Women in Christianity

Prominent women in the Old Testament

Christianity developed as a sect of Judaism in the first century AD. It therefore inherited the depictions of women already existing within the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as The Old Testament).

In the Book of Genesis, the first creation story created man and woman at the same time, the second story of creation names Adam and Eve as the first man and the first woman; in the narrative, Adam was created first, and Eve from Adam's rib. Some commentators have suggested that Eve being God's second Creation indicated female inferiority, but in calling Eve "flesh of my flesh" others say a relationship of equality is implied.

Some women were praised in the Books of Ruth and Esther. The Book of Ruth is about a young Moabite woman's loyalty to her Jewish mother-in-law and her willingness to move to Israel and become a part of their culture. The story ends with her praise and blessing as she is married to an Israelite, who announces that he will now take care of her, and subsequently King David comes from her lineage. In the Book of Esther, a young woman named Esther of Jewish lineage is praised for her bravery as the queen of Persia who saved many from being killed by her pleas to the king.

Women in the New Testament Church

The New Testament describes Jesus setting a values-standard regarding attitudes toward and treatment of women.

Jesus and women

In the canonical Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as engaging women publicly and privately, including women described as neglected or rejected within his society, and as receiving women as hearers of his teaching and as followers in his wider circle. Apart from the disciples' surprise at Jesus speaking with a woman in John 4:27, the Gospels rarely present his association with women as controversial. Criticism more often targets his wider table fellowship with "tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34–39).

John Meier treats the presence of unaccompanied women participating in an itinerant preaching movement around a celibate male teacher as a pattern that does not align with typical Jewish social practice of the period. Ben Witherington argues that the Gospel portrayals present Jesus as acting in ways that challenged traditions that restricted women's participation in religious practice.

Luke in particular has an interest in Jesus' relationship with women and is the only Gospel to state that Jesus' ministry was supported financially by a number of women. This portrayal is commonly set against first-century social expectations in which women were often associated with domestic roles and were evaluated negatively by some pagan and Jewish writers urged women toward seclusion.

Jesus affirmed traditional service expectations for men and women while presenting servanthood as the "greatest" vocation for all disciples (cf. Mark 9:33–37; 10:35–45). Women's participation in Jesus' mission can be compared with women’s involvement in ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman religious life. The Gospels offer a multidimensional portrayal in which many women remain unnamed without functioning merely as stock characters.

Women as followers and witnesses

The New Testament refers to a number of women in Jesus' circle, notably his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene, and the Gospels frequently depict women as followers and as key witnesses, especially in resurrection narratives. In the Gospel of John, Jesus' mother appears at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1–12) and at the crucifixion (John 19:25–27), where Jesus is depicted as making provision for her care.

The Gospel accounts present women as the first to report the resurrection, and that women's witness stands close to the origin of the Christian movement. Mary Magdalene is sometimes identified with other female figures in the Gospels (for example, the sinner of Luke 7:36–50 or Mary of Bethany), though the texts themselves do not make these identifications.

Biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine notes that women are not named among the Twelve, and women are not depicted as present in some episodes that feature the Twelve as a group (for example, the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, the Last Supper, and Gethsemane).

Teachings on status and service

Within the Synoptic narratives, Jesus teaches his disciples not to imitate status-seeking patterns of rule, but to embrace a pattern of service. These sayings address disciples generally, and are cited in later Christian discussions about authority and leadership, including debates about gender roles and church order. All three Synoptic Gospels record Jesus teaching his disciples not to imitate "lording it over" others, but to embrace a pattern of service:

You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. - Matthew 20:25–28

Selected Gospel episodes

In the passion and resurrection narratives, Mary Magdalene is described as a prominent disciple, consistently listed first among named female disciples, and in some Gospel accounts as the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Witherington argues that John shows a particular interest in portraying key women as models of awakening faith and as witnesses of the Christian community, and notes that the women's visit to Jesus' tomb is the only event narrated by all four Evangelists.

During one of Jesus' trips into Phoenician territory, a mother asks him to heal her demon-afflicted daughter. In Matthew he initially ignores her, and in both Matthew and Mark he responds that it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs, a metaphor that contrasts Israel with Gentiles, but the woman persists and replies that even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table, after which Jesus grants her request and heals the child (Mt 15:21–28; Mk 7:24–30).

