Why do the major patriarchal religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) frown upon the spiritual leadership of women?

These three major religions all stress the spiritual leadership of men,even in this day and age. In the U.S., we currently have a female Presidential candidate (it's about time, too!), but the Catholic Church absolutely REFUSES to allow women into the priesthood! Some Pro In the case of Judaism, the first woman rabbi appeared on the scene in 1972.

Some Protestant Christian denominations also prohibit women from being pastors. I don't know much about Islam, except for the well-known restrictions they place upon women in their daily lives. Of course, this means they wouldn't be even REMOTELY interested in having a Muslim woman be a spiritual leader!

Why, if God created both sexes with equal intelligence (some studies even affirm that women are more intelligent than men), is there such hostility to the idea of a female leading a body of believers? Is it precisely because men are afraid of female intelligence? Asked by Twilightdreamlover 44 months ago Similar questions: major patriarchal religions Christianity Judaism Islam frown spiritual leadership women Society > Religion & Spirituality.

Similar questions: major patriarchal religions Christianity Judaism Islam frown spiritual leadership women.

My thoughts... The American Heritage Dictionary defines a patriarchy as a social system in which the father is the head of the family and men have authority over women and children. . It is certainly not surprising to see patriarchal religions frowning on women holding leadership roles, especially within the religion...by definition.. Islam is the youngest religion, dating from Muhammad in the 6th Century CE/AD.

Christianity certainly dates to the time of Jesus which is around 0 CE/AD. Judaism arguably dates back to Abraham in the 18th Century BCE/BC. .

Reform movements are only just beginning within Islam. Who knows how long it will take? Perhaps in 1 or 2 centuries, there will be Muslim denominations which comfortably marry secularism and science with classic Islam.

Today, that is still problematic. Modern textual criticism of Islamic texts by Muslims is still fairly limited. .

It took well over a millenium before Christianity gave birth to reform movements. During the European Enlightenment, this accelerated. .

The reform movement in Judaism began in Germany in the 18th and 19th Centuries CE/AD. It has flowered in the US since then. Jewish scholarship goes back over 2 millenia.

Modern Jewish textual criticism followed that of Christianity in the 19th Century.. All of this is by way of perspective. It took about 3,700 years for Judaism to elevate a woman to the status of religious leader/rabbi. Many Protestant denominations have ordained women since some time in the 20th Century.

There are a few examples of women ordained as Christian ministers in the 19th Century--about 1,800 years after the birth of the religion. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox denominations of Christianity do not ordain women as priests. There is debate today in the Muslim world about the ability of women to lead communities in prayer.

I don’t believe there are female imams. But, the religion is only about 1,400 years old--a relative "youngster". If I were to speculate, there will be women in religious leadership roles in Islam within the next century.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .

So, some denominations of 2 of your 3 patriarchal religions ordain women ministers/rabbis.. Why Roman Catholicism continues to resist the ordination of women puzzles me in this day and age. "In 1994, Pope John Paul II declared the question closed in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, stating: ’Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance…I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful. ’" I believe the rationale hinges on perceived views of Jesus’ practices rather than on issues of gender equality.

But, I am not well versed in this.. As I pointed out above, there are discussions underway about the ability of women to lead Muslim congregations. Since Islam lacks the hierarchical organization of the Roman Catholic Church, if some religious leaders agree to ordain women, there is no mechanism to make this universally accepted. This is similar to fragmented Orthodox Judaism, albeit on a much larger scale.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .

I hope this helps you in answering your questions. Sources: http://www.bartleby.com/61/51/P0115100.html ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women .

Different Perspective I’m going to come at this from a different angle. I think that only a small minority of Christian women are upset that Orthodox Christianity doesn’t allow women as heads of churches. This idea comes from the modern feminist movement, that began to compare feminine roles to male roles, and then deemed these male roles as "better."

I and Christianity are doing no such thing. The writers of the New Testament, at no time, thought of the male role as "better". There was just a difference in the roles that men and women were to play in the home as well as the church.

