband, and the wife is compelled to obey him by God's command. He rules the home and the state, wages wars, and defends his possessions. The woman, on the other hand, is like a nail driven into the wall. She sits at home, she does not go beyond her most personal duties. Properly speaking, the business of woman, her task and function is to actualize the fellowship in which man can only precede her, stimulating, leading, inspiring."
Biblical authority and inerrancy
Church practice
Christian leaders throughout history have been patriarchal, taking names that downplay female leadership in the church. These include "father", "abbot" or "abba", and "pope" or "papa". Linda Woodhead notes that such language excludes women from such roles. She also notes a sentiment in 1 Corinthians, which exemplifies the pattern of Christianity of all varieties, where Paul explains that women should be veiled in the church to signal their subordination to men because the head of every man is Christ and the head of a woman is her husband and that women should keep silence in the churches. As the law states, they should be subordinate, not permitted to speak.However, some Christians disagree with the idea that women should not have leadership positions, popular female preachers like Joyce Meyer, Paula White and Kathryn Kuhlman have had leadership roles in Church. It is mentioned in the Old Testament that women such as Deborah and Huldah were prophets. In the New Testament, Philip was said to have four daughters who prophesied.