Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter
Ebook
In Holy Misogyny, bible scholar April DeConick wants real answers to the questions that are rarely whispered from the pulpits of the contemporary Christian churches. Why is God male? Why are women associated with sin? Why can't women be priests? Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the early Christian literature, she seeks to understand the conflicts over sex and gender in the early church-what they were and what was at stake. She explains how these ancient conflicts have shaped contemporary Christianity and its promotion of male exclusivity and superiority in terms of God, church leadership, and the bed.
DeConick's detective work uncovers old aspects of Christianity before later doctrines and dogmas were imposed upon the churches, and the earlier teachings about the female were distorted. Holy Misogyny shows how the female was systematically erased from the Christian tradition, and why. She concludes that the distortion and erasure of the female is the result of ancient misogyny made divine writ, a holy misogyny that remains with us today.
Shows how the 'female' was systematically erased from the Christian tradition and explores surprising early Christian attitudes to sex, sin and women.
Explores surprising early Christian attitudes to sex, sin and women
Shows how sharply these views contrast with prevailing attitudes in contemporary orthodox Christianity
Shows how the 'female' was systematically erased from the Christian tradition
April's first trade book, The Thirteenth Apostle, made a genuinely important contribution to the field. Her position in that book, initially controversial, is now fast becoming the consensus.
Introduction: A Lady God?
1. Where did God the Mother Go?/The Jewish Spirit/The Angel Sophia/A Hebrew Goddess/The Recovery of God's Wife
2. Why was the Spirit Neutered?/Introducing Jesus' True Mother/Carried up Mount Tabor
In the Name of the Mother Spirit/Born from the Womb of Water/Milking the Breasts of God/The Mother's Erasure/God's Gender Crisis
3. Did Jesus Think Sex is a Sin?/A Double Message/Sex Limits/Sex according to Jesus/A Women's Advocate
4. Did Paul Hate Women?/The burgeoning of chastity/To veil or not to veil/Vanishing women
5. Is Marriage a Sin?/Rereading Genesis/The Devil made me do it/In defiance of the Creator/
It's the end of the world
6. Is Marriage Salvation?/Sacred Sex/The Law is a joke/Soul Collectors
7. Once a Woman, Always a Woman?/The Church is a household/Brides of Christ/
The Devil's Gateway
8. How do we Solve a Problem Like Maria?/Mary caught in the crossfire/The Male Mary
The Sexual Mary/The Apostolic Mary
9. Because the Bible Tells Us So?/Further Reading
Notes
In this compelling book April D. DeConick applies her characteristic interest in marginalized early Christian groups to a topic that has drawn considerable scholarly attention in the past several decades: the study of women, sex, and gender in early Christianity. Holy Misogyny is an accessible and imaginative historical reconstruction of the textual and extratextual conflicts behind early Christian displacement of both 'the female aspect' of deity and women's bodies, identity, and authority.
In this lucid and logically arranged book, April D. DeConick, professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, makes a presentation of the ways in which women appear or don't appear in the ancient religious record ... DeConick canvasses a broad range of sources and presents complexities that will interest advanced readers and provoke reflection among them ... The relevance of this book to questions of religion and gender is unquestionable.
The book is academically rigorous, but at every point DeConick interprets her data in the light of her intended conclusion. Full documentation and bibliography are included...
Despite the fact that the subject is well-known, almost cliché in certain circles, DeConick brings some new information and insights to the table in her analysis...The most important anthropological message in her eye-opening work is that every tradition, including its scriptures (which claim the greatest authenticity and authoritativeness) is diverse and historically constructed.
Overall, DeConick has a lot of interesting things to say about gender and sexuality in the early church ... I do think her account is appropriately dangerous, and can hopefully jar Christians into action to reverse the long tradition of misogynistic interpretation of Scripture and misogynistic action in the Church.
DeConick's research traces the root of the problem beyond he usual interpretations of scripture, theology, and the social structures of the times to something deeper and much more perverse...
Highly recommended for readers willing to look at recent archaeological evidence to question traditional religious beliefs and conclusions.
[This book] is a superbly researched 200-page compendium by [the author] presenting the origins of such Christian doctrinal issues as to why God is male, the association of women with sin, the denial of priesthood to females, and more. Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking [this book] is a strongly recommended read for anyone concerned with the origin of gender equality issues within the contemporary Christian community.
Though one may argue with her historical reconstructions at many points, and sometimes with her method, the case is otherwise well made.
April DeConick has collected materials from a wide range of early Christian evidence. The result is a brave book, in a straight-forward style accessible to a non-specialist audience, on an uncomfortable subject.
An intriguing, important, and appropriately dangerous book. DeConick brings her study of the difficult canonical and apocryphal texts into conversation with contemporary concerns in a satisfying and accessible way. Her style is both technical and easy-going. This is a book for the general public as well as the academic classroom. I learned a great deal from it and am left with many questions to chew on happily and to discuss. The reader is aided in the search for 'Lady God,' and in the struggle to create societies that abhor and reject violence to the female body.
April DeConick, a world class scholar, has written a must-read book for those interested in gender issues in relationship to God. By integrating her vast knowledge of extracanonical and canonical texts, she expansively analyzes the effect of misogyny on conceptions of the female body and the profound difference such marginalization has made, even today for women's ecclesiastical leadership and ordination.
The near-programmatic downgrading and degrading of women is one of the most shameful aspects of traditional Christianity. In this powerful book, DeConick rejects conventional theological and hermeneutical attempts to soften the absence of the divine and human female by challenging head-on the vilification of women and the othering of their bodies in early Christianity. This bold discussion makes for uncomfortable but essential reading - and rightly so.
A book like this deserves a wide circulation.
- Title: Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter
- Author: April D. DeConick
- Publisher: Continuum
- Print Publication Date: 2011
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781441124029, 9781623565565, 1623565561, 1441124020
- Resource ID: LLS:9781441124029
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-12T02:34:11Z