The Role of Women in the Early Christian Church
Leaders, teachers and martyrs oh my
The religion that grew up around the teachings and message of Jesus, also known as Christianity, was not the same religion we think about today. Not only did Jesus not care about guns or abortions, he did not say a lot of what we attribute to him. He was also a feminist. Yes, Jesus thought women had value. In his movement, women could be apostles. The most famous of which is Mary Magdalene, of course.
St. Paul in his Epistles refers to women as spiritual leaders and proselytizers. Women held a great deal of power in the early Church. They were healers, teachers and so much more. The misogyny of the later Church would not be in effect at this point. Women were indeed allowed to have the full spiritual experience that Jesus afforded them.
During his mission, there were many women who followed the Apostles such as the aforementioned Mary Magdalene, several Salomes, Joanna, Susanna and more. They are often credited with being the money behind the mission as several were widows who had not remarried. They had disposable income and used it to help Jesus with food, shelter and other necessities along the way.
These are the same women who prepared the Last Supper (Did you think the men did that? No.) Someone had to. It wasn’t a fishes and loaves situation.
Mary Magdalene herself is often credited with being the one who anointed Jesus for burial using snakenard and her hair. She knew he was the Messiah and treated him as such. For her devotion, Jesus would often ‘kiss her on the mouth.’ We’ve talked about the nature of their relationship before - and, although controversial, it cannot be denied that Mary Magdalene was an important part of the Jesus Movement.
In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, found amongst the Nag Hammadi texts, aka the Gnostic Gospels, she is presented as the ‘apostle of the apostles’. She challenges Jesus with her intellect and is an important teacher in her own right. Interestingly enough, history credits Mary Magdalene with writing her own gospel.
We also know that she was the first one Jesus appeared to after he was resurrected. If she weren’t important to the mission, why would this occur? Simply enough, it wouldn’t. Women were a vital part of Jesus’ movement in a myriad of ways.
The early Catholic Church did not dispute their importance but rather celebrated it. Paul speaks of women throughout the empire who teach and promote the religion. Often times, he mentions that they are accompanied by their husbands, but it is not clear if the husband or the wife is the more renowned teacher. Women like Junia and Prisca were rather influential with Prisca being credited by Paul himself as once having saved his life (along with her husband, whose name is not mentioned.)
Of course, this does not mean that women’s roles in the Church went unchallenged. The world that the Early Church lived in was not so open to women in powerful positions. Many men - big surprise - wanted to keep them out of power and requirements were set under the Roman empire for women to marry and remarry if they were widowed. Early Christian women often defied these rules and refused to do either much to the Roman Emperors’ chagrin. Some of the earliest martyrs and saints like Thecla were unwed by choice.
The misogyny which we first see demonstrated by the Apostle Peter who strongly disliked Mary Magdalene because she was “Jesus’ favorite”, eventually won the day and women were relegated to the back of the proverbial bus, never quite regaining their status in Catholicism. They are still second-class citizens to this day. Sure, other Christian denominations like the Episcopalians and the Methodists allow women to be pastors or priests, but most of the Christian sects subject women to supporting, not lead roles.
That’s unfortunate to say the least but proves, in no uncertain terms, that the Church does not often do what Jesus would and we must take his mission and message with a grain of salt because so much was lost in translation and lost to history.
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