1Christianity and the Sexual Woman

Christianity and the Sexual Woman

Oregon State University

Susan Gaswint

Womens Studies (WS 460)

August 24, 2011

2Christianity and the Sexual Woman

Somewhere around two thousand years ago, as the story goes; a baby was born in a little town

in a small town in the mid east. This place was a part of the Roman acquisitions at the height of

Roman power. It was not anymore important on the scheme of things; a country surrounded by

desert, but it had been the home of the Jewish people. Their religion was a growing way of

thinking, it had evolved over the two thousand years with the men seeking why and how humans

came to be. Like every other culture they believed they were special. During the evolution of the

religion, the Jewish people came to believe that there was only one God and they were this Gods

chosen people. It was a patriarchal society and women were left to tend the children and their

husbands, they were not allowed to go to the schools or take part in some of the religious

practices. The story tells of a baby, who was sent to earth to save his people and guide them out

of persecution. The people believed he was a Messiah who would lead the people in war against

the invaders. When this baby became a man he was peaceful and taught love, many of the Jewish

people do not believe that he was the Messiah; however his followers started what then was

considered a cult, living away from the main society, they built homes in caves and called it the

New Jerusalem. This was after the man was killed on a cross, like many of the thieves and rebels

were during those years. It is what Roman authority did with trouble makers. Crosses lined the

roads as warnings of what the conquers would do to those who tried to destroy their empire.

They were called Christians and in the first and second centuries they rose to a great power. They

believed and taught that the only way to heaven was through the beliefs and homage of this man.

Jewish religion was taught in stories that were passed down from one generation to another. Like

many of the religions it is sometimes hard to separate the stories from the fact. Historians for

have endeavored to do this, matching stories with the written facts. In this era many countries

had developed the written record. The Romans have scores of written history about this time
3Christianity and the Sexual Woman

period; as does Egypt. But the new religion says it is a matter of faith to believe what is written

in their book called the bible. To believe in this man is to have a free pass to Haven. To live a

good life is to be rewarded; and they instruct you on how to live. The Christian religion has taken

certain stories told by the Jews and made them fact. Without historical proof this can be

dangerous. Also they have repeatedly judged people by these stories. One of the stories is the

creation story; every religion has one, it is the search for reason to our existence, how we came to

be on this third planet from our sun. This story is believed as fact by the Christian people, there

is no known proof that this happened, but a Christian will believe without question that this is

how the world began. It tells of a God who created the heavens and the earth, all the plants and

animals; then he created man and from man woman. (Genesis 1:1-2:3) That woman would

always be under the mans protective and controlling arm. During the story the woman (Eve) is

tempted by a snake to eat the forbidden fruit. The man joins her and because of her they are

thrown out of the garden. Some of the newer Christian churches believed that Eve didnt have

the voice of God, so she didnt understand the extent of her crime. But that the man did. In the

best interruption this reveals that the woman is naive and at the worst she is just stupid. But

throughout the centuries of this religions existence, women have been at fault. It is said it is why

women suffer in child birth and always subject to the male in every way. Women are either cast

as temptress or harlots or virgin and noble. The stories tell how women have been either or,

throughout the book, the bible.

The bible which is believed to be the word of God is made up of the Old Testament, which

includes the history of the Jewish people, according to the Jewish people and the New

Testament, which is the story of Jesus and his disciples. This is said to be the books which God

regulated to being called the cannon or authorized and approved reading. For centuries the book
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was read by only certain men, those who were chosen by God (priests and leaders of the

church, because common man could not read. Women of any status were denied the ability of an

education, limited to household chores and following the guidance of men. In the Gook God of

Old written by James Kugel, he relates how the Holy Spirit was the Goddess in the old Jewish

religion. But through retelling and thinking of men being the chosen gender, the Holy Spirit is

not a part of a trinity, (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) are described as three people in one,

making Jesus a God he never claimed to be, except in three passages (John 10:34-36, Mark

14:61-62 and Revelation 2:18) in the New Testament. However in the lost books, which I will

discuss, there is not mention of Jesus being the son of God; he calls himself the son of man. The

Jewish religion does not believe he was the son of God either. Now we have the bible with

different translations held up as the book ordained by God as his voice, but there were other

books written by others in the first and second centuries; and in the Jewish cultural, those books

who men decided were not from God and were not allowed to be put in the Bible. The decision

that was made about the Old Testament was made by a body of Jewish men called the Great

Synagogue in about 400 BC. The New Testament was decided on by the Christian council at

Carthage in 387 AD; also a body of men. The books and stories were written anywhere from 50

