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Patriarchial Attitudes Still Abound in Religion
Patriarchy has been a fact in the religious life of the world for at least 10,000 years. If God is conceptualized, as God has been, after the analogy of a male king or tribal leader, then only males are thought of as being in the image of God. Women are thus consciously and unconsciously defined as sub-human.
In the East, with religious approval, the feet of women had been bound to limit their mobility and, therefore increase their controllability by males. In India, the custom for years was for the widow to hurl herself onto the funeral fire that consumed her husband’s body, since a woman without her husband was thought to have no value. In Africa, women have undergone (and in some countries still do) genital mutilation designed to mute their sexual desires. In many cultures, including our spiritual ancestors the Jews, polygamy was practised in which women were defined as property. A man could have as many cattle, sheep or wives as he could afford, for all were property.
Early Christianity actually affirmed women in dramatic ways. Paul writing in the early 50’s C.E. said: “In Christ there is neither male nor female.” This liberal surge was, however, quickly stamped out by a very patriarchal orthodoxy and by the time the pastoral epistles were written (in the 70’s and 80’s) we read such things as: “I forbid a woman to hold authority over a man.” Western Christianity has generally followed this patriarchal pattern.
The primary feminine symbols in Western Catholicism were two: Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mother Church. Both were finally negative to women. For the mother of Jesus to be proclaimed as a perpetual virgin by celibate male clergy suggested that the sexuality of women was sinful, and of course, “Mother Church” was an institution totally controlled by an all-male hierarchy.
The Protestant Reformation loosened this patriarchy, but did not end it. That would be accomplished only after the rise of secular humanism, which was the child of the Reformation. Progressive Protestant churches swam in this secular stream, while the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox traditions maintained their fierce patriarchal systems. The Vatican actually still employs the old and discredited “separate by equal” doctrine when referring to women. The fact is that in those countries of the world that today most revere the Virgin Mary, the status of women is embarrassingly low.
Evangelical and fundamentalist Protestantism is not much better. They proclaim the doctrine of “headship,” suggesting that as Jesus is the head of the church, so the husband must be the head of the wife. They quote Ephesians to prove their point, failing to mention that this is not a Pauline work.
Secular society has abandoned these aspects of traditional Christianity and to the degree that these patriarchal concepts are still viewed as the position of traditional Christianity, they have also abandoned Christianity. Current battles in the public arena about both birth control and abortion are manifestations of this continuing culture war.
It will take another major reformation to turn this ecclesiastical sexism around. If that reformation does not come, the Christian church will fade deeper and deeper into irrelevance. There is no chance that attitudes of Western society will ever turn back toward the religious patriarchy still practiced by the Church.
By
John Shelby Spong
|
January 16, 2007; 1:49 PM ET
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Posted by: fgynelu tvhcnifes | July 10, 2007 11:05 PM
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Posted by: fgynelu tvhcnifes | July 10, 2007 11:04 PM
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to Canyon;
Patriarchy has had thousands of years to produce "good fruit".... it has failed.If you don't think so...you just plain don't know your history.
Karen
Posted by: Karen | June 19, 2007 10:42 PM
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Dear Bishop Spong,
I'll admit early on that I have never given your opinion much merit based solely on the fact that the Episcopal Church is in such disrepair and a theological disaster. However, I thought that maybe this was a result of later times, as I have only been alive the better part of a 1/4 century, and that past leaders were not to blame.
You solidified my opinion when you made a rather odd statement about the author of the letter to Ephesus. If this is not a letter from Paul, then I have been deceived by verse one, which states:
"From: The Apostle Paul
To: Those Sanctified at Ephesus"
That said, I expressed my opinion in a comment to the Reverand Thistlewaite that I don't feel bears repeating, which conveys my opinion on the misunderstanding that Christ places women at anything other than a complimentary role to men.
I found your final comment most interesting, that you don't believe patriarchy will be restored. In recent studies, many churches have seen that children who were taught, "God is your co-pilot", "Jesus loves you no-matter what", and "Accept Jesus", are sick and tired of squishy theology and flock to sound doctrine and Godly teaching. Our children are the start, when the idea that the Bible can save your marriage catches on, I believe we will see a resurgence of patriarchal families in America.
Posted by: Canyon Shearer | January 22, 2007 11:44 PM
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SPONG: "There is no chance that attitudes of Western society will ever turn back toward the religious patriarchy still practiced by the Church."
Yes there is -- the fact that we're being out-bred by other societies.
There's little question that when education and hence the status of women go up, the birth rate goes down. So educated places like Western Europe, Anglo-America and Japan have to bring in populatin from less educated places like the Middle East and Latin America where the birth rate is higher.
Biological evolution favors those most likely to reproduce. Feminism, though not a biological trait, is also passed down through familes. And reduces reproduction.
Posted by: doug | January 20, 2007 8:45 AM
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Excellent essay. I agree that there is no turning back, nor do I see any flexibility in the offing from "Mother Church." If that means that Christianity is to fade into irrelevance, I say hasten the day!
Posted by: Pam | January 20, 2007 12:58 AM
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Bob,
There were other Monotheist Gods, this one is just last in a long line.
Bob... I know alot of fools who also are not finding refuge in any god, and some wonderful, intelligent, careing people who, while not hideing within God, do find joy with God within.
And who are you or anyone to call them fools, facists, or cowards?
Posted by: Terra Gazelle | January 19, 2007 10:36 PM
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Hi Mr. Spong . . . could you please explain the patriarchical religion that is 10,000 years old? (You're inferring a lot to make that statement.)
But that's okay.
You're morphing the traditional "conceptualization" of God from a FATHER, to "a something" which you never define; which means, you get to re-define God, and therefore, so do I . . . God is a refuge, an illusion through which fascists, cowards and fools might discover their mutual dependency and call it life.
Thank you . . . for focusing me on that one.
Posted by: Bob | January 19, 2007 9:54 PM
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