CHAPTER 5: THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE PLIGHT OF WOMEN AND THEIR ROLES IN THE FIRST CENTURY MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
5.4. Jewish women in the first century Greco-Roman world
5.4.4 Women’s condition in the light of the New Testament writings
This section deals with women’s condition and involvement in Christianity in the Greco- Roman world of the Mediterranean region. Special attention is given to women from the Jewish background as Christianity originated from that culture. But women from other backgrounds are spoken about briefly, especially concerning their involvement in the early church.
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One way of looking into the life condition of women during Jesus’ time is to observe the New Testament writings closely.49
Looking into the circumstances of the that time, one can argue that Jewish women were more oppressed and isolated than other groups of women in the ancient world. Spencer notes that some of the women’s actions were noticed, such as the services of their hands and purses (Luke 4:38-39; 7:11-16; 10; 38-42 etc.) but when women did other noticeable work, it was rendered insignificant. An example is Mary Magdalene and others at the tomb as the first witnesses of the resurrection. Their report was dismissed by (male) Those writings concentrate on the person and ministry of Jesus Christ who is considered as the founder of the Christian movement. The New Testament period speaks much about him. His life greatly influenced his society and the people around him. Consideration of the lives of his contemporaries, especially women, will reveal the impact his attitude and teachings had on them in the midst of the patriarchal Jewish society of that period.
Spencer (2004) addresses the condition of women in the early Christian community, basing his analysis primarily on the books of Luke-Acts. He asserts that in the structure of the Christian community, conventional gender roles remained fixed. Women constituted the passive hearing sector of the community, thoroughly subordinate to male authority and discourse. Women’s voice was not heard; rather male’s voice and authority dominated and women were subject to that power. It is oserved that in the book of Acts, which describes the deeds of the early church, men dominated all the speeches and assumed each of the key leadership positions. Even in the Gospel of Luke, according to Spencer, women are neither entitled equal rights nor are they emancipated. For instance, Spencer argues that in Luke 2:36ff Anna was specifically labelled as a prophet but we hear only a brief, third-person summary of her proclamation. Anna is “dramatically overshadowed by Simeon, trice anointed with the Spirit whose mouth pours amazing words of praise and prophecy to the young Jesus and his parents in the preceding scene”, that is in Luke 2:28-35 (Spencer 2004: 145-146).
49 There will not be, however, sections dedicated to the plight of women in all the writings of the New Testament books. That is beyond the scope of this research work. Only the view of women in the Fourth Gospel is provided. In addition, this research work is based on selected sections in the Gospel of John.
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disciples who were more visible (Spencer 2004:6). Bauckham explains the attitude of these males saying that in the ancient world, especially Jewish Palestine, the testimony of women was widely regarded as unreliable and untrustworthy (Bauckham 2002:257-258).
The condition of women and their lower status is confirmed in the letters attributed to Paul, with his prohibiting women to teach or take any authority in the church in 1 Timothy 2:12 and in the letter to the Corinthian church. Some scholars interpret Paul’s words of prohibiting women from taking some responsibilities in the church to be aimed at addressing specific issues in the church. Others believe that Paul was motivated by the view that the women’s lack of education would result in them wasting the congregation’s time by asking ‘foolish’ questions. Because of the lack of education and their portrayal in such patriarchal society women were discriminated against; they were not given much opportunity to exercise the peacemaking role. They were not allowed to be involved in prominent offices of leadership where they could perform work of justice or unity- building according to the law. They could only perform a peacemaking role indirectly in their families, especially through their husbands, as they could not voice their opinion publicly. The example of women being peacemakers despite their culture may be illustrated by Pilate’s wife who tried to speak for Jesus’ rescue through her husband. She tried to warn her husband to be careful in the way he treated Jesus, for she had understood that Jesus was an innocent man (Matthew 27:19). Pilate did not comply with his wife’s intention, however. Zuck notes that Pilate had to protect his interests, that he was obliged to make a decision which favoured his reputation. Pilate realized that he was getting nowhere with the crowd, and their entreaty to report him to Caesar concerned him. “His record with Caesar was not good, and did not want word of arrival king to reach Caesar’s ears, especially if Pilate had realized that king” (Walvoord and Zuck 1983:87). Pilate chose to overlook the message of his wife in order to protect his interests (Walvoord and Zuck 1983:87). Herod’s action reflects the thinking of undermining his wife’s ideas, which may be seen in the view of the above interpretation of Paul’s writings where women’s ideas are considered as a waste of time.
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Looking analytically into both arguments about the interpretation of the biblical texts, each reveals aspects of a culture which was undermining women. These texts reflect a culture which was not promoting women’s education, and which favoured men’s domination over women. They reflect a society characterized by the lack of gender equality. These examples illustrate Brown’s words about the Bible: “The phenomenon of cultural relativity, with the adaptations it imposes, is repeatedly within the Bible itself”
(Brown 1997:182).
Hence, the New Testament writings portray a culture where women and men were not equal despite what Brown describes as a ‘breakthrough’ in Galatians 3:28 Reacting against the view of scholars who charge Paul or the author of 1 Timothy 2 with assuming the social order of patriarchy and of attempting to impose that pattern on the church, Brown points to that breakthrough in Galatians 3:28 where it reads: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all in Christ Jesus.” Brown argues that this verse “has often been viewed as not merely requiring the abolition of slavery, but also of all vestiges of patriarchy or of sexism, as well as of nationalism and perhaps of ethnicity” (Brown 1997:206). The passage is set against the ancient Jewish culture which displayed discrimination against women in all most of sectors of the society.