AD to 100 AD; this was at least 20 years after Jesus and his disciples were put to death

(Anabaptist) Many other historians believe that they were written hundreds of years after their

deaths. The books are believed to be written by his disciples but historians have again dated the

books and believe that most were written by the disciples followers or scribes in the first

churches. The first churches and clergy of the Greek Orthodox and The Catholic Church. During

this time table men in the church were discovering how powerful they were becoming; acquiring

land and monies from converted people who believed that they would go to heaven. If the Clergy
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could not scare the Pagans, those that did not believe in this new religion, they were killed. Our

history has been laced with billions of people from all over the world who were killed in the

name of God and the Christian religion. The churches still demand payment, to support them

in carrying the message, even if the people of the church cannot afford it. Many times the

people live in poverty while the Church leaders live in luxury. Many frauds have been

uncovered and prosecuted concerning this black mark on church leaders.

Men who have been the deciding factor in the Christian religion seemed to write about strong

women as either being submissive to their husbands or sexual harlots. Since both Jewish and

Christian religion is based on Patriarchal designs, then this is not a surprise. So then what about

the Lost Books that have been discussed in the last 50 years? Those writings that were not

sanctioned by men as the word of God and have been condemned as the work of the Devil; lost

in the sands of time: What about those books? What is the difference in their teachings and why

were they hidden from us for centuries. The Jewish people had a second creation story, which

told of a first wife for Adam, Lilith, (Bronzuick); was said to have run off with a demon which

was why God made Eve from his rib so that she would be under his protection; because he was

lonely after his first wife left. So a wife, who leaves her husband, must not be a good woman.

Naturally if this story had been included then Eve would not have been the first woman created.

In 1945 in Upper Egypt 50 lost texts were found in ancient codices. These books were read

and studied by early Christians, just as the books that were later accepted as Cannon by the

religion. One of the books was about Mary of Magdalene who was called the beloved disciple of

Jesus, she was referred to as his companion. The little that has been found of these missing books

put her as his favorite disciple, which he shared secrets with her that he did not share with some

of his other followers. Why then was this book allowed to be lost, or it locked up in the Vaticans
6Christianity and the Sexual Woman

(Catholic Churches) secret library. Only the highest of the Catholic clergy is allowed to go into

this library and only with the Popes permission. The basic premise from historians is that the

Roman Catholic Church did not want women to be powerful leaders in the church, by omitting

references to women who did lead in the first century they could control that only men were

allowed into the priest hood. The early Christian church saw Mary as very important; the Greek

Orthodox Church still celebrates her in feasts and calls her a saint.( Tolbert) But the Catholic

Church namely Gregory the Great decided to decree that she was the whore that Jesus saved. In

reality according to the Bible, she was the woman that he drove demons from. Which would

today, be referred to as a major nervous or mental disorder. But by Gregory making her the

saved Whore, it he took reflected a fallen woman who though redeemed owed her redemption to

Jesus a man.

In 1969 the Catholic Church admitted the negative image was not the truth, they could not find

any written story to prove the claim. They claimed it was Gregorys misunderstanding of the

text. Or did he see a way to make a very strong leader in the church a threat to male domination.

The Movie the Da Vinci Code sparked interest and new studies concerning the woman; known as

Mary of Magdalene, who had her own following after the death of Jesus. Who was a strong capable

woman in the first century Churches of the Christian creed. She is now coming out from under the

shadow of the image of a fallen woman who followed the disciples, as a woman who lead the disciples

in balance with the man called Jesus. Even the Bible speaks of the women who made Jesus travels

possible, They were wealthy widows or daughters of wealthy men who followed him from town to

town, feeding him and housing him in order to be taught his message. (Matthew 27:55) Many

women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his

needs. However we get a different picture when we read about Mary and her followers. They were

taught just like the men. Jesus was not a sexiest. He often confronted his male disciples about their
7Christianity and the Sexual Woman

ideas about women. And it was written: All the faithful who are joined to Christ are called his

disciples. Through baptism they become one with his body, the Church. The differences of

gender, race and social status which usually divide us are all transcended as we are one in Christ

(Gal 3:27-28).(Clement) In the King James version of the Bible Luke reduces the womens

roles as questionable and subordinate; that they cared for their needs, saying that they only were

present to do a womans role. In the lost books it states that the male disciples were jealous of

