Christian Theology And The Quest For Women’s Equality.

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Since ancient times, people had a lot of misconceptions for Eve. She was considered as the first human to attempt sin and the one who insisted Adam to make the same sin. According to ancient Christianity, Eve was accused of many things that happened to humanity. This misconception led to the emergence of male dominating society and people started accusing females of their faults and considered it their right to stay dominant and commanding over females. I will focus on the teachings of Genesis and discuss how feminist interpretations have redeeming Eve and how by humanizing her we are redefining our view of women's role in society today.

Conceptions about Eve are divided even today and there are several beliefs that have diversity in this particular topic. One group says that Eve is a dangerous, easily deceived and inferior assistant of the man. The other group says that Eve is made primarily in the image of God, an ultimate power which created to accompany and assist men to do work on the Kingdom of God on earth. Unluckily, the Church and most of the world have frequently parked the theology of the first group and they have been practicing it for so long (Clifford). Therefore, individuals of this society have been modeled and taught that there is something less in women since the early days of Christened Rome. According to many Biblical commentators and scholars, Eve corrupted, lured, persuaded, counseled, taught, urged, suggested, beguiled, tempted, used wicked persuasion, proved herself an enemy, used lamentations and tears, used cozening and guile to prevail upon Adam. This view of Eve has been intimated into culture to a level in which both women and men believed for so long and even today, so it describes the condition of woman of today and past naturally because people started believing from the story of Eve that women are responsible for every bad thing and wrong-happening (Clifford). It is extremely tragic and that is why society must retrieve the perceptions and wrong beliefs about Eve.

At creation account, when one takes a closer look, it makes everyone realize that there was not even a little truth in the claim or right that Eve was any less or inferior than Adam. It's been centuries, men dominating society taught people that women are not capable of thinking rationally and only men are bestowed with this ability. This is undoubtedly untrue and a made up lie. In Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, a strikingly beautiful and captivating portrait is painted by God, created in His image, to empower, to love and to serve each other as well as to reflect Him on his Earth. As Genesis says “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27). Fall and the sin were not the finishing words. The absolution of Jesus reestablishes the team which was designed by God in the beginning. However, according to the Mormonism, the consideration which humans of both sexes can ultimately achieve godhood, that they have their Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother as well, and that the choice of Eve to taste the forbidden fruit was ultimately insightful, righteous and courageous act which portrays fine on her and all of the women are unique, such Mormon considerations raise up and empower the prospects of the equality of women in the conception of Mormonism (Kline).

According to Genesis God created Eve to be a helper of Adam. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” ((Genesis 2:18). "Helper" is more than just a word. Recalling the story of the creation, one can see that in Old Testament, the word God has been used 16 times to demonstrate that God comes to his people in their desperate times when they need a strong helper and a rescuer. Just like God is the best companion in every thick and thin, so is Eve according to God. For some people, Eve was "help meet" of Adam and for some, she was an equal and liberated partner (Petersen). Moreover, experts of Old Testaments have discovered that word ezer means power and strength, so it would be suitable and appropriate to call Eve as a “strong power” (Riswold)

This further aids in eradicating the misconceptions of treating and acknowledging the gender of the woman. The irony is, misconceptions regarding gender discrimination have been rooted extremely deep into the Western civilization's socio-psyche which attempts to dismiss, discredit or simply ignore it all that all genders are equal in the eye of God. Moreover, to a lot of people such misconceptions are only myth-making and patriarchal fiction. In short, some people do not accept the fact that Eve is not responsible for any bad thing that happened to humanity, such people participate in practices of gender discrimination of society. On the other hand, some people do not even believe that such unfairness exists in society. The strategy to eradicate such misconception is the revisionist approach to the entire story itself and re-interpret and re-read it in the terms of feminism. Genesis 2-3 has been under argument for not being inherently male dominating and a lot of attempts have been made for its recovery from the misogynist reading of centuries.

Adam and Eve at the time of their creation were equals. The issue of inequality arisen after Genesis 3:16 only, as an outcome of defiance of the rules of God. Moreover, discrimination in sexes was not initially part of the plan of the divine (Brown). Therefore, it would trail that efforts of feminists of today to reachieve equality of both genders and to keep up with the original plan of God. Moreover, there have been a lot of efforts made for the correction of the famous belief that it was Eve who was a temptress, she tempted Adam as well to taste the forbidden fruit. According to Genesis, once Eve ate the fruit, she "gave some to her husband and he ate." (Genesis 3:6)

Such beliefs and studies are the keys to stop recognizing women as a symbol of sin and a primary fallen. They help to see women and girls restored through the Gospel's power. As Eve has a place of a goddess to be respected, an example to follow, and a prototypical woman in Christianity with the feminist approach (Petersen). The gender of a woman is defined as how Jesus looks at it and in the eye of God, all are equal. Such consideration of Eve has sustained with extraordinary firmness and continues even today as a great tentative block in efforts by women to modify gender injustices and discriminations rightly between different sexes. Unconsciously or consciously, it endures supporting as the greatest weapon against the gender of a woman who aspires to confront male domination. Correction of ancient beliefs can lead to the eradication of the false concepts against Eve. More importantly, it will give help in eradicating gender discrimination and injustices in society. This way, the woman of today and the future will be able to claim their true and equal place in society.

Work Cited

Petersen, Boyd Jay. "Redeemed from the Curse Placed upon Her": Dialogic Discourse on Eve in the Woman's Exponent." Journal of Mormon History 40.1 (2014): 135-174.

Kline, Caroline. "The Mormon Conception of Women’s Nature and Role: A Feminist Analysis." Feminist Theology 22.2 (2014): 186-202.

. Feminism and Christianity: Questions and Answers in the Third Wave (1st chapter ONE Feminist Questions of Christianity) by Caryn D. Riswold

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cg4k07

Clifford, Anne M. Introducing feminist theology. Orbis Books, 2001.

Brown, Katherine DeVane. "Antifeminism or Exegesis? Reinterpreting Eve's wacgeþoht in Genesis B." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 115.2 (2016): 141-166.