In patriarchal religions, divinity is male; hence men see an image of themselves in the divine, while women are denied this identification with divinity. What are the cultural consequences of this?

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The ancient Middle East was the birthplace of Christianity and Islam; these faiths came to have an immense impact on human culture and religious beliefs. In one form or another religion is found in all societies, it has had a strong hold over men and women for thousands of years. All religions seem to have similar characteristics; these involve symbolism that evoke feelings of reverence and awe. This essay will explore the ancient history of Egyptian religion that can be linked to Christianity and Islam. It will show how patriarchal religion has been used for thousands of years to control the thoughts and actions of women, and how ancient scriptures have been re-written to serve the interests of men. It will consider and discuss comments and theoretical perspectives made by leading feminist writers, which include Karen Armstrong and Elaine Pagels and also text taken from The Nag Hammadi Library (10).

Ancient Egyptian religion, gave Egyptians a way to make sense of the world around them, it explained things they didn't understand, for example, the wind the sun and the darkness of night. They didn't have thousands of years of scientific knowledge to call upon, so if these things were not brought about by human intervention, they had to be super human, and therefor a God. This was usually in the image of a male.

Ancient Egyptian text recount several creation myths, the earliest and most widely known describes a dark watery primordial chaos. Out of this emptiness came a family of nine 'creator' Gods which brought forth everything in the universe. Three descendants of these were Isis, a fiercely protected mother Goddess, Osiris, God of the underworld and Seth, their ambitious brother. Osiris took his sister Isis as his Queen and they bore a son Horus. This suggests that incestuous relationships were considered normal and if Gods supported the act, Pharaohs could also. '…Osiris taught humankind how to build towns and temples he also laid down fair and just laws' (Cotterell & Storm 107) Whilst Isis '…helped Osiris civilise Egypt by teaching women how to grind corn, spin and weave'. (Ibid, p.) The women of the day had few deities to look up to; the ones they did were associated with fertility and nurturing. Religion then as now was used for social control and reflected women's social status, having said this, Isis was one of the Egyptians most revered Gods. The fundamental story of these three Gods is that Seth fought his brother Osiris and killed him. ' …When Isis heard what had happened to her husband and brother she was overcome with grief…she found his body and performed a magical ritual whereby she restored his body to life.' (Ibid 07) Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian feminist, and believes that this story clearly implies female superiority, but men have interpreted it very differently. She argues that the religions that were oppressive to women developed as monotheistic religions, which is a belief in one God rather than many, and became predominant and that these religions '…drew inspiration and guidance from the values of the patriarchal and class societies prevalent at the time'. (El Saadawi 180106) Female oppression is due to the patriarchal system and not necessarily due to religion although it has played its part. These three Gods became the major players in Egypt's central religious myth.

Not only were the Gods worshiped but also God Kings known as Pharaoh, they ruled over Egypt from around 100 BC, Pharaoh's in all dynasties believed themselves to be nothing less than divine. There were few female rulers, and no priestesses served in the temple, this contributed to and re-enforced the idea of male domination. Cleopatra was clearly the exception, who incidentally had only male advisors and courtiers. Her divine rule did absolutely nothing for women's social status. The same can be seen in the managerial positions that women hold in today's society. Once a woman has gained top position, which is difficult to do, she does not want nor need competition especially from another female. Therefore these rivals are kept to a minimum within the workforce. Custom writing service can write essays on In patriarchal religions, divinity is male; hence men see an image of themselves in the divine, while women are denied this identification with divinity. What are the cultural consequences of this?

Karen Armstrong argues that in many countries around the world there were few effigies of Gods as men, and as many societies developed religious beliefs, there were also many different Gods and Goddesses, and the Mother Goddess played a crucial role. She indicates that the same Goddess was known by different names in different countries and says she was;

' …absorbed into the pantheons of deities and

remained a powerful figure. She was called

I nanna in Sumner, in ancient Mesopotamia,

Ishtar in Babylon, Anat or Asherah in Canaan,

Isis in Egypt and Aphrodite in Greece. In all

these cultures people told remarkably similar

stories about her to exoress her role in their

spiritual lives.'

(Armstrong, 1 8)

She also argues that in some societies, women, within most religions have not always been subordinate, and in early history 'women were considered central to the spiritual quest' (Armstrong, 1). In the Middle East archaeologists have uncovered numerous symbols of the Great Mother Goddess. She was usually pictured as a naked pregnant woman this represented the mysteries of fertility and life and as Armstrong puts it

'The earth produced plants and nourished

them in rather the same way as a woman gave

birth to a child and fed it from her own body.

The magical power of the earth seemed vitally

interconnected with the mysterious creativity

of the female sex'

( Armstrong, 1 8 ).