Jesus attention to Mary. She is the one however, that did not desert him, or deny him, and the

disciple that he commissioned at his tomb to carry the news of his resurrection to the other

disciples. Why would the church for centuries not acknowledge the power that this woman had if

not to limit the power of women in their society. For Christianity to limit the power of women

and not give her the rightful balance of her power is to create a chasm in the balance of all

nature. Reading the Cannon approved Bible without reading the other documents which include

the Gospel of Peter, Acts of Peter, Acts of Paul, Gospel of Philip, Acts of Philip, First

Apocalypse of James, Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, Sophia of Jesus Christ, Dialogue of the

Savior, Gospel of the Egyptians, Questions of Mary and Gospel of Mary of Magdalene, is not

having all of the information which is the teachings of Christianity. As a woman brought up in

the Christian religion and having been disillusioned and upset by some of the teachings, reading

these lost documents and history of the times and people helped me to make my own decisions.

By trusting in a group of men who obviously did not have womens best interests at heart, you

get only the side that keeps women believing that they hold a subservient place in the world.

When the European puritans came to the New World, believing that the Bible was the word of

God they viewed the Native American as a savage and felt entitled to take their land and children

from them. They murdered women, children and old people in the name of the Jewish God. Not
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only did the Native Americans not worship a Jewish God, they had never heard of, they were

matriarchal in cultural, the exact opposite of the European traditions, they had women make

important decisions about their lives. In the Iroquois nation they choose the clan chief and fired

him if they did not live up to the tribes morals. The children stayed with the mothers clan; while

Christian women pledged to obey their husbands and took possession of everything the woman

owned, the Native American woman decided where the food went, owned their lodges, kept their

children and decided when they would part with a mate. If the man were shiftless , lazy or

destructive he was sent on his way with only his personal tools or hunting supplies, everything

else was owned by the woman. The Haudenosaunee (which is the name of the tribe, Iroquois is a

French name) women rule the house. This was very upsetting for the puritan church and for

hundreds of years the political and Church fathers have been trying to convert the Native

Americans to their beliefs. When penning the constitution they copied all but the responsibility

and freedoms of the women into our government. As with the Bible they just left out the

important freedoms for women.(Wagner)

In 1884 Lucretia Mott observed these freedoms of the Haudenosaunee women when she and

her husband visited a Seneca tribe. This is how our feminists came to believe that women should

have equal rights. They watched a government that seemed like a paradise to women who were

not allowed to have anything to say about their own life. (Wagner) Women who had lived with

status, authority and dignity were also the teachings of a Man who is declared the leader of the

Christian Church. However the certain traditional teachings of the Christian church have done

everything in their power to keep women from getting that power. In many of the doctrines of

these churches women are suffering economically and spiritually; abuse and intolerance.

Feminists are labeled lesbians and harlots. Women are denied control over their own bodies
9Christianity and the Sexual Woman

much less their paths in life. They teach women that they should give everything to their

husbands be submissive and patient. The gender roles are distinctive and give men and the

church full leadership. (Womens Rights) If a women dares to enter into a discussion or try to

argue their quest, they can be prayed over, out casted from the religious body, or just plain

ignored. Leaders of the Church do not want to hear about balance or womens intelligence and

many of the myths are still strong, women are the weaker sex, they are too emotional for the big

decisions, without men they could not survive. How many wars would we have been able to

prevent if women around the world could tell them that they needed to stay home and care for

their children. Native American women had that power, if a war was not consigned by the

women, it was not acted on. The men hang onto their power with the force of a cultural that is

changing and dying out. As women learn the untruths that Religion has spawned, the world as

we know it will die and change. In a new world women will receive the power that God intended

to balance between the genders in the beginning. I believe that we are forced to battle for the

rights that should have been ours all along. The Christian Church needs to give women back

their power.
10Christianity and the Sexual Woman

http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm The Vatican Secret Library

http://jewishchristianlit.com/Topics/Lilith/: The Story of Lilith; Tr. Norman Bronznick

http://www.womenpriests.org/scriptur/clement.asp: Women can be Priests by Ann Mary Clemet

http://www.anabaptists.org/history/howwegot.html: The Bible: Gods inspired, inerrant word:

Anabaptists

http://www.thelostbooks.com/nagham.htm: The lost books; The Nag Hammadi Library

http://www.lagrange.edu/resources/pdf/citations/religion/magdalene.pdf: Mary Magdalene:

Apostle to the Apostles by Blair Tolbert

http://www.now.org/nnt/summer-99/iroquois.html: Iroquois Women Inspire 19th Century

Feminists; by Sally Roesch Wagner

http://www.womensrightsworld.com/christianity/html/christian-views-about-women.html:

Womens Rights World; Christian views about women