Luke also depicts Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary, with Mary sitting at Jesus' feet as he teaches and Jesus defending her choice when Martha objects. Grenz and Kjesbo argue that the narrative uses terminology associated with rabbinic study, suggesting that Mary is portrayed as a student. Moreover, the Gospel explicitly describes women as active supporters of Jesus' ministry, including women who travel with him and provide for the group out of their resources (Luke 8:1–3).

In the woman taken in adultery account (John 7:53–8:11), Jesus prevents a crowd from carrying out punishment against a woman accused of adultery, challenges the accusers ("He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her"), and then tells the woman to leave and not persist in sin.

Apostle Paul and women

The Pauline epistles are letters written to address specific questions or conflicts within the church community, they preserve only part of a larger exchange, and in such situations Paul may write sharply or diplomatically. Beyond instructions in his letters, Paul's greetings reveal Jewish and Gentile women active in early Christian communities, and his house churches included diverse members such as women and slaves.

Teachings

In Galatians 3:26–28, Paul writes: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Schnelle and Witherington argue that faith and baptism into Christ remove the significance of ethnic, social, and sexual distinctions for rank and standing within the Christian community.

In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul commends celibacy as a gift, yet treats marriage as the proper outlet for those without that gift. Paul's wording grants husband and wife mutual authority over one another's bodies. This command treats men and women equally, allows sexual abstinence only when both partners agree, doesn't make having children the main point of marriage, and by forbidding divorce, protects Christian women by limiting men's power to abandon them.

In 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, Paul obligates a woman to wear a textile head covering in assembly when she prays or prophesies. He appeals to scripture, custom, and reason, and concludes the covering is a shared church practice. Despite dress variation, veiling later became established, spreading more in the west than the east. Many interpret Paul as urging conformity to local customs, but debate whether if it applies only to wives or all women.

In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, it states "let the wives be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission" According to Taylor and Witherington, Paul does not impose an absolute ban on women speaking, since 1 Cor 11:5 assumes women pray and prophesy, but restricts disruptive speech to preserve order, with "silence" meaning refraining from questioning in the assembly and asking at home.

In Colossians 3:18–4:1 and Ephesians 5:21–6:9, wives are told to be subject to husbands and the relationship is developed by analogy with Christ and the church. Witherington reads the household codes temper patriarchy by stressing the household head’s duties, reading Eph 5:21 as mutual submission while still calling husbands to self-giving headship.

Letters attributed to Paul, particularly 1 Timothy 3:15, frame the church itself as a "household," and include restrictions such as prohibitions on women teaching or exercising authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11–15), with women directed toward childbearing and household management.

Mentioned women

Paul names several women among this pastoral group, indicating that women often held significant roles in congregational life. This is because assemblies were sometimes closely tied to women's households, where the host or hostess could preside.

Romans 16 reflects the social stratification of Roman society through multiple house churches, and he highlights women's labor in these communities, noting that only women are described there as having "worked very hard."

Paul commends Phoebe to the Roman community as a diakonos of the church at Cenchreae and as a patron who aided many, including Paul. The word διάκονος in Romans 16:1 can denote a recognized ministerial role in a local church, and that προστάτις in Romans 16:2 implies benefaction or leadership rather than general assistance, with Campbell linking Phoebe as Paul's emissary within his social network.

He greets Priscilla, Junia, Julia, and Nereus' sister. He commends Mary, Tryphaena and Tryphosa, and Persis for their labor. In Philippians, Euodia and Syntyche are described as having labored alongside Paul in the gospel.

Priscilla appears seven times in the New Testament, named before her husband Aquila in five instances, a pattern suggesting her prominence in their partnership according to Paul Achtemeier, though no explicit hierarchy is stated. The couple supported Paul's missionary work and led a house church in Ephesus. As fellow Jews and Christians who shared Paul's tentmaking trade, they hosted him in Corinth, accompanied him to Ephesus, and maintained ongoing contact. Paul called them his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus" (Romans 16:3).

Paul greets Andronicus and Junia in Romans 16:7. Patristic evidence supports reading a woman named Junia, and Junias is unattested. Andronicus and Junia are likely Jewish Christians and a missionary couple, and if "prominent among the apostles" is correct, "apostle" here is used in a broader sense tied to itinerant evangelism and church planting.