The male is to be the leader who is ultimately responsible before God, and the woman is to be the nurturer and supporter, without which, there is no leader. Only in our modern mind does "supporter" and "nurturer" carry a negative connotation. The role was given a much higher place of honor in the ancient world.

For example: Adam was lonely in the Garden of Eden. He was just him and the animals. The animals weren’t enough of a companion for him and so God had to create the perfect companion for Adam.

And that was a woman. That’s a role to be proud of. Without you, a man is nothing.

The roles men and women fill in the home and in the church were designed by God in the beginning, and are not a result of bias.

I will speak for Christianity and as a pastor of a church in a denomination that does not have female pastors or elders That said, I would say we definitely DO NOT FROWN on female spiritual LEADERSHIP in our church. We have many women who are leaders, they are just not the pastor and they are not elders, as those offices the Bible says are for men. All of us follow the Bible as we believe it is the Word of God.

I think sometimes people on the outside look superficially and because a woman’s name is not on the billboard outside the church as Pastor _____________ that means women are not in leadership roles that is just plain silly. Yes, God did create the sexes equal. Yet, if you have not noticed, women and men are different.

Men cannot do some things women do, like have children. Our anatomy is different. Again, you use the word "hostility" ... there is not "hostility" anywhere, not in my church, women are not trying to be the pastor here.

Yet, we do not allow it because the Bible says the roles of pastor and elder are male roles. God decided not us.

Some thoughts... While I agree that’s it appears to be unfair and without merit that women are unable to take a role as a spiritual leader and I suppose that is why it is one of the more debated issues among church leaders. While I can’t speak for Islam, among evangelical Christians there are Biblical factors that lead many to believe that women are not to have a role as a pastor. But there is indeed a very important role for women in the church ministry.

All in all it comes down to Biblical interpretation as to whether women may be pastors or preachers. It would seen that the Biblical passage that this issue centers around is Paul’s letter to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 2:11-12."A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" So the question is, are women restricted from a pastoral role which would then place them in a position of leadership and authority over men. So here’s the rub, should we accept the words in this passage as literal, or does it mean something else? Paul goes on to say in 1 Timothy 2:13 that Adam was formed first, then Eve.

This is certainly consistent with the Genesis account in Chapters 2 & 3. God chose this order (Adam first,Eve second). In Genesis 2:18, God says in part, "......I will make a helper suitable for him".

Lets jump over to Ephesians 5:22-23 Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church...." If we were to continue our Biblical search on this topic, one should come to the general conclusion that men/husbands have authority and a position of spiritual leadership over woman/families. This is certainly not an issue of intelligence and there nothing in the Bible to indicate such, but merely the role that God has assigned to men and women.

Women are bearers of comfort, mercy, prayer, and kindness. They too are given gifts of the Holy Spirit to use in the ministry of the church and are called upon to minister to others and share the Gospel to the unknowing..

In my opinion there is no reason why women are generally not in leadership roles other than tradition. However there have been inroads made within various Christian denominations and in Reform Judaism. My personal discomfort with the trend within my denomination is that female clergy in the Episcopal Church are predominantly from the fringes (e.g. Lesbians and Revisionist Liberals).

I think it would be much healthier if female clergy were representative of a broader theological/political/social spectrum. That would help the cause immensely. The important role of women in Christianity is documented throughout the NT...the women who followed Jesus, who were present at the crucifixion (courage, loyalty), Martha & Mary of Bethany (models for contemplation), and the Virgin Mary (ultimate example of submission to God and extreme faith titled "Theotokis" or God-bearer).

In fact, the Virgin Mary is pointed to as highest example of virtue for both men and women to follow; she is the only human being to be looked upon with Hyper Dulia" or "highest veneration", not "Adoration" or worship reserved for God alone. In modern times, there is no woman close in a leadership role to Mother Theresa of Calcutta (I think it is tragic that she is not looked to as the example of why women should be placed in high leadership roles in the patriarchal religions). The Virgin Mary also has prominence in Islam; she is mentioned more times in the Koran than in the NT!

It is my hope that those on the fringes will recede in the background, making room for the real giants among women to effect the essential change of heart on the part of traditional leadership.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.