She also implies that the position of women in religion began to decline due to war and invasions. The invaders brought with them male- oriented mythology and the Goddesses were replaced with powerful masculine deities. This began as early as the fourth century BC The final death of the Goddess came with the acceptance of monotheism. Von Kellenbach (14), a German feminist, criticises this belief and points out that there is no written historical record in any culture to suggest that there was a time when women were in a matriarchal paradise. The evidence rather suggests that in cultures where there were female goddesses, women were not given a greater role in society, in fact, the goddesses themselves had a lesser role than the gods.

Early in the first century Jesus of Nazareth began his first ministry and after he was crucified his followers fanned out across the empire sowing the seeds of a total transformation of belief, thus the Christian faith spread. Four hundred years would pass before this faith was accepted. This was a new monotheistic faith that took over the land, and this movement would spell ultimate doom for the Gods and Goddesses of the Pharaohs. There are many parallels between Egyptian religion and Christian teachings. The most striking similarities can be found in religious icons, such as Isis and her son Horus (the translation of this name means the one who is above) and the Christ child who sits on the lap of his mother Mary. This is also shown in the ancient Egyptian stories of the God Osiris who was killed and brought back to life and the story of Jesus who died on the cross and then miraculously resurrected. In the minds of the Egyptian Christians there would surely be parallels, this made it easier to accept a new belief and preserving Egyptian religious ideologies and traditions was a way of keeping control and maintained patriarchal beliefs and misrepresentations.

The Old Testament Bible in the first instance was translated from ancient texts, these being the writings of scholars of the time, as so was the New Testament. However in 145 in Upper Egypt a large number of primary Gnostic scriptures were unearthed which were once thought to have been completely destroyed by the early orthodox Christians; scriptures such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of truth. These are now referred to as The Nag Hammadi library. In many of these texts God is imaged as a unity of masculine and feminine elements, it is no wonder that the orthodox faith felt the need to rid society of these books. They tell quite a different story of Jesus and God. It says that Jesus prayed to the divine Father and Mother. These teachings obviously went against the patriarchal system prevalent at that time. It also tells of Mary Magdalene, they show her as an outspoken and trusted confidant of Jesus. She was one of his closest disciples, and to her he entrusted special teaching. They also suggest that Jesus had an emotional attachment with Mary.

'...the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended... They said to him, Why do you love her more than all of us? The Saviour answered and said to them, Why do I not love you as I love her?"'

(Gospel of Philip, 6- 64)

Pagels 18 xv

This is not so in the New Testament, she is depicted as a devoted but timid follower of Jesus and was associated with the unnamed sinner who anointed Jesus' feet in Luke 76-50. Mary the disciple and teacher had become Mary the repentant whore. This fiction was invented to undermine her influence and with it the appeal to her apostolic authority to support women in roles of leadership. This kind of ideology still appertains today in the Catholic Church, their reason for not allowing women to be ordained into the priesthood is, they say Jesus had no female disciples. Christian tradition has seriously damaged women's capacity to contribute fully to the faith.

In 1870 the Church of England formed a committee to do what had been done many, many times before this was to revise and update biblical texts. This committee contained no women, and according to Professor Karen King, this meant that texts could be re written and alternative traditions could be invented and that every variety of woman's leadership was eventually declared heretical and the evidence was erased or suppressed. Anthony Giddens argues that

'Christian religion is a resolutely male

affair in it's symbolism as well as its hierarchy.

While Mary the mother of Jesus, may sometimes

be treated as if she had divine qualities, God is

the father, a male figure and Jesus took the

human shape of a man. Woman is portrayed as

created from a rib taken from a man'.

(Giddens, 17 44)

There are many accounts of woman's association with the Devil; the story of the Fall in Genesis states that man was perfect before the fall. Eve is labelled as the temptress, the sinful one, and was the first to sin in the Garden of Eden. The serpent (the Devil) seduced her and then she seduced Adam into disobeying Gods wishes. Hence this burden has been on women ever since, and of course Adam did not reciprocate. God's judgement to Eve was

'and unto the woman he said, I will greatly

multiply thy sorrow and thy conception

and thy desire shall be to thy husband,

and he shall rule over thee.

(Genesis 16)

Many feminists and sociologists would scorn this verse and say that this was mans way of justifying women's place is society. There are many female characters in biblical stories but the prime parts are reserved for males. The texts do not indicate that at any time there were female disciples, and there is no female equivalent to Moses or any strong leading character. Thus women do not accept that they have leadership qualities.

Carlson Brown et al (18) argues 'that historical Christianity defined women as inferior, subordinate, and prone to the demonic' (p.7) and that these images have justified limitless violence against women whenever they crossed the male will at home or in society. The social consequence to this is that society assumes that when women are abused within marriage, that they themselves are responsible and have asked for it and therefore can receive no sympathy. The Catholic Church has much control over women's reproductive power, they decree that they should accept their pregnancies as God's will. This is all very well but the church is not willing to provide sustenance or money to ensure these children are well looked after. It is usually the mother who has to make the sacrifices. Their moral theology defines her sexuality as the debt of her body which she owes to her husband in the marriage contract. She is bound to serve him sexually, on demand, no matter what her own physical disposition may be. This again can be traced back to the old scriptures of how a man owned his wife. There have been many reactionaries who have resurrected the myth of women's inferiority based on their own interpretation of the Bible, so there must be an alternative way of interpreting scripture in a non sexist fashion.