Women in church history

Apostolic age

From the very beginning of the early Christian church, women were important members of the movement, although some complain that much of the information in the New Testament on the work of women has been overlooked. Some also argue that many assumed that it had been a "man's church" because sources of information stemming from the New Testament church were written and interpreted by men. Recently, scholars have begun looking in mosaics, frescoes, and inscriptions of that period for information about women's roles in the early church. The historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote that the early Christian texts refer to various women activists in the early church. One such woman was St. Priscilla, a Jewish missionary from Rome, who may have helped found the Christian community at Corinth. She traveled as a missionary with her husband and St Paul, and tutored the Jewish intellectual Apollos. Others include the four daughters of Philip the Evangelist, from Caesarea, Palestine, who were said to be prophets and to have hosted St Paul in their home.

Patristic age

From the early patristic age, the offices of teacher and sacramental minister were reserved for men throughout most of the church in the East and West. Clement of Rome in chapter 55 of his First Epistle (AD 90) lists Judith and Esther as examples of manly feats and perfection. Tertullian, the 2nd-century Latin father, wrote that "It is not permitted to a woman to speak in church. Neither may she teach, baptize, offer, nor claim for herself any function proper to a man, least of all the sacerdotal office" ("On the Veiling of Virgins"). Origen (AD 185–254) stated that,

Even if it is granted to a woman to show the sign of prophecy, she is nevertheless not permitted to speak in an assembly. When Miriam the prophetess spoke, she was leading a choir of women ... For [as Paul declares] "I do not permit a woman to teach," and even less "to tell a man what to do."

In early centuries, the Eastern church allowed women to participate to a limited extent in ecclesiastical office by ordaining deaconesses.

Women commemorated as saints from the early centuries of Christianity include several martyrs who suffered under the Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, such as Agnes of Rome, Saint Cecilia, Agatha of Sicily and Blandina. The passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, written by Perpetua during her imprisonment in 203, recounted their martyrdom. The passion is thought to be one of the earliest surviving documents to have been written by a woman in early Christianity. In late Antiquity, Saint Helena was a Christian and consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I. Similarly, Saint Monica was a pious Christian and mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo. In the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, the priesthood and the ministries dependent upon it such as Bishop, Patriarch and Pope, were restricted to men. The first Council of Orange (441) forbade the ordination of women to the diaconate. The performance of Saint Euphemia's miracle in The Council of Chalcedon (451) aided and confirmed the Christological view of Dyophysitism.

Middle ages

As Western Europe transitioned from the Classical to Medieval Age, the male hierarchy with the Pope at its summit became a central player in European politics. Mysticism flourished and monastic convents and communities of Catholic women became institutions within Europe.

With the establishment of Christian monasticism, other influential roles became available to women. From the 5th century onward, Christian convents provided opportunities for some women to escape the path of marriage and child-rearing, acquire literacy and learning, and play a more active religious role. In the later Middle Ages women such as Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila, played roles in the development of theological ideas and discussion within the church, and were later declared Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. The Belgian nun, St Juliana of Liège (1193–1252), proposed the Feast of Corpus Christi, celebrating the body of Christ in the Eucharist, which became a major feast throughout the Church. In the Franciscan movement of the thirteenth century, religious women like St. Clare of Assisi played a significant part. Later, Joan of Arc took up a sword and achieved military victories for France, before being captured and tried as a "witch and heretic", after which she was burned at the stake. A papal inquiry later declared the trial illegal. A hero to the French, sympathy grew for Joan even in England. Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan in 1920.

The historian Geoffrey Blainey, writes that women were more prominent in the life of the Church during the Middle Ages than at any previous time in its history, with a number of church reforms initiated by women. In the 13th century, authors began to write of a mythical female pope—Pope Joan—who managed to disguise her gender until giving birth during a procession in Rome. Blainey cites the ever-growing veneration of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene as evidence of a high standing for female Christians at that time. The Virgin Mary was conferred such titles as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and, in 863, her feast day, the "Feast of Our Lady", was declared equal in importance to those of Easter and Christmas. Mary Magdalene's Feast Day was celebrated in earnest from the 8th century on and composite portraits of her were built up from Gospel references to other women Jesus met.

