Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
You've provided no substantial proof that 1st c. Christian women weren't considered lower class citizens, and that it wasn't patriarchal and misogynistic.
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From what I've read, in first century Palestine, women were excluded from testifying in court trials. They were not to be seen in public or to speak with strangers and outside their homes they were to be doubly veiled. Women were not allowed to teach or be taught the Torah in their homes...and they were not to be educated. They had become second-class Jews excluded from the worship and teaching of God with status scarcely above that of slaves.
By comparison, the actions of Jesus towards women were revolutionary. Jesus didn't hesitate to engage an "unclean" foreign woman in public conversation. [John 4:5-9] He ignored all strictures of ritual impurity [Mark 5:25-34, 35-43] He himself taught women [Luke 10:38-42], and gave them equal rank with men as "daughters of Abraham" [Luke 13:10-17], openly ministered to them as "children of wisdom" {Luke 13:10-17] and afforded them the highest respect as persons [Matt. 5:28] Women belong to the inner circle of disciples [Luke 8:1-3]
Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.
Women were the first to witness the Resurrection [Luke 24:1-11]. This is a case in which the last [women] became the first as Jesus predicted it would be in the kingdom of God. The Gospel of John concludes with the testimony of a woman, Mary Magdalene, to the Christ's resurrection [John 20:18].