Confronting Christianity (Chapter 8 - Doesn't Christianity Denigrate Women?)

Introduction:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Dumbledore: “Severius… please.”

Betrayal

But then, in the last book...

Snape’s love for Harry’s mother

Reverses the meaning of “Severus… please.”

The Christian account of male and female = looking at the whole Bible… a story of relentless love

Before the Beginning

God created male and female as a living metaphor

God = our Father (Matt 6:9)

God described in maternal terms (Isaiah 49:15)

Sex in Creationq

God creates humanity “in His image” and “in His likeness”

Three relationships:

A child resembling a parent

A deputy representing a king

A temple statue representing a god

In His Image = both male and female (Gen 1:26-29)

God gives us a “three-orbed role”: rule, relate, create

“The man cannot image God alone; he needs a helper.”

Helper sounds subordinate

But its applied to God a bunch

Different, but fundamentally linked (Gen 2:21-23)

Gen 2:24: Becoming one flesh

“The God who exists in utter intimacy, with love across difference at the core of his being, creates image bearers who are of the same essence but different, and calls them into one-flesh unity.”

Broken Love

Genesis 3.

Man warned not to eat from tree before the woman is created

Genesis 3:6; the man is with the woman!

The curse: ruling hard for man, multiplying hard for woman

Gen 3:16.

A power struggle

How doesn’t this lead to the denigration of women?

In a way, it does

Murder, rape, exploitation

The Love Song of God for His people

God’s covenant pictured as a marriage (Isa 54:5)

The Bridegroom Comes

“Where God was husband to his wondering people in the Old Testament, Jesus-the ultimate image of the invisible God-steps into history as a groom.”

Women in the Gospels

Their portrayal, especially in Luke is “stunningly countercultural.”

Compares men and women, with women usually being shown in the more favorable light

Zachariah vs. Mary

Punishment versus commendation

Mary and Elizabeth prophecy about Jesus

Simeon (prophet) and Anna (prophetess) prophesy

“In his first sermon, he enrages his audience with two Old Testament examples of God’s love reaching beyond the Jews: one is a woman, the other is a man (Luke 4:25– 27).”

“In Luke 15, the female-oriented parable of the lost coin is nestled between the male-oriented parables of the lost sheep and the lost (or prodigal) son.”

“In Luke 18, the female-oriented parable of the lost coin is nestled between the male-oriented parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.“

Jesus tops to address female mourners when he is on the cross *Luke 23:27-31)

The male-female thread in Jesus’ healing:

Man with unclean spirit, followed by Simon’s mother-in-law (Luke 4)

Centurion’s servant healed, widow’s son raised (Luke 7)

Man with a demon, bleeding woman, synagogue ruler’s daughter (Luke 8)

The last healing of Luke: A woman with a disabling spirit (Luke 13:16-17)

Luke 7 and the sinful woman at Simon the Pharisee’s house

The poor widow’s gift (Luke 21:1-4)

But what about Jesus choosing men to be His disciples?

But also some women! (Luke 8:1-3)

But are they “disciples?”

Mary and Martha in Luke 10.

Mary is taking the usually male role of being at Jesus’s feet!

Jesus commends her for this (Luke 10:42).

The women discover the empty tomb in Luke 24, but the men doubt

John 4: the woman at the well

A sexually compromised Samaritan woman who becomes an evangelist

The woman cuaght in adultery (John 8:7)

Jesus with Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus (John 11).

Matthew 9: commends bleeding woman for touching him to be healed

Matthew 19: Protects women from unwarranted divorce

Jesus is nice to women...

“But is Jesus’s life and ministry an oasis of equality in a desert of biblical misogyny?”

The Offense of the Marriage Metaphor

Paul in Ephesians: “Submit yourselves to one another, out of reverence for Christ.”

Eph. 5:22-24: “wives, submit to your husbands.”

Three “problems” with this verse:

Wives should submit

Submitting to husbands as to the Lord

The husband as the “head” of the wife

“Jesus had elevated women to an equal status with men. Paul, it seemed, had pushed them down.”

But if the roles are switched… “Wives, love your husbands to the point of death, putting his needs above yours, and sacrificing yourself for him”

Mishearing Paul on Marriage

The primary command for man is not to lead; it is to love

No Mandate for “Traditional” Gender Roles

“But Paul does not say that the husband’s needs come first, or that women are less gifted in leadership than men, or that women should not work outside the home.”

“Indeed, Jesus himself, the archetypal leader, did not earn money, and he was financially dependent on some of his female followers (Luke 8:2-3)

“gave up” = Jesus handed over to be crucified.

Behold, the Man!

Jesus = the ultimate man

“But his arms held little children, his words elevated women, and his hands reached out to heal the sick.”

“No one who uses the Bible’s teaching on marriage to justify chauvinism, abuse, or denigration of women has looked at Jesus.”

The End of Marriage

Revelation (Rev 19:7)

Women in the Church

The early church was “majority female,” even though the Greco-Roman world was majority male

Second century Greek philosopher Celsus: “Christians want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, only salves, women, and little children.”

Paul includes 9 women as ministry partners at the end of Romans

“If Paul’s instructions on marriage are shocking to our modern ears, they would have shocked his first hearers for precisely opposite reasons: their radical elevation women.”

“To this day, more women than men are Christians.”

Christianity and Women’s Rights

Christian activism > the feminist movement

But modern feminism is sometimes at odds with Christianity

“Some degree of freedom certainly enhances happiness, but too many options seem to deflate the balloon.”

“People who live together before they marry are more likely to divorce than those who do not.”

“Pro-Life? That’s a Lie!”

“Despite and complex and at times, heartrending challenges raised by unwanted pregnancy, I do believe that Christian faith entails a pro-life position, and while there are certainly some who oppose abortion for misogynistic reasons, the claim that being pro-life implies being anti-women is unsustainable.”

“… the Bible’s words on women are the words of a man who lays down his life.”

“Does Christianity denigrate women? On the contrary. It lifts us into the fellowship with God Himself.”