Other than the institution of the convent, monarchy was the major European institution allowing women an alternative to marriage and child rearing. Female monarchs of this period include: Olga of Kiev, who around AD 950, became the first Russian ruler to convert to Christianity; Italian noblewoman Matilda of Tuscany (1046–1115), remembered for her military accomplishments and for being the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy; Saint Hedwig of Silesia (1174–1243), who supported the poor and the church in Eastern Europe; and Jadwiga of Poland, who reigned as monarch of Poland and, within the Catholic Church, is honored as the patron saint of queens and of a "united Europe". Saint Elisabeth of Hungary (1207–1231) was a symbol of Christian charity who used her wealth to establish hospitals and care for the poor. Each of these women were singled out as model Christians by Pope John Paul II in his Mulieris Dignitatem letter on the dignity and vocation of women.

Post Reformation

The Reformation swept through Europe during the 16th century. The excommunication of Protestants by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church ended centuries of unity among Western Christendom. The religion of an heir to the throne became an intensely important political issue. The refusal of Pope Clement VII to grant an annulment in the marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon saw Henry establish himself as supreme governor of the church in England. His female Protestant successors have served as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Rivalry between Catholic and Protestant heirs ensued. Protestantism was consolidated in England by Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, who influenced the development of Anglicanism through cultivation of an Elizabethan religious settlement with the publication of the Book of Common Prayer. The religion of an heir or monarch's spouse complicated intermarriage between royal houses through coming centuries. Consorts of the Holy Roman Emperors were given the title of Holy Roman Empress. The throne was reserved for males, thus there was never a Holy Roman Empress regnant, though women such as Theophanu and Maria Theresa of Austria, controlled the power of rule and served as de facto Empresses regnant. A liberal-minded autocrat, she was a patron of sciences and education and sought to alleviate the suffering of the serfs. She kept Catholic observance at court and frowned on Judaism and Protestantism. She reigned for 40 years, and mothered 16 children including Marie-Antoinette, the ill-fated Queen of France. With her husband she founded the Catholic Habsburg-Lorraine Dynasty who remained central players in European politics into the 20th century.

One effect of the Reformation in the Reformed areas was to bring an end to the long tradition of female convents which had existed within Roman Catholicism, and which the Reformers saw as bondage. By shutting down female convents within the movement, Protestantism effectively closed off the option of a full-time religious role for Protestant women, as well as one which had provided some women a life in academic study.

However, some convents (such as Ebstorf Abbey near the town of Uelzen and Bursfelde Abbey in Bursfelde) adopted the Lutheran faith. Many of these convents in eastern Europe were closed by communist authorities after the Second World War. They are sometimes called damenstift. One notable damenstift member was Catharina von Schlegel (1697–1777) who wrote the hymn that was translated into English as "Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side".

However, other convents voluntarily folded during the Reformation. For example, following Catherine of Mecklenburg's choice to defy her Catholic husband and smuggle Lutheran books to Ursula of Munsterberg and other nuns, Ursula (in 1528) published 69 articles justifying their reasons to leave their convent. Martin Luther himself taught that "the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household as one who has been deprived of the ability of administering those affairs that are outside and concern the state...." Among the many nuns who chose the domestic life over the monastic life was the wife of Martin Luther, Katherine von Bora.

In 1569 Lutheran Magdalena Heymair became the first woman ever to have her writings listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. She published a series of pedagogical writings for elementary-age teaching and also wrote poetry. Calvinist Anne Locke was a translator and poet who published the first English sonnet sequence. In 1590, Christine of Hesse published the Lutheran psalm-book Geistliche Psalmen und Lieder.

John Calvin noted that "the woman's place is in the home." The majority of Protestant churches upheld the traditional position, and restricted ruling and preaching roles within the Church to men until the 20th century, although there were early exceptions among some groups such as the Quakers and within some Pentecostal holiness movements.

John Knox (1514–1572) also denied women the right to rule in the civic sphere, as he asserted in his famous First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women. Baptist theologian Dr. John Gill (1690–1771) comments on 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, stating

(Genesis 3:16) "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." By this, the apostle signified that the reason women were not to speak in the church, or to preach and teach publicly, or be concerned in the ministerial function was that in the Roman Empire, those were considered to be acts of power and authority, of rule and government, and thus contrary to that subjection which God in his law requires of women unto men. The extraordinary instances of Deborah, Huldah, and Anna, must not be drawn into a rule or example in such cases.

Methodist founder John Wesley (1703–1791) and Methodist theologian Adam Clarke (1762–1832) both upheld male headship, but allowed that spiritual Christian women could publicly speak in church meetings if they "are under an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit" (Wesley), and that such were to obey that influence, and that "the apostle lays down directions in chap. 11 for regulating her personal appearance when thus employed." (Clarke) Puritan theologian Matthew Poole (1624–1679) concurred with Wesley, adding,

But setting aside that extraordinary case of a special afflatus, [strong Divine influence] it was, doubtless, unlawful for a woman to speak in the church.

