The Rejection of Women in the History of Christianity: An Analysis of Prejudices and Sacred Texts

 

                             

The Disdain for Women in Christian Theology: A Look at the Church Fathers

Woman and Christianity: The Vision of the Church Fathers

Introduction

Writing about the concept that many Church Fathers, theologians, and philosophers of Christianity had, and still have, about women is embarrassing and unpleasant. The disdainful, vulgar, and offensive way in which these distinguished Christians, many of them saints, referred to and continue to refer to women is notable.

The Disdain for Women

All the phrases, sentences, and writings of those wise men, who dared to base their ideas on the Bible, reek of fierce hatred and contempt for women. This hatred is not consistent with the dignity and position that these Christians held in antiquity and more recent times. Their anathemas give the impression of having been pronounced by beings from another planet, as if they were not born of women in this world.

Misogyny in Christianity

Many scholars have deeply investigated the causes of this brutal misogyny, but no one has been able to fully unravel them. They are so deep and hidden that in human history, there is no organization of the magnitude of Christianity and Catholicism that has hated women so intensely.

Origin of the Hatred for Women

Some men's hatred for women is personal and quantifiable, based on specific reasons. However, most men tend to love and respect them. Where does this hatred in Christianity come from? Why does it arise? There are no valid answers.

The Influence of the Roman Empire

Perhaps, if we focus on the Roman Empire during its decline, which began in the 3rd century, we could find the origin of this hatred. During this long period, the greatest expansion of Christianity occurred, and at the same time, there was a deep social decomposition, moral degradation, and sexual degeneration. This maelstrom swept many away and lasted for several centuries. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of that hatred due to the fifteen centuries that have passed since the fall of the empire.

Thoughts of the Church Fathers

To understand and fully appreciate this millennial hatred, I present partial thoughts of various important figures of Christianity and Catholicism since the beginning of our era. It should be noted that the Catholic Church denies the existence of misogyny, as well as its creation or the projection of a pathological hatred toward women. They also deny that many Church patriarchs pronounced anathemas against women. They deny all this with elegant rhetoric but without substantiating their denials, and they blame the enemies of the Church.

Introduction to the Disdain for Women in Christianity

The hatred of Christianity and Catholicism toward women reached such extremes that, for a long time, it was decreed that women did not possess a soul. In the Middle Ages, theologians debated whether women were human and in which animal group they could be classified. As a result, they were not to be treated as human beings but rather as a sort of "companion animal" for men.

The Biblical Justification for the Inferiority of Women

That brilliant idea of animalizing women was drawn from the Bible. In the book of Genesis, it is recounted how God, in Genesis 2:19, brought to Adam every beast of the field and every bird of the sky to name them. Then, in Genesis 2:22, He created the woman and brought her to Adam, who called her "woman." From this passage, some deduced that women were animals and, consequently, had no soul.

The Council of Mâcon and the Question of the Female Soul

That opinion and doubt were brought to the Council of Mâcon, which convened on October 23, 585 (6th century), presided over by Priscus, bishop of Lyon. Forty-six bishops attended, and twenty sent representatives. There, it was discussed whether women had souls and whether they were human beings.
The Church, of course, denied the validity of this discussion and attributed the confusion to a misreading made in the 16th or 17th centuries of a 4th-century text by the enemies of the Church.

Opinions of the Church Fathers about Women

Below are some concepts of the Church Fathers about women:

Saint Peter the Apostle (88 BC – 67 AD)

"When I hear a woman speak, I flee from her as I would from a viper."

Saint Paul (10 – 64)

"Woman is a nest of unclean spirits, the gateway to hell, a being so corrupt that even a mother's kiss is impure."

Clement of Alexandria (150 – 215)

"Every woman ought to be filled with shame at the thought that she is a woman... the consciousness of her own nature must evoke feelings of shame."

Tertullian (160 – 222)

"It is you who first touched the tree, betraying God's law. It is you who persuaded Adam because the devil did not dare attack him directly."
"The devil's fury is not as terrible as that of a woman, because the devil is alone, and the woman has the help of the evil spirit."
"And do you not know that you are Eve? God's sentence on your sex lives in this age; the guilt must necessarily live as well. You are the devil's gateway; you are the one who broke the seal of that forbidden tree, you are the first deserter of divine law; you are the one who convinced the one whom the devil was not brave enough to attack. Thus, you destroyed the image of God, the man. Because of your desertion, even the Son of God had to die."
"A woman is not only the devil's entrance but also a temple built over a sewer."