This could take the form of Vertical inclusive language this is language that equally reflects both male and female aspects of God. Christian scripture and tradition has almost exclusively used masculine language, Father, Lord, King, He, despite the fact that Christian theology maintains that God has no gender. According to the theology, Gods divinity contains the perfections of both the male and female. However, because God revealed Gods self as male, Christianity has made masculine language normative in the description of God. Promoters of inclusive language argue that the use of masculine terms demonstrates and perpetuates patriarchy and sexism. Their solution would be the equal use of gendered terms. For example the use of Mother and She along with Father and He, and replacing of gendered terms with ungendered terms such as Parent and Monarch. Also, Jesus Christ could be called the Divine Child instead of Son of God. '…We must learn to speak to and about God in the feminine; …and we must learn to image God in female metaphors' (Schneiders 18670). This will enable future society to accept women as equals. The concerns of those who reject this idea say that inclusive language is political and is not a natural linguistic phenomenon. This kind of language is hard to maintain, as it has to be prompted.

The bible is a source of great influence, not only to Christians; the Old Testament influences other religions, for example Islam. The Qur'an sees itself as the culmination of the biblical tradition. Hence biblical attitudes towards women are important. Women's second-class status is very often related natural body functions, which are menstruation and pregnancy. For instance Muslim women are not allowed to touch the Qur'an, pray or visit the mosque whilst in either of these conditions. As women are in either of these conditions at least once a month, their social and psychological state must be at constant turmoil. Other written examples are the commandments revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, which interestingly mention adultery twice. 'Thou shall not commit adultery' (Exodus 014) then a few verses later 'Thou shall not covert your neighbour's house; thou shall not covert your neighbours wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour' (Exodus 017). The repetition has a simple explanation, the first verse speaks of sexual immorality, while the second speaks of coveting one's neighbours property, among which wife is included. In ancient times slavery and marriage for women were albeit the same and women were often reduced to poverty. In today's society this also appertains, as the majority of Muslim wives are not expected to work. An explanation for this is, '…if a woman becomes self-sufficient and can singly support a family; resources from the father are no longer needed'. (Nassan, Z 186) This does become possible with industrialisation and where women do work, it has been blamed for the breakdown of traditional family structure, however families are not broken up by modern economy but by their patriarchal structures. Much of human history has been patriarchal, and patriarchy does tend to view women as property.

In conclusion, traditionally, religion does not seem to be good for women, and has tended to side with the status quo that keeps women in their place as being dutiful, domestic and dependent. The subjugation of women in this way helps maintain the belief that they are unequal, whilst men have the great advantage of having a God endorse the code he writes, and that code uses divine authority to support male dominance. Unfortunately, from a woman's perspective overcoming social injustices and human sacrifice are seen to be integral to spiritual life. Consequently no matter how much women have been devalued and subordinated, religion gives them the false belief that they will be rewarded in heaven for their suffering . After thousands of years the ideologies in patriarchal theology is deeply entrenched and it can be argued that without moral beliefs and shared values, there would be no social order and religion reinforces this. However scriptures have been re-written and re-invented by men for their gain, nevertheless what is man made can always be changed; and If women disapprove of a system, they must stay in it and change it. This will create a more balanced approach to life for both men and women in all creeds and denominations.

Bibliography.

Abdullah, Yusuf Ali; (18), The Meaning of The Holy Qur'an. Maryland Amana Corporation.

Armstrong, K; (1), The end of silence Women and the Priesthood. London Fourth Estate.

Carlson Brown,J & Bohn, C; (18), Christianity, Patriarchy and abuse A Feninist Critique. Canada Pilgrim Press

Cotterell, A, & Storm R; (1), The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology. Great Britain Anness Publishers Limited.

Daley, M; (185) The Church and the Second Sex. London Beacon Press.

De Beavuvoir, S; (15), The Second Sex. London David Campbell Publishers Ltd.

El Saadawi, N (180), The Hidden Face of Eve Women in the Arab World. London Zed books.

Giddens, A; (17), Sociology. rd Ed. Cambridge Polity Press.

Giddens, A; (001), Sociology. 4th Ed. Cambridge polity Press.

Haralambos and Holbourn, (000), Sociology. 5th Ed. London Harper and Collins Publishers limited.

King James Version, The Holy Bible. London Collins' Clear-type Press.

Pagels, E; (180), The Gnostic Gospels. London Wiedenfeld and Nicolson.

Robinson, J; (10), The Nag Hammadi Library. rd Ed. New York Harper Collins.

Von Kellenbach, (14) Anti Judaism in Religious Feminist Writing. Atlanta Scholar Press.

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