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) in his commentary, entertains allowing "praying, and uttering hymns inspired" by women, as such "were not teaching". Within the Church of England, King Henry VIII's dissolution of the religious houses swept away the convents which had been a feature of Christianity in England for centuries. Anglican religious orders and Sisterhoods were later re-established within the Anglican tradition however.

In Europe, Portugal and Spain remained Catholic and were on the cusp of building global empires. As sponsor of Christopher Columbus' 1492 mission to cross the Atlantic, the Spanish Queen Isabella I (Isabella the Catholic) of Castille was an important figure in the growth of Catholicism as a global religion, for Spain and Portugal followed Columbus' route to establish vast Empires in the Americas. Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon had ensured the unity of the Spanish Kingdom and the royal couple agreed to hold equal authority. Spanish Pope Alexander VI conferred on them the title "Catholic". The Catholic Encyclopedia credits Isabella as an extremely able ruler and one who "fostered learning not only in the universities and among the nobles, but also among women". Of Isabella and Ferdinand, it says: "The good government of the Catholic sovereigns brought the prosperity of Spain to its apogee, and inaugurated that country's Golden Age". In seventeenth-century Massachusetts, Anne Hutchison, a successful preacher and teacher was exiled because she usurped male authority.

Many women were martyred during the Counter-Reformation, including the Guernsey Martyrs, three women martyred for Protestantism in 1556. One woman was pregnant and gave birth while being burned, the child was rescued but then ordered to be burned as well. Still other women, such as those living in the Defereggen Valley, were stripped of their children so they could be raised in Catholic in an institution.

Modern times

Amidst the backdrop of Industrial Revolution and expanding European Empires during the 17th–19th centuries, Christian women played a role in developing and running of many the modern world's education and health care systems. However, women "still had to work under the nominal control of a man" for missionary work as late as the end of the 19th century. Outside of these positions, "women were denied other influential public roles in the churches". The roles that women began taking began expanding. Catholic religious orders like the Sisters of Mercy the Little Sisters of the Poor Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart were founded around the world and established extensive networks of hospitals and schools. The Anglican Florence Nightingale was influential in the development of modern nursing. While most Christian denominations did not allow women to preach during the nineteenth century, a few more evangelical Protestant denominations did permit women's preaching. In early-nineteenth-century Britain, the Bible Christians and Primitive Methodists permitted female preaching, and had a significant number of female preachers, particularly among the rural and working-class populations. Some of them emigrated to British colonies, and preached to settlers in colonies including early Canada. By the second half of the nineteenth century these denominations became more institutionalized, and thus less open to women's preaching, although a few women continued to preach in these denominations until the early twentieth century. Later in nineteenth-century Britain the Salvation Army was formed, and from the beginning it permitted women to preach on the same terms as men. These "Hallelujah Lasses", many of whom were working class, were very popular, often drawing huge crowds in Britain as well as in North America. Nonetheless, these denominations remained a minority, and in most Christian churches women remained barred from the ministry into the twentieth century.

For much of the early twentieth century, Catholic women continued to join religious orders in large numbers, where their influence and control was particularly strong in the running of primary education for children, high schooling for girls, and in nursing, hospitals, orphanages and aged care facilities. In the latter half of the 20th century, vocations for women in the West entered a steep decline. In spite of that, the Catholic Church conducted a large number of beatifications and canonizations of Catholic women from all over the world: St. Josephine Bakhita was a Sudanese slave girl who became a Canossian nun; St. Katharine Drexel (1858–1955) worked for Native and African Americans; Polish mystic St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) wrote her influential spiritual diary; and German nun Edith Stein was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Three Catholic women were declared Doctors of the Church, indicating a re-appraisal of the role of women within the life of that Church: the 16th-century Spanish mystic, St. Teresa of Ávila; the 14th-century Italian mystic St. Catherine of Siena and the 19th-century French nun St. Thérèse de Lisieux (called Doctor Amoris or Doctor of Love). The 19th century saw women begin to push back on traditional female roles in the church. One was Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) who worked to "liberate women from their traditional shackles":

[O]ne of her first projects was a Woman's Bible in which the passages used by men to keep women in subjection were highlighted and critiqued. Although some early campaigners for female emancipation belonged to the churches, and though some church-related movements helped nurture women's entrance onto the public stage, the campaigners who embraced the feminist cause most wholeheartedly nearly always made a break from Church and Biblical Christianity.

