Women and Christianity

Jimmy Carter has done it again. In today's Drudge Report he says much of the discrimination and abuse suffered by women around the world is attributable to a belief "that women are inferior in the eyes of God." Carter said such teachings by "leaders in Christianity, Islam and other religions" allow men to beat their wives and deny women their fundamental rights as human beings. Once more he sees a moral equivalency between Christianity and Islam where it doesn't exist. He needed to explain that Christianity has elevated the status of women. So, for the next couple of blogs, I'd like to explore that idea further in hopes of clarifying what our "beloved" former President has said.


What would be the status of women in the Western world today if Jesus had never been born? Let's compare their status in the West with that of women under the control of Islam. In most present-day Islamic countries, women are still denied many rights that are available to men, and when they appear in public, they must be veiled. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, women are even barred from driving an automobile. In many Arab countries where the Islamic religion is adhered to strongly, a man has the right to beat and sexually desert his wife, all with the full support of the Koran.


This command is the polar opposite of what the New Testament says regarding a man’s relationship with his wife. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." And he added, "He who loves his wife loves himself." Jesus loved women and treated them with great respect and dignity.


The New Testament’s teaching on women also wasn't found in the Greco-Roman culture of Jesus' time. In ancient Greece, for example, a respectable woman was not allowed to leave the house unless she was accompanied by a trustworthy male escort. A wife was not permitted to eat or interact with male guests in her husband’s home; she had to retire to her woman’s quarters. Men kept their wives under lock and key, and women had the social status of a slave. Girls were not allowed to go to school, and when they grew up, they were not allowed to speak in public. Women were considered inferior to men.


The status of Roman women was also very low. Roman law placed a wife under the absolute control of her husband, who had ownership of her and all her possessions. He could divorce her if she went out in public without a veil. A husband had the power of life and death over his wife, just as he did his children. As with the Greeks, women were not allowed to speak in public.


Even the Jewish faith, from which Christianity grew, failed to give women a high status. Jewish women were barred from public speaking. The oral law prohibited women from reading the Torah out loud. Synagogue worship was segregated, with women never allowed to be heard.

Now, consider how Jesus interacted with women--what a difference. Let's look at the story of his encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4. How he dealt with her was extremely unusual, even radical. He ignored the Jewish anti-Samaritan prejudices along with prevailing view that saw women as inferior beings. He started a conversation with her—a Samaritan, a woman—in public. The rabbinic oral law was explicit: “He who talks with a woman [in public] brings evil upon himself.” Another rabbinic teaching prominent in Jesus’ day taught, “One is not so much as to greet a woman.” So we can understand why his disciples were amazed to find him talking to a woman in public. Today we read this story unaware of what a powerful statement Jesus is making here regarding the rights and dignity of women.


There are many other ways Jesus demonstrated his regard for women. Mary, Martha and Lazarus entertained Jesus at their home. He allowed Mary to do what only men had been allowed to do, namely, learn from Jesus’ teachings. Mary was the cultural deviant, but so was Jesus, because he violated the rabbinic law of his day [about speaking to women]. By teaching Mary spiritual truths, he violated another rabbinic law, which said, “Let the words of the Law [Torah] be burned rather than taught to women. In addition, women followed Jesus, a highly unusual phenomenon in first-century Palestine. This behavior may not seem unusual to us today, but in Jesus’ day it was highly unusual. Scholars note that in the prevailing culture only prostitutes and women of very low repute would follow a man without a male escort. Another example is that of Jesus' resurrection scene. The first people Jesus chose to appear to were women; not only that, but he instructed them to tell his disciples that he was alive. In a culture where a woman’s testimony was worthless because she was worthless, Jesus elevated the value of women beyond anything the world had seen.


Does anyone see anything like this concern for the status of women in other religious movements, especially Islam? Nope. Let me continue this in a future blog. In the meantime, enjoy the colorful comments of Jimmy Carter as the fiction which they are.