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Impact of women in the early Christian church
The influence and impact of women in the early Christian church has seen a recent increase in research and study. While the exact amount of effect that women had on Christianity can be debated, researches has shown that it is evident that women had a major impact in the spread of Christianity. During the mid first century, Christianity started to spread around Palestine and Jerusalem throughout the Near East. At this time, Judaism was the major religion for most of the eastern world but for reasons that will be discussed later on, women started converting (amongst others). The impact done by women in Early Christianity can be divided into four sections: the help in the spread of early Christianity, the roles of women in the Christian religion, the debatably equal partnership between men and women, and Christianity in the home.
==Help in the spread of Early Christianity==
At the start of Christianity, Judaism was one of the main religions. However, Judaism did not offer many opportunities to women. It could be seen as an oppressive religion. Judaism had many regulations that took away women's rights, one being the mistreatment of unmarried virgins. Philo of Alexandria wrote, "Women are best suited to the indoor life which never strays from the house, within which the middle door is taken by the maidens as their boundary, and the outer door by those who have reached full womanhood." Before reaching this full womanhood, women were to stay hidden. During the Hellenistic period, women belonged to their fathers or their husbands. There were dowries on women for their marriage. These dowries were given from the father to the husband. They were a problems because fathers were anxious to marry their daughters off, they would offer dowries beyond their means. Also, when dealing with headstrong women, men squandered their rights. “See that there is no lattice in her room, on spot that overlooks the approaches to the house" (Sirach 42.11b). Restraining the thought and education of women showed an unjust environment to live in. Biblical law at the time states that the regular menstrual flow results in woman being unclean for seven days (Lev 15. 19-29). Women would be secluded for a week and taken away from their homes. Another part of the reproductive cycle was the deep desire to be the parent of a male baby. The shame of having a female baby was very strong. There was a “passionate desire to be the parent of a male baby… disappointment associated with the birth of a female” in the Israelite society.〔Women and Religion In the First Christian Centuries〕 If a woman gave birth to a son she was deemed unclean as she would be at the time of her menstruation and would have 33 days of separation. This again separates women from social life for many days on end. Finally, if women were to have premarital sex, they would be stoned to death, while the men would not. All of these mistreatments of women showed inequality through social and religious life. On the flip side, in early Christianity, Women were allowed to have the same education and physical activities as men. An appealing aspect of Christian religion was the focus around forgiveness of sin and erasing past transgressions. With this, while having sex before marriage was still looked down upon, women could be forgiven in Christianity and not outcast for life. Another religious piece of Christianity was the way that Jesus treated women in the gospels. He showed them the utmost respect and even had many women followers. He talked to women, healed them, and accepted widows, prostitutes, and other outcast women in society. Jesus was also seen as an outcast in Jewish society, like women, which lead to a closeness and understanding. Luke is explicit when saying that Jesus traveled around accompanied with women such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna. Politically, women had more options in the ministry during the early spread of Christianity. In the personal life of women, there were many benefits to convert to Christianity. Infanticide and abortion was illegal. At this time abortion was extremely dangerous and most likely lead to death of the mother. Also if a baby was to be born a female, it was sometimes killed because of the strong desire to have a male baby. Christianity's sanction of marriage and opposition of divorce gave women more security, making it harder to be shrugged off by their husbands. It also encouraged better treatment of wives by their husbands. All of these positive traits of Christianity converted women and convinced many to actively convert others from the popular Judaism to the new and upcoming Christian church. As more women of the house started converting, so would their workers and husbands. The strong push of Christianity started with the appeal to women.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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