While Catholicism and Orthodoxy adhered to traditional gender restrictions on ordination to the priesthood, ordination of women in Protestant churches has in recent decades become increasingly common. The Salvation Army elected Evangeline Booth as its first female General (worldwide leader) in 1934. New Zealander Penny Jamieson became the first woman in the world to be ordained a bishop of the Anglican Church in 1990 (although the queens of England have for centuries inherited the position of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England upon their ascensions to the throne).

In the developing world, people continued to convert to Christianity in large numbers. Among the most famous and influential women missionaries of the period was the Catholic nun Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in "bringing help to suffering humanity". Much admired by Pope John Paul II, she was beatified in 2003, just six years after her death. Many Christian women and religious have been prominent advocates in social policy debates—as with American nun Helen Prejean, a Sister of Saint Joseph of Medaille, who is a prominent campaigner against the death penalty and was the inspiration for the Hollywood film Dead Man Walking.

Modern views

Linda Woodhead states that, "Of the many threats that Christianity has to face in modern times, gender equality is one of the most serious". Some 19th-century Christian authors began codifying challenges to traditional views toward women both in the church and in society. Only since the 1970s have more diverse views become formalized. In addition to non-Christian perspectives, four of the primary views inside Christianity on the role of women are Christian feminism, Christian egalitarianism, complementarianism, and Biblical patriarchy.

Secular criticism

Representing an atheist perspective, author Joshua Kelly argues that the Christian Bible, in this view a creation of ancient authors and medieval editors reflecting their own culture and opinions and not the declarations of a supernatural being, describes and advocates for sexist norms, which should be rejected by modern people. Kelly points to the requirement for women to subordinate themselves to their husbands espoused in the New Testament book of Ephesians, the classification of women as property along with oxen and slaves throughout the Torah, and the permission given by the Book of Exodus for a man to sell his daughter as a maidservant.

Christian feminism

Christian feminists take an actively feminist position from a Christian perspective. Recent generations have experienced the rise of what has been labeled by some as "Christian feminism"—a movement that has had a profound impact on all of life, challenging some traditional basic Christian interpretations of Scripture with respect to roles for women. Scholars such as Karen Jo Torjesen have examined women's leadership in early Christian communities and the institutional developments that restricted those roles over time, notably in When Women Were Priests. However, Christian feminism represents the views of the more theologically liberal end of the spectrum within Christianity. In contrast to the more socially conservative Christian egalitarians, Christian feminists tend to support LGBT rights and a pro-choice stance on abortion. The Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus, a major international Christian feminist organization, values "inclusive images and language for God".

The book Genesis of Gender by Abigail Favale published in 2022 discusses her view on modern Christian feminism. She taught Gender Studies at a university before converting to Catholicism and elaborates on her interpretation of Genesis in the second chapter. She states, "Moreover, Genesis recognizes the duality of humankind, male and female; this difference is part of the goodness of creation, and both sexes share fully in the divine image and the commission to tend the earth. There is no sense here of hierarchy between male and female, but rather a shared, benevolent governance over the rest of creation" (Favale). This is a common view among Christian feminists, that both biological sexes are equal as both are created in the image of God. Similarly, Our Lives Matter by Pamela R. Lightsey describes Womanist Queer Theology, and incorporates modern events and renowned feminist theorists including Judith Butler into her argument for womanism in Christianity. As a Reverend in the United Methodist Church, Lightsey uses many verses of scripture to support her theology. She also ponders Genesis, stating, "God shaped and breathed life into humanity and did not desire to leave us alone. Having prohibited Adam and Eve from eating from the one tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God entrusted them with all that was created and charged them to care for every living creature" (Lightsey). These two prominent Christian authors of works concerning gender and feminism portray common analyses of biblical interpretation that support feminist ideals.

Egalitarian view

Christian Egalitarians' interpretation of Scripture brings them to the conclusion that the manner and teachings of Jesus, affirmed by the Apostle Paul, abolished gender-specific roles in both the church and in marriage.

