Women and Christianity

WOMEN AND CHRISTIANITY

Literature does not provide sufficient information about the role women played in Early Christian Communities . According to Fisher , the age of Early Christianity was marked with the increasing role of women as missionaries . There are no specific details as for the way women were spreading Gospel across Israel , but one thing is known for sure : women 's homes were used as the first Christian platforms to pray and worship (Fisher , 2007 , 195 . Jewish tradition always positioned a woman and her home as a sacred social territory . A woman was traditionally

considered the central element of that social territory . This is why , in Early Christian Israel women played a central role in Christian worship . In its turn , the Greco-Roman world offered even more religious opportunities to women : due to financial and social independence , women could sponsor worship and religious meetings at their homes (Fisher 2007 , 195 . The discussed economic independence had turned Hellenistic women into real leaders of religions other than Christian (Fisher , 2007 195 this is why Greco-Roman women were able to transfer their leadership qualities to other Christian domains

With time , the roles of women in religion have been substantially limited . Fisher is very objective when she refers to the gradual process of women losing their leading positions in religion as "subsequent subordination of women . For several long centuries , the church had been weighing the pros and cons of female religious leadership and participation . Finally , Paul has undertaken the decisive step to limit the egalitarian practices in church (Fisher , 2007 , 196 . The institutionalization of Christian church has become the turning point in depriving women of their religious powers . The institutionalization has strengthened the dominance of cultural norms in religion . Those norms required continuous and never-changing subordination of women in all social domains . Paul 's letters shed the light onto the process in which women were moved to other , less meaningful positions in Christianity Marriage and religious behavior in church were the central s of religious and social debate at that time . Although Paul was not against marriage , he voted against female sexuality manifestation beyond marriage (Fisher , 2007 , 196 . According to Bible , a woman was the last to be created by God , and those Biblical provisions were re-interpreted to bring women further down the religious ladder (Fisher , 2007 , 197 . A woman had to take a position submissive to men without any right to congregate in church (Fisher , 2007 , 197 . The continuous institutionalization has brought church officials to power they have undertaken the leadership and teaching roles , and took the major religious decisions . As a result of that religious restructuring , women were given a chance to serve as deaconesses , but their religious functions were severely limited and controlled (Fisher , 2007 , 199

Surprisingly or not , but the subsequent subordination did not stop women from worshipping . The early Christian years and the middle Ages were marked by constant appearance of new religious female leaders and female Christian teachers . In her article , Fisher (2007 ) emphasizes the three major roles which religious...