{In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful}

■The bible & church fathers' perceptions of women !

If you are a Christian and you have no guts to read what yr religion says about women, then I'm expecting your insults as usual

A shocking [thread]

1)The Latin&Greek church fathers' writings reflect the conditions within which they lived. It finds expression in their dualistic view of God & nature, & male and female,
In period 1-590 AD, Christianity was rooted in the Graeco-Roman culture & restricted womens' role in society

2)Views of the church fathers, such as the Latin- Tertullian, Cyprian, Jerome and Augustine - and the Greek - Clement of Alexander, Origen and Chrysostom - were not only built upon the anthropology of Plato and Aristotle, but also on Scripture and especially those of Paul.

3)1 Corinthians 14:34-35 was often cited and used as a justification for gender inequality.
And it's quite shocking to know that women in Christianity have no right even to ask a question
I'm sure nobody follows this today, due to sacularism, but church fathers certainty did !

4)church fathers didnt based their views of women only from what paul wrote, rather it was quite easy to find a text to subjugate women from the beginning of OT (Genesis) all the way to the end of new testament

Christians usully argue that these text shouldn't be read literally

5)according to the church fathers, women were responsible for sin as the root of all evil, bcz it's Eve who caused Adam to sin, that's why the original sin is attributed to her. Without mentioning that all the suffering women go through. Are due to the sin of their mother Eve

6)Eve become the scapegoat for the limiting of women's activities & authority & to generally justify women's submission to men (Adam Clark) offers three arguments whereby the church fathers identified women with Eve. Firstly, women were viewed as the second sex. Genesis 2 states:

7)also Paul's epistles were applied to define the position of women in the family as well in the church. Eve became the second sex for 2 reasons:
-she was created after Adam &, bcz she was disobedient, she does not represent the image of God

-Eve introduced sin into the world !

8)2Cor11:3 & 1 Tim 2:14 became the argument for women's subordination & their inferiority. As the first sinner, Eve was the embodiment of women, hance fell outside the redemptive power of Christ, they'd only be redeemed thru childbearing & their existence was only for procreation

9) Christianity produced two kinds of women: Eve and Mary. (Irenaeus) saw both similarities and contrasts between Eve and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Sawyer (1996) cites the leading apologist Irenaeus' (c. 120-200) Against Heresies, as an example:

10) In his [De Culta Feminarum] cited [Tertullian] a North African theologian and montanist, claimed that Eve was the originator of sin and therefore all women carried the curse of Eve

He says :

11)Jerome shared the views of his contemporaries about women. Their wombs were soil that received the male seed & for Jesus Christ to become human. He had to endure the revolting conditions of the womb. He claimed that for women to become men, they would have to abstain from sex

12)Jerome thought, women are responsible for heresy. He said men such as Nicholas of Antioch, the seducer of all impurity, was followed by women; Simon Magnus founded his sect with the help of Helene the prostitute; Marcion used women to prepare the minds of men to join his sect.

13) Jerome, not only insisted on telling women how impure they are, & they should become like men,

He went to claim that women are the source and the root of evil, but they shall be saved through child bearing if they had faith !!

(Not through Christ)

he said :

He

14)Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, stated that women lost their divine image because of the fall and are, therefore, subservient to men. Chrysostom in his Homily IX (1843) contended that because Eve sinned, all women were punished with subjection. He writes:

15)Clement of Alexandria accepted the reality of sex, but advocated that it is only to fulfil God's will for procreation. He denounced & condemned physical pleasure as well as the femaleness of women. & he contended that the only strong person was a man....

He said:

16)Augustine's interpretation of Paul's theology, concluded that humans became alienated from their best potential & had to get it back in a gift -the crucifixion of Christ- As a result Eve became the origin of sin & the cause of Adam's fall. & All women became the bearers of sin

17)Women were not only regarded as the cause of all sin, they were also seen as weak in both personality & character & also as not having been created in the 'image of God'.

In this passage, Paul formed of the church fathers' views that women were not made in the image of God

18)Tertullian,in his (Prescription Against Heretics) said only men are created in the image of God & that they were innocent victims of the 'wiles & evils of women' He forbade women to teach, baptise, become priests or speak in. Furthermore, he demanded that women must be covered

19)Origen disapproved of the sexual act even within marriage, he described women as:

'worse than animals'

bcz of their constant state of lust. In his commentary on 1 Corinthians on women speaking in public, Origen argued that women are not permitted to speak in public.

20) on Origen's teachings, he refers to the 'interior man' and the 'soul or anima'. Whilst the interior man refers to the men, the soul or anima refers to women. The male part is higher and more moral than that of women who are inclined to lean towards the senses ..../

21)... and are, therefore, unfaithful, weak, lazy and dependent on men. However, when the woman is ruled by her spirit, she is (male) and when she is ruled by her soul she is (female)
Origen believed God favoured the male

(Keane 1987:12; Vogt 2003:59)

22)On the ordination of women as priests and prophetesses
Origen relied upon 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 to prevent women from these ministries. He claimed that though women such as Marian & Deborah are mentioned in the Gospel, however, they didn't speak in church

(Vogt 2003:54-55)

23)Tertullian, saw women as source of all evil, & he believed that there was nothing good about women, in general or, any woman in particular. In his view, women were responsible for pain, suffering, sin and corruption in both the private and public spheres

(Tavard 1973:58-59)

24)Tertullian despised women so much that he warned men against gazing upon them, because it would mean that they would have their immortal souls consigned to hell and would be doomed to never enjoy the security of heaven after death ....

(Tavard 1973:59).

25)Jerome viewed women as the root of all evil. He declared that a clean body signifies a dirty mind bcz he found all aspects of sexuality repugnant, It is often stated that he had a 'love affair with virginity' bcz he saw virginity as better than marriage (Ide 1984:85).states:

26)Jerome claimed that although marriage is good, virginity is better because men are corrupted through sexual intercourse. It is thus better for men not to get married and to therefore escape the burden of having a wife (Ide 1984:72). In his Letter, to Marcella, he writes:

27) Jerome in his letter to Pammachius, said about marriage:

For it is better that a woman should know one man than that she should know several. In other words, it is preferable that she should prostitute herself to one rather than to many.

(p. 84)

28)Augustine in his views on the natural order, states that women were created lesser than men so they have to serve men as being the greater. Men are superior to women bcz women were created weaker. Therefore, the weaker has to serve the stronger. In his Concupiscence, he wrote:

29)Augustine believed that it was an incontestable social and religious truth that women were subordinate to men. He was of the opinion that it is according to the natural order for men to rule over women and for women to both serve and be subservient to their husbands
Bible says

30)Chrysostom described women as weak and flighty, a fault of nature, evil, as temptresses and as mischievous 
He in the Epistle to the Ephesians, said that the female sex is weak and fickle, and in his Homily on 1 Timothy 2:11-15 he stated:

31) church fathers believed women's bodies were more imperfect because of their heat deficiency and that women were viewed as incomplete males.

33)The bible considers the woman as being The dirtiest thing on earth especially during here menses!
We read such a shocking passage in :
(Leviticus 15 : 19-24)

33)If you are a woman & still reading and you did not have a hard attack .let me please show you what the bible teaches U to be pure again. Cause it aint just washing yourself after 7 days )

Let's read a very funny passage :
(Leviticus 15 :29-30)