Good morning, jgnat:
I believe this bears on your question. Looking into the indigenous "religions" of many millenia ago, I have learned that wise and loving matriarchies were the norm until patriarchies invaded and wiped out the former. Dominator religions that allow no variety or self determination amongst their followers seem to present a mixed message, as already noted in this thread. Personally, I am in doubt about the Gospels -- who was Jesus and what did he really say?
I have just received Not In His Image, by John Lamb Lash.
Lash states that the four Gospels (NT) belong to a literary genre known as Hellenistic romance, a sort of novella consisting of miracles, supernatural signs, stock characters, etc. During the first century of the Christian era many of these novellas, which mixed fable and folklore with some realistic elements, were circulating.
They were the pulp fiction of their time . . .
NIHI, p.107
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/269178/1/The-Four-Gospels-Hellenistic-Romances#.Us6eJN0gqmA
Thanks for reading.
CC