Women's Role In Christianity Research Paper

Throughout history women have played a vital role in Christianity what that role entails however has changed drastically through the ages. From a century where women were expected to be quiet and meek to the women of the present. Christianity has dictated the role women have in our society.
In early American History students of the bible interpreted the written word of God in such a way to make women obedient. The early Pilgrims to the new world brought with them a strong sense of Christianity; somewhat tainted by their deep European roots. The misguided view of women came from Eve in the Garden of Eden because she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and shared the forbidden fruit with Adam (Ruether, 1993). Which brought on the
There would be arranged marriages, there would be the expectation that the men would have a mistress and the women were to be appreciative that she had a husband (Rump, 2008). Women did not have the option of leaving only the men could petition for divorce. Some women would choose to live a monastic lifestyle because there life would be full of devotion, travel, scholarship, fellowship, and equal discussion with male leaders (Rump, 2008). Even living the monastic lifestyle the roles of female and male were still not equal or important. Women had to endure living in a society that would not let them vote, earn money, receive land, speak freely, make their own decisions, and have freedom. An influential teacher named Tertullian compared all women to Eve and gives women the nickname the devils gateway (Rump, 2008). Women could not be freed from the viewpoint of male interpretation of the bible. Years later the attitude of women started to change and will influence the impact on women of the present. In 1837 Sarah Grimke said “I surrender not our claim to equality. All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God designed us to occupy” (Egnal, 2014). Sara Grimke was one of the women who had part of the preparation for the women rights movements. By 1848 there was a huge growth of the women rights movement by