Women And The Genesis Of Christianity

This book presents in as clear a way as possible the New Testament material dealing with women and their roles in the context of the movement Jesus began. Dr Witherington begins by illustrating the roles of women in Judaism, in the Hellenistic world, and in the Roman Empire. She goes on to show how Jesus broke significantly with convention in the way he viewed women and their roles, offering as he did a wholly new conception of the legitimate rights of women in society. An analysis follows of the apostle Paul's attitude toward women, which shows how he agreed with and differed from the ideas of his contemporaries. The concluding chapters discuss the evangelists, whose selection and presentation of material with respect to women casts much light on the early Church's understanding of women and their roles. This comprehensive survey, which avoids slanting its material to serve a modern patriarchal or feminist bias, comes to the exciting conclusion that we can see in the New Testament an attempt to reform the patriarchal orientation of the day.

Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity offers a collection of essays that deal with perceptions of wisdom, femaleness, and their interconnections in a wide range of ancient sources, including papyri, Nag Hammadi documents, heresiological accounts and monastic literature.

This anthology surveys more than 2,000 years of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentary and debate on the biblical story that continues to raise questions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman.

What beliefs are core to the Christian faith? This book is here to help you understand the reason for your hope as a Christian so that you can see it with fresh sight and invite others into the conversation. A lot of Christians take their story—the narratives that give rise to their beliefs—for granted. They pray, go to church, perhaps even read their Bible. But they might be stuck if a stranger asked them to explain what they believe and why they believe it. Author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton unpacks the essential and basic beliefs that all Christians share in a way that is easy to understand and applicable to our lives today. And in a way that will make you excited to be a Christian! Core Christianity covers topics like: Jesus as both fully God and fully man. The doctrine of the Trinity. The goodness of God despite a broken world. The ways God speaks. The meaning of salvation. What is the Christian calling? Includes discussion questions for individual or group use. This introduction to the basic doctrines of Christianity is perfect for those who are new to the faith, as well as those who have an interest in deepening their understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

The women of Genesis - Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel - intrigued and informed the lives of nineteenth-century women. These women read the biblical stories for themselves and looked for ways to expand, reinforce, or challenge the traditional understanding of women's lives. They communicated their readings of Genesis using diverse genres ranging from poetry to commentary.

The status of women in the church is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time. Some Protestant churches have either abandoned or radically modified their interpretations of Biblical passages to allow women to take leadership roles and to accommodate social change; for others, the Old and New Testament passages forbid women to take leadership roles, even though equality between the sexes was taught by Jesus Christ and demonstrated in the early Christian community. The current fervor concerning women in the church is examined in this book, which also traces the status of women through 2,000 years of church history. Chapters are devoted to women in the life and ministry of Jesus, women in the earliest Christian community, solutions to transitional problems, the church's reversion to patriarchal models, Alexander Campbell and the American Restoration Movement in the 19th century, the antislavery movement and modern feminism, and the differing stances taken by churches concerning women in leadership roles.

A provocative look at how the Bible should define the identity of a woman and her choices about femininity.

This book is a lively and provocative treatment of the Genesis stories, which are considered to be of central importance in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The author maintains that crucial points pertaining to gender have been overlooked in the Genesis stories because of faulty interpretations that have been accepted by society uncritically. Examining the history of biblical interpretations, the study focuses on both past impact and potential for human relationships in the future, and offers a broader concept in which the creation stories are seen not as attempts to disclose early history or doctrine but as reflections of male/female relationships as well as those between both genders and their Creator. The biblical God was neither masculine nor feminine, but transcended traits which various cultures have assigned to one gender or another. The Bible reaffirms the major theme that what the sexes share in common is more fundamental than what differentiates them, and Phipps contends that Judaism, Christianity and Islam have failed during most of their authoritative early traditions. This volume is clearly a feminist treatment of biblical topics, and presents the view that, after cultural prejudices are removed, powerful insights for contemporary life are revealed. In addition, anthropological and psychological perceptions are brought to bear on the biblical literature, and some of the complexities are explored, such as the exclusion of the female image of God throughout Judeo-Christian history, interpretations of the Genesis rib story, and the myths of Eve and Pandora. A refreshing approach to an age old controversy, this work deals evenhandedly with both genders, and should prove of particular interest to scholars of women's studies and religious studies, historians, classicists, pastors, and the educated religious person.