{"id":6141,"date":"2011-08-29T09:14:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T14:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2011-08-30T09:04:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T14:04:10","slug":"gender-roles-and-the-early-church-envisioning-capacitarianism-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/gender-roles-and-the-early-church-envisioning-capacitarianism-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Roles and the Early Church (Envisioning “Capacitarianism”, Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we enter dialogue on gender, or rather, as I’ve proposed, moving past using gender to decide privilege in the church,<\/strong> it’s important to first realize the troubling influence from the (male) leadership in the early church. Their ideas continue to heavily impact the attitudes and practices of the contemporary church, and cause confusion.<\/p>\n

Doctrine based on secular thought and culture:<\/strong>
\nWhen reading the thoughts of the early church fathers, we notice the heavy influence of secular Greek thought that disparaged women, and valued the spiritual far and above the physical\/material, as well as and male over female. (see a bit on\u00a0Dualism<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Incarnation trumps cultural assumptions:<\/strong>
\nThe Incarnation<\/a>, however, fully appreciated the spiritual and the material, both. God reaffirms the dignity of the physicality and spirituality of the human being, and all of his physical Creation. A materialistic\/dualistic approach (which still can be found subtly in Christianity, even today), undercuts what God has done in the life, ministry, and sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ.<\/p>\n

Worldview Askew:<\/strong>
\nThe ministry of Jesus, the Son of God, and the first generation of the Christian church was most scandalous in its progressive exercise of women in positions of influence and leadership (i.e. apostles, prophetesses, deacons, teachers, etc.). This thoroughly counter-cultural new sect and off-shoot of Judaism, who affirmed that Jesus of Nazareth, was and is divine, soon succumbed to typical male-dominated power and authority, and instead, mirrored the secular cultural worldview.<\/p>\n

Most influential church fathers who articulated the earliest of Christine doctrine and practice, were much like their academic or secular peers in their misogyny. Typical (and secular) morays resumed.<\/p>\n

Swiss Cheese Foundation Walls (Holey not Holy):<\/strong>
\nIt seems that conversations and debates about men and women, and their roles in the church have only ever built on<\/em> the thoughts of these errant church fathers, or, contrastingly<\/em>, openly revolted against them (i.e. feminist theology). But, these are both tired and worn out arguments and vantage points that now have limited usefulness. We continue to merely speak past each other.<\/p>\n

Eve Hating:<\/strong>
\nThe man known in Christianity as, “The founder of Western Theology” is\u00a0Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus<\/strong>,<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0best known in English as\u00a0Tertullian<\/strong>\u00a0(c. 160 \u2013 c. 220 AD).<\/p>\n

He covered apologetics, heresy, morals, church discipline,\u00a0baptism, soteriology, and made a huge impact on one of Christianity’s most influential leaders,\u00a0Augustine<\/a>\u00a0of Hippo.<\/p>\n

Though Tertullian\u00a0was well know for elucidating important issues of church life, as well as the gracious treatment of widows, his thoughts and comments about females are truly shocking to our contemporary ears.<\/strong> Read some for yourself:\u00a0De Cultu Feminarum\u00a0Book I.\u00a0Chapter I.—-Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Here are some Tertullian highlights:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Man, not woman, is created in the image of God.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Woman was and is the source<\/em> of temptation.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Like Eve, each woman is also:<\/p>\n