Official statement

Men, Women and Biblical Equality was prepared in 1989 by several evangelical leaders to become the official statement of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE). The statement lays out their biblical rationale for equality as well as its application in the community of believers and in the family. They advocate ability-based, rather than gender-based, ministry of Christians of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic classes. Egalitarians support the ordination of women and equal roles in marriage, and are more conservative both theologically and morally than Christian feminists.

Christian egalitarian beliefs

• Both women and men were created equal by God
• Neither man nor woman was cursed by God at The Fall of Man—"So the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.' The human couple were warned by God in a prophetic sense what would be the natural consequences of sin having entered the human race. The natural consequences of sin mentioned by God in the Creation account included increased pains in childbearing, and the husband will rule over you.
• Jesus' radical "new Covenant" view was correctly articulated by the Apostle Paul when he wrote that "...there is no male nor female, for you are all one in Christ."

A scripture passage they consider key to the advocacy of full equality of responsibility and authority for both women and men is contained in a Pauline polemic containing these three antitheses:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

— Galatians 3:28

Christian Egalitarians interpret this passage as expressing that the overarching teaching of the New Testament is that all are "one in Christ". The three distinctions, important in Jewish life, are declared by Paul to be invalid in Christ. Therefore, among those "in Christ" there must be no discrimination based on race or national origin, social level, or gender. They respect the natural biological uniqueness of each gender, not seeing it as requiring any dominant/submissive applications of gender to either marriage or church leadership. David Scholer, New Testament scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary, affirms this view. He believes that Galatians 3:28 is "the fundamental Pauline theological basis for the inclusion of women and men as equal and mutual partners in all of the ministries of the church." Galatians 3:28 represents "the summation of Paul's theological vision," according to Pamela Eisenbaum, professor at Iliff School of Theology, who is one of four Jewish New Testament scholars teaching in Christian theological schools. Christian Egalitarianism holds that the submission of the woman in marriage and womanly restrictions in Christian ministry are inconsistent with the true picture of biblical equality. The equal-yet-different doctrine taught by Complementarians is considered by them to be a contradiction in terms.

Linda Woodhead claims that the modern

"egalitarian emphasis is contradicted by a symbolic framework that elevates the male over the female, and by organizational arrangements that make masculine domination a reality in church life. Theological statements on the position of women from down the centuries testify not only to the assumption that it is men who have the authority to define women, but to the precautions that have been taken to ensure that women do not claim too much real equality with men – in this life at least".

In their book Woman in the World of Jesus, Evelyn Stagg and Frank Stagg point out that in the Bible the only God-ordained restrictions on the genders is that "only the male can beget, and only the female can bear".

Gilbert Bilezikian, in his book Beyond Sex Roles—What the Bible Says About a Woman's Place in Church and Family, argues that the New Testament contains evidence of women apostles, prophets, teachers, deacons, and administrators.

Baptist theologian Roger Nicole, considered an expert in Calvinism, is a Christian Egalitarian and a Biblical Inerrantist. He recognizes that biblical egalitarianism is still viewed by many as inconsistent with biblical inerrancy, although he disagrees. He writes that "the matter of the place of women in the home, in society, and in the church is not an issue that can be conclusively determined by a few apparently restrictive passages that are often advanced by those who think that subordination represents God's will for women."

I believe that most, if not all, of the restrictions on women in society have no basis in Scripture, and that those maintained in the Church are based on an inadequate interpretation of a few restrictive passages, which put them in contradiction with the manifest special concern and love of God for women articulated from Genesis to Revelation.

— Roger Nicole, 2006

A limited notion of gender complementarity is held and is known as "complementarity without hierarchy".

David Basinger, a doctor of philosophy, says that Egalitarians point out, "Few Christians [...] take all biblical mandates literally." Basinger goes on to cite John 13:14 and James 5:14 as commandments prescribed by the Bible which are seldom followed by Christians. Basinger says that this logic indicates that traditional views "cannot be argued [...] solely because Paul and Peter exhorted the woman of their day to submit in the home and be silent in the church".

Complementarian view

Complementarians believe that God made men and women to be equal in personhood and value but different in roles. They understand the Bible as teaching that God created men and women to serve different roles in the church and the home. In the 1991 book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, leading Complementarian theologians outlined what they consider to be biblically sanctioned definitions of masculinity and femininity:

At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for and protect women in ways appropriate to a man's differing relationships. At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman's differing relationships.

