Women in Christianity: Is Christianity anti-feminist?

摘要

De Beauvoir's argument in The Second Sex that Christian ideology has contributed to the oppression of women poses diverse questions for Christian feminists. Is Christianity anti-feminist? How has Christianity historically regarded women? Did Jesus, the initiator of Christianity, treat women as inferior to men? This paper will explore these questions. Specifically, three claims will be made. First, the Bible itself is an incomplete, biased, and all too human witness of Jesus' life and ministry, written by males within a patriarchal culture. Second, during a long history of exegesis of the Bible, church leaders distorted Jesus' teachings. Third, a close reading of the Gospels concerning biblical women provides evidence that Christianity is not necessarily anti-feminist, if one takes Christianity to be the authentic following of Jesus' teachings.;This paper presents both a historical analysis of the patriarchal nature of the Christian institution and an affirmation the egalitarian mission of Jesus.