WEEK 3

Are you unsure of any of the key terms? Post questions here for discussion and clarification.

Task 2 and Task 3.

Quote comparison-

The differences between the quotes is that statement appears to be inclusive of all people as deserving of the love of Jesus Christ who holds no prejudice against anybody as the ‘Savior of sins’ and so doesn’t discriminate against anybody, whereas statement two, appears to be exclusive of this statement of mutuality and togetherness among all as it identifies women as not the same as men in the body of christ, and so appears to discriminate against them, because it denies women the right to speak in the church.

However with the second statement, its important to know that the biblical verse in which it was misconstrued from isn’t actually discriminatory if one cares to understand the biblical and historical context of it.

*The original verse comes from 1st Corinthians 14 34-35 ‘women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.’

This isn’t a misogynistic statement because in the period of the Jewish Society in which this was written, men having authority having women in many things was a largely accepted social norm. One of the things men tended to have authority over women in, was the church. In the church there were distinct roles between men and women, as the norm of society then, which is obviously different to society now. Priests were men and they were the ones God had appointed to preach his decrees and precepts to the church. In the church, there were also women; they were servants of gods the same way men who weren’t priests were servants of god who simply listened to what the priest was preaching and carried out tasks for God under their authority which didn't have to be visibly speaking in church but doing gods will outside of church. So, the women ‘not speaking’ within the church is just to enforce the man’s role as a priest to preach in Jesus’ name, not to oppress any women because it clearly wasn’t a norm back then for women to preach. So having evaluated this, there is no real difference between the statements as one isn’t actually as discriminatory as it seems.



Task 3

Arguments against policy-

The stance of women in society has changed; women have established rights to higher positions in institutions such as the roman catholic church, which they have to accept.


Arguments for policy-

The roman catholic church is simply following a traditional principle which they have the right to do.

Task 3

For-
In the Bible, there are many verses (like the ones below) that express the view that women are inferior to men and should not have any power over them. There are also verses that illustrate men having more importance and authority than women. Based on what these verses say, The Roman Catholic Church may argue that it is not discriminating against women by permitting them from ordaining as it clearly states in the Bible that women should not ‘exercise authority over a man’ as well as ‘women should remain silent in the Churches’.

‘Women should remain silent in the Churches’- Corinthians

‘I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, rather she is to remain quiet’-Timothy

‘Women submit yourselves to your husbands’-Ephesians

Against-

In Christianity (of which Roman Catholicism is a branch of) , it is made abundantly clear that anyone can become a Christian (as it states ‘there is no male or female for you are all one in Christ’), it also encourages that the word of Christ be spread no matter your sex. Furthermore, it states in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) ‘God made mankind in his image’. Due to this it could be argued that the Roman Catholic Church does discriminate against women by not permitting them to ordain as if the Bible states that everyone is made in God’s image then that also means that everyone is equal (regardless of sex), and if everyone is equal then there should be no reason as to why a woman could not ordain. Therefore based on this, one may argue that the Roman Catholic Church does discriminate against women by not permitting them to ordain.

‘There is no male or female for you are all one in Christ’-Galatians

‘God made mankind in his image’- Genesis

Week 3 - Task 2 Quote comparison

Quote 1 denies discrimination and prejudice and shows that being different is not taken into account, not only for Jesus, but in Christianity. However, quote 2 exercises the act of discrimination and prejudice by supressing women and their voice.

Not only that but quote 1 shows that every human is one and refuses to divide humanity using discrimination and prejudice. However, quote 2 shows that there are those superior to others and so supports the idea of discrimination and prejudice.