When I was a kid, we attended a church that didn’t allow women to preach. They relied on the teachings of Paul to support this theology. Men led everything from the Sunday sermon to Sunday school. One week a group of us all went to hear Joyce Myers speak (judge me, it wasn’t a free-will decision, y’all). Anyway, it was what it was, and we heard what we heard.
This just my opinion, man...but I think probably the main reason anyone was against women in the Church (initially) would have been their own hangup somewhere. Where it came from, we can only speculate. Maybe a woman once issued Paul a particularly sick burn, and he never got over it (go find some aloe, dude). This makes me think, also, of the Marvel series, She-Hulk, where Hulk's cousin "catches" his "Hulkism," and he pulls out the binder with all the sh*t he had to figure out for himself, and locks her in his little containment cell and everything so he can teach her how to control this new monster within her...and she's totally chill and fully under control in her Hulk form, right out of the box. WTF, mate?
Why? Because women, on a daily basis, are forced to put with so much more nonsense, bullying, harrassment, indimidation, and abuse that, just to get by in the world, they basically have no choice but to gain a level of emotional mastery that a man, typically unchallenged in those regards due to the power and privilege society affords them, is light-years behind a woman in that regard. Women know more than they let on, because, as we have seen, they are so often punished for speaking up. As a consequence, women are now overlooked by men. And that's too bad for the Patriarchy. Its overinflated sense of security will be its downfall.
Did the old white guys actually think this was going to be their gig for all eternity? Yeah, I guess they probably did. Great post, as always. You rock the liturgical stylings of my world.
The irony of Christianity being born of inclusion—to include gentiles—and being used as a means to exclude others. Ahh, humans are funny monkeys. Love hearing you point out that Paul is expressing opinions. Context is everything.
I may be misremembering but isn’t Timothy considered pseudopigrapha ie not written by Paul? The stuff that got selected for Bible inclusion was chosen to reinforce norms the church leadership wanted at the time it was assembled. That’s why other letters, like Thecla’s, were not included.
I love everything about this. Jesus knew what we all know. Things are always better when there’s a good woman with you. I’m a new subscriber but I’m loving everything I read so far. Thanks for your candor. I really enjoy your entries. sc
I’m not sure if the Pastoral epistles were really written by Paul. He had women preaching the gospel and the ideas in those epistles are completely opposite of what Paul did. My theory is that someone else wrote them in Paul’s name to make them seem authoritative.
History 101 - before Jesus Christ came on the scene, "might makes right" was the law of the land. Jesus Christ and christianity was considered the religion of women and slaves back in the day. He invented mercy and forgiveness and woman's rights. I believe Paul is referring to spiritual authority in the verse you are referencing. In spiritual dominion the order is 1. God 2. Man 3. Woman. There is a reason woman are targeted by demonic spiritual possession more often than men and the fallen took them as wives.
In my experience the fallen and the sons of Adam seem to be especially hostile toward one another instinctually. Not sure why but its plausible that woman play a role in it....
This just my opinion, man...but I think probably the main reason anyone was against women in the Church (initially) would have been their own hangup somewhere. Where it came from, we can only speculate. Maybe a woman once issued Paul a particularly sick burn, and he never got over it (go find some aloe, dude). This makes me think, also, of the Marvel series, She-Hulk, where Hulk's cousin "catches" his "Hulkism," and he pulls out the binder with all the sh*t he had to figure out for himself, and locks her in his little containment cell and everything so he can teach her how to control this new monster within her...and she's totally chill and fully under control in her Hulk form, right out of the box. WTF, mate?
Why? Because women, on a daily basis, are forced to put with so much more nonsense, bullying, harrassment, indimidation, and abuse that, just to get by in the world, they basically have no choice but to gain a level of emotional mastery that a man, typically unchallenged in those regards due to the power and privilege society affords them, is light-years behind a woman in that regard. Women know more than they let on, because, as we have seen, they are so often punished for speaking up. As a consequence, women are now overlooked by men. And that's too bad for the Patriarchy. Its overinflated sense of security will be its downfall.
Did the old white guys actually think this was going to be their gig for all eternity? Yeah, I guess they probably did. Great post, as always. You rock the liturgical stylings of my world.
The irony of Christianity being born of inclusion—to include gentiles—and being used as a means to exclude others. Ahh, humans are funny monkeys. Love hearing you point out that Paul is expressing opinions. Context is everything.
I may be misremembering but isn’t Timothy considered pseudopigrapha ie not written by Paul? The stuff that got selected for Bible inclusion was chosen to reinforce norms the church leadership wanted at the time it was assembled. That’s why other letters, like Thecla’s, were not included.
I love everything about this. Jesus knew what we all know. Things are always better when there’s a good woman with you. I’m a new subscriber but I’m loving everything I read so far. Thanks for your candor. I really enjoy your entries. sc
Thought provoking.
Love it!
I’m not sure if the Pastoral epistles were really written by Paul. He had women preaching the gospel and the ideas in those epistles are completely opposite of what Paul did. My theory is that someone else wrote them in Paul’s name to make them seem authoritative.
History 101 - before Jesus Christ came on the scene, "might makes right" was the law of the land. Jesus Christ and christianity was considered the religion of women and slaves back in the day. He invented mercy and forgiveness and woman's rights. I believe Paul is referring to spiritual authority in the verse you are referencing. In spiritual dominion the order is 1. God 2. Man 3. Woman. There is a reason woman are targeted by demonic spiritual possession more often than men and the fallen took them as wives.
In my experience the fallen and the sons of Adam seem to be especially hostile toward one another instinctually. Not sure why but its plausible that woman play a role in it....