by JW83 10 Replies latest watchtower bible
Okay, okay, I know I always ask you guys for help with essay topics, but this time I'm SERIOUS. I've got an essay due in 4 weeks which is worth 25% of my honours year. My topic is 'how did the rise of monotheism marginalise the place of women in religion & society'. I would so grateful for any pointers! Also, if anyone has a spare copy of Judith Ochshorn lying around ...
Ta, Jayne
Isn't it strange that in monotheistic religions god is always male?
You might look for "The Chalice and the Blade" by Riane Eisler. Highly recommended
LDS are polytheistic and God is male with one caveat - God is a title (hence God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ; in the beginning the gods created the heavens etc..) but the ultimate crowning glory of a God is to be married ( Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh ) which brings teh ability to continue to create children..
You'll find a LOT of online stuff googling "monotheism" together with "women," "patriarchalism," "sexism," "phallocentrism," "androcentrism," etc.
The big problem, as ever, is discerning solid data from crap (e.g. matriarchal or egalitarian myths presented as facts about pre-monotheistic societies although they are often retrojections of modern ideals).
By eliminating female deities (e.g. Asherah) from "heaven" and women from sacral functions (with a few "prophetesses" exceptions), Jewish monotheism certainly reinforced an existing male domination in its world representation. However this is to be nuanced by another trend in monotheism, to put God above gender distinction.
I'm afraid this doesn't help you much, but thus far I failed to find a completely convincing online synthesis. Perhaps you could post some of what you found interesting on the subject for discussion. Good luck!
IMO- In nature and in life, there are always two parents that are required to create an offspring. When you consider the possiblity that only one GOD was the creator of all beings then it isolates the other gender. Whether it be one female god or one male god, it will still single out one parent. The fact that in todays western society there is mostly a male god, that idea will always make the woman feel insignificant. And nearly all of the women of the bible are portrayed as harlots, manipulative, and mere property. That, I would say, would have alot to do with women's self-esteem and how men treat their counterparts.
"He also tore down the quarters of the qdshym [sacred prostitutes, lit. holy ones], who were in the temple of Yahweh and where women did weaving for Asherah" (2 Kings 23:7).
The henotheistic reforms of Josiah are explicitly described as eliminating the Asherah cult and thus the cultic role of women in the Temple. If you look into Mark Smith's work, you will find some good evidence that Asherah was eventually abstractized and assimilated to Yahweh, and ceased to function as an independent deity.
I think you should definitely include this verse in your essay. When you write it, don't just look at the nebulous conceptual terrain of beliefs, but specific cultic practices, like the one mentioned in 2 Kings 23:7. Other older polytheistic practices involving women (e.g. necromancy, cf. 1 Samuel 28; ritual weeping, cf. Ezekiel 8:14; baking sacred cakes, cf. Jeremiah 7:18) were condemened as idolatrous or abominable by the prophets and were eliminated as well. The centralization of the cult at the Temple of Jerusalem in the deuteronomistic reforms of Josiah (by eliminating the local high places, shrines, etc.) also stripped women of cultic roles in local communities, whereas at least in post-exilic monotheism, the centralized Temple cult was run entirely by male priests.
Another related issue (although not politically correct) is the ancient practice of sacred prostitution, which is banned by heno/monotheism: as a lexical vestige of their once sacral role, the "temple prostitutes" are still qedeshoth, "holy ones," in Biblical Hebrew, e.g. Genesis 38:21; Deuteronomy 23:18: Hosea 4:14; the prostitute plays a very positive part in Mesopotamian texts, cf. the "harlot" who imparts knowledge to Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh (tablet I), of which we might have a faint echo in Genesis 2--3 (the woman serves as the mediator of knowledge between the serpent and the man / Adam).
Another echo of women serving in the temple is found in Exodus 38:8 (the women with the mirrors at the entrance of the tent).
The "sorcerer" in Exodus 22:17(18) is a woman (mekhashephah).
Thanks guys, very helpful! I will look up the texts, take on board your ideas, & let you know how it goes. A very interesting topic, yes?!
Narkissos....Do you think that the variation in plural forms (qdshym vs. qdshwt) is indicative of an actual gender distinction between temple prostitutes, or is this variation purely linguistic (as grammatical gender often does not correlate with sexual categories)?
It is interesting that qdshym is often rendered "male temple prostitutes", and the KJV has gone so far as to render it "perverted persons" and the Darby as "sodomites".
