Women and the Genesis of Christianity

Women and their roles in the New Testament and early Christianity.

Ben Witherington (Edited by)

9780521367356, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 June 1990

292 pages
21.5 x 13.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.42 kg

"Ben Witherington's book is one of the most honest and least ideological works about women and Christianity I have read in a number of years." The Christian Century

This book presents in as clear a way as possible the New Testament material dealing with women and their roles in the context of the movement Jesus began. Dr Witherington begins by illustrating the roles of women in Judaism, in the Hellenistic world, and in the Roman Empire. She goes on to show how Jesus broke significantly with convention in the way he viewed women and their roles, offering as he did a wholly new conception of the legitimate rights of women in society. An analysis follows of the apostle Paul's attitude toward women, which shows how he agreed with and differed from the ideas of his contemporaries. The concluding chapters discuss the evangelists, whose selection and presentation of material with respect to women casts much light on the early Church's understanding of women and their roles. This comprehensive survey, which avoids slanting its material to serve a modern patriarchal or feminist bias, comes to the exciting conclusion that we can see in the New Testament an attempt to reform the patriarchal orientation of the day.

Part I. Women in First Century Cultures: 1. Women in Judaism
2. Women in Hellenistic settings
3. Women in Roman settings
Part II. Jesus and Women: 4. Teachings on family and single life
5. Women in the parables and judgment sayings
6. Stories of help and healing
7. Women in the Ministry of Jesus
Part III. Paul and Women: 8. Women and the physical family
9. Paul and the household tables
10. Women and the family of faith
11. Paul and his female co-workers
12. The pastoral Epistles
Part IV. Women and the Evangelists: 13. Women and the Third Evangelist
14. Women and the Evangelists Matthew, Mark and John
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]