Official statement

The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood was prepared by several evangelical leaders at a Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, in December 1987. The statement lays out their biblical rationale for male priority and female submission in the community of believers and in the family. Additionally it cites a set of concerns shared by complementarians over other contemporary philosophies about gender:

• A growing threat to Biblical authority
• Ambivalence about motherhood and homemaking
• Claims of legitimacy for illicit sexual relationships and pornography
• Cultural uncertainty and confusion over complementary differences between masculinity and femininity
• Emergence of roles for men and women in church leadership seen as nonconforming to Biblical teaching
• Increasing attention given what they termed to be feminist egalitarianism
• Nontraditional reinterpretation of apparently plain meanings of Biblical texts
• Unraveling marriages
• Upsurge of physical and emotional abuse in the family

They attribute these ills to the "apparent accommodation of some within the church to the spirit of the age at the expense of winsome, radical Biblical authenticity which [...] may reform rather than reflect our ailing culture."

Interpretation of Scripture

Complementarians tend to be biblical inerrantists who take a more literal view of biblical interpretation. They disagree with Christian Egalitarians on theological positions related to gender, such as in holding that:

• Man was created with "headship" over the woman by being created first.
• Female exclusion from leadership over men is also justified due to her deception by the devil, which resulted in The Fall, for which Adam is also, or primarily, culpable.
• Both Old and New Testaments set a pattern of male leadership; for instance the priestly and kingly offices of the Old Testament were restricted to males; the Apostles of Jesus were all male; and Paul's instructions regarding church eldership in the epistles 1 Timothy and Titus appear to restrict this position to men.

Primary texts in the New Testament which they believe support male headship include these:

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Biblical patriarchy view

Biblical patriarchy as expressed by the Vision Forum is similar to Complementarianism in that it affirms the equality of men and women, but goes further in its expression of the different gender roles. Many of the differences between them are ones of degree and emphasis. While Complementarianism holds to exclusively male leadership in the church and in the home, biblical patriarchy extends that exclusion to the civic sphere as well, so that women should not be civil leaders and indeed should not have careers outside the home. Thus, William Einwechter refers to the traditional Complementarian view as "two point complementarianism" (male leadership in the family and church), and regards the biblical patriarchy view as "three-point" or "full" complementarianism, (male leadership in family, church and society). In contrast to this, John Piper and Wayne Grudem, representing the Complementarian position, say that they are "not as sure in this wider sphere which roles can be carried out by men or women". Grudem also acknowledges exceptions to the submission of wives to husbands where moral issues are involved.

Terminology

Although much of the contemporary literature settles on the terms Complementarianism and Christian Egalitarianism, a number of other more pejorative terms are frequently encountered.

• In Complementarian literature, the term "Christian feminism" is sometimes incorrectly used synonymously with "egalitarianism". For examples, see books by Wayne Grudem on the topic. Christian Egalitarians generally object to being labeled "feminist" or "evangelical feminist". Their belief in biblical equality is said to be grounded in the biblical teaching that all believers have been given authority in Christ. Conversely, feminist ideology is derived from cultural factors and philosophies. Christian Egalitarian author Rebecca Groothuis writes, "Like most cultural systems of thought, feminist ideology is partly true and partly false—almost entirely false at this point in history."
• In Christian Egalitarian literature, the terms "gender traditionalist", "patriarchalist" and "hierarchicalist" are sometimes used with reference to Complementarians. The use of these terms in egalitarian literature is defended in Rebecca Merrill Groothuis and Ronald W. Pierce, Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Hierarchy, IVP 2004, p. 17. "... it is probably most fitting to refer to those who believe in restricting leadership to men as simply advocates of male leadership, or patriarchalists ... traditionalists ... or hierarchicalists."

William J. Webb describes himself as a "complementary egalitarian". He defines this as "full interdependence and 'mutual submission' within marriage, and the only differences in roles are 'based upon biological differences between men and women'." He uses "Complementarianism" to describe what he calls "a milder form of the historical hierarchical view." Complementarian scholar Wayne A. Grudem objects to Webb's use of "complementary" and "egalitarian" together to describe a thoroughly egalitarian position. Calling the terminology "offensive and confusing," he reasons that doing so simply confuses the issues by using the term "complementary" for a position totally antithetical to what complementarians hold. Grudem finds Webb's use of the term "patriarchy" to be especially pejorative because of its connotations in modern society. He also rejects the term "hierarchicalist" because he says it overemphasizes structured authority while giving no suggestion of equality or the beauty of mutual interdependence.