Posted by Oldtimer on September 08, 2004 at 13:22:00
In Reply to: Re: The Bible and women posted by Carol on September 08, 2004 at 09:01:05:
Yes, sad to say, you're right. The church got it wrong. The book I'm reading now is "Why Not Women?" written by Loren Cunningham, David Hamilton and Janice Roger (published by YWAM Publishing) ISBN 1-57658-183-7.
I already knew the way the Jews/Hebrews treated women, which was a reflection of the standards of the world around them, and I was aware that the Rabbis had very derogatary things to say about women, but I wasn't quite expecting that the ancient Greeks had such a utterly low view of women, holding then in contempt.--or that the ancient Romans got those same attitudes from the Greeks. Unbelievable what they said!
Jesus and Paul after him tried to liberate women. A Jewish rabbi would not even teach his own daughter, so strong were the prohibitions on women learning, yet Jesus taught Mary (even her sister Martha complained) and gave Mary instruction.
And sad to say, Paul's statements have been mistranslated to say almost the opposite of what he was trying to say. For e.g. he was quoting the Corinthians misconceptions about women, "Women are to keep silent?" then saying "Nonsense!" and going on to clarify, but people have taken those quotes as representing what Paul meant to say, as if he was approving of such attitudes.
All because it fit with their male-dominated world.