Women in the Early Church

by Elizabeth A. Clark

Elizabeth Clark, a patristic scholar and founder of the Department of Religion at Mary Washington College, has drawn upon her depth of scholarship and linguistic ability to make available to an educated but nonspecialized readership an intriguing mosaic of opinions.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Feminism, Christianity, Church History, History, Gender and Sexuality

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Elizabeth Clark is the John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion at Duke University. She is a past president of the American Academy of Religion and the North American Patristics Society.

Reviews

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This book is a compendium of writings about women in the early Church. Elizabeth A. Clark (a giant in the field of ancient Christianity and Patristics) briefly introduces each excerpt before letting the Fathers speak for themselves. Readers will find here an array of church fathers (John Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Palladius) as well as some gnostic/apocryphal sources. The views expressed by these early theologians varies from ennobling to disparaging (in Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination, William Witt showcases how the Fathers' suspect anthropology about women inherently suppressed the Bible's intended equality). Figures like the Virgin Mary, Macrina the Younger, and St. Augustine's mother Monica are praised, but there is harsh censure of Eve. Yet it is also fascinating to see even a theologian as venerable as Chrysostom declare that while man is king in public affairs:

To woman is assigned the presidency of the household...She cannot express her opinion in a legislative assembly, but she can express it at home, and often she is more shrewd about household matters than her husband. She cannot handle state business well, but she can raise children correctly, and children are our principal wealth. At a glance she can detect the bad behavior of the servants and can manage them carefully. She provides complete security for her husband and frees him from all such household concerns...She takes care of all other matters of this sort, that are neither fitting for her husband's concern nor would be satisfactorily accomplished should he ever lay his hand to them - even if he struggled valiantly (pp. 36-37)!

The golden-mouthed preacher's sentiments about husband and wife strike me as so modern, pointing to the perennial nature of the sexes. It is a praising of women; it also sounds like something that I'd read on Desiring God.

[Graydon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of early church writing on women, which were paradoxically demeaning and idolizing.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my early church history class. I was both intrigued and disturbed as I read through this compilation of Christian writings from the first few centuries. It's sad to see how the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, which had done so much to promote women above the roles their culture required of them, were abandoned by the church in just a few generations. I was disappointed to see so many otherwise admirable and godly people allow the sexism of their day to affect their theology. I was also troubled by the obsessive asceticism of the Christian culture. The more I read about early Christian history, the more my impression changes. I had once thought that the first few centuries of the church would hold relatively true to the Biblical teaching of Christ, and a good example to look back to. Now I wonder. Still it's very useful to look back upon their errors and learn how much the attitudes of one's culture can affect one's theological interpretation.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's disturbing to see the inequality throughout history. I'm still astounded by the violence that was not only allowed but considered a norm...

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an important read for anyone interested in the roots of how Christianity has viewed women. Through long series of quotes from church fathers such as Jerome, Augustine, Tertullian, and others, the reader can trace the early viewpoints that the church held on women, virginity, marriage and how these things came to be a part of how the church viewed the roles of men and women. (spoilers, kind of) We see these church fathers write from the assumption that their personal experience and understanding of the place of men or women in society is “right” and therefore they gravitate toward Scripture that backs up their already preconceived view of “right,” but pay little attention to Scripture that would challenge their assumptions. For instance, these church fathers paid a great deal of attention to the sin of Eve being deceived by Satan and tempting Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit, but apparently considered that far worse than Adam’s knowing choice to defy God. So, because of Eve, women as a whole are suspect and not trustworthy, but not so men, or at least, not equally so. Another interesting facet of the early church fathers is their tendency to conflate lust and attraction. 1. Assumption that all physical attraction is lust and lust is always evil, even though not strictly said in Scripture. 2. If a husband and wife are attracted to each other, and have a loving relationship that produces children, they must have still sinned. 3. Due to lust, the married state is always mired in sin and therefore marriage is never as good as a chaste and virginal life. 4. A married man who was attracted to and lusted after his wife was sinning, therefore women – even married – were always a temptation to sin, even for their husbands. The only semi-safe woman was one who is openly avowed to be completely chaste. You can see how eventually a women’s primary method of being deemed able to minister in the church and/or be recognized for her spiritual knowledge and wisdom in any way was to take on a completely virginal or at least chaste lifestyle such as a widow (in the very early church) and later as a nun.

[Robert Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's painful to read, but exposes the trouble of women in late antiquity as well as early Christianity. If you want to knows what being a woman was like during that period, this is a good introduction.

[Starboy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trashy femmie book

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so painful to get through this book. I was hoping for a book that was able to offer some larger historical perspective on women's role in the early church, but the book is mostly written by contemporaries of the time. It was interesting to see what early church writers thought of the role of women, but it was also incredibly depressing and frustrating. At the very least, it would have been nice to have some critique of the authors or some explanation as to how these views have evolved throughout the church's history. Even though I wanted to scream at the paternalistic views through the book, it did offer some insight into what the church was like in that time period. I definitely learned a lot about Christianity's influence in Greek culture and how other religious cults at the time influenced the Christian church.