By Dr. Kluane Spake

spake@mindspring.com; www.kluane.org

But, we also see this barricade still evident in the stained glass arena of the church. Archie Bunker aptly exhibited his male dominance on “All in the Family,” when he said, “Stifle yourself, Edith. God don't want to be defended by no dingbat!” It’s still going on. In spite of these progressive times – and improved conditions -- women are still systematically overlooked for many jobs in the church.

Looking at early church history, we can easily see that Jesus continuously reached out to women. In the early church, women had churches in their homes, they were deacons, and they were apostles. We’ve thoroughly examined the scriptures of Paul and learned that when accurately understood, he really did defend the rights of women.

So, when did the church change? What happened to the rights of women? Why did the church put a ceiling, an upper limit, a maximum boundary over what they could do? What was said and done that restricted her rights of equality?

What we have to realize is that historically, as time went on (after 300 AD), the church began to add more and more structure. Tradition insisted that the all-male clergy pass down their “authority.” Their special “authority” supposedly relegated to them the necessary God ordained sanction to distribute sacrament, and to pronounce absolution. The church was trying to maintain cohesiveness and keep people from straying outside the confines of this particular doctrine. We know that many of the decisions and edicts of this early group still greatly affect the theology of the church (both Protestant and Catholic) to this day.

Knowing this fact, in no way reflects upon the Catholic believers – they didn’t do it. This historical mandate is just one of many written throughout the ages, where those in ruling spiritual government established edicts to inhibit and impede the freedom of womankind (and in fact, all “laity” or non-priests) throughout the world. Much of these early findings suggest that sometimes the things that "everyone has always known in their heart" were simply not true.

THE CLOUDY WINDOW OF THE PAST:

Lurking in the background of this problem of inequality. is the SUPPOSEDLY flawed character of the first woman (Eve), who because of the weakness of her sexuality, single-handedly caused the downfall of all “humankind.” Of course, we believe that there was a Fall, but to say that ALL blood-bought, forgiven, Christian women are still held accountable for actions of another so long ago, is Biblically unsubstantiated. But, for centuries, women have been seen through this distorted window of biased theology and psychological theory.

Many Gnostically influenced Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, and Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage in 248), all decided that sole authority belonged to the Bishop, who alone had the “keys” (of Peter).

These who built the first “stained glass ceilings” were most likely well intentioned men who felt totally justified in using whatever means necessary to achieve their purported objective. Be assured that not everything these early Fathers said and did was sinister. Obviously, they were desperately trying to maintain a structure of what they considered legitimate and correct. But even though many of their thoughts were wonderfully inspired… many were not. We will confine our study to their ideas that adversely affect womankind.

There were many other contributions to this problem. An unofficial existence of underground sects of mystics, monks, and seers rapidly increased. To contest the influence of this so the called malcontents, Irenaeus (@130-202) established that the apostolic leadership of the Church Fathers was divinely inspired, and their words were commensurate with Scripture and not to be questioned. This succeeding rule was called Apostolic Authority, or Apostolic Succession.

Apostolic Succession assured the continuity of the faith as set by the first Fathers. The bishopric was seen as the guarantors of the unity of the church and the Eucharistic liturgy. This process affirmed the hierarchical structure of authority passing from Christ through the apostles to the ruling priests. These priests were to “act in the person of Christ.”

The Fathers viewed this Apostolic Succession, the Apostle’s Creed, orthodoxy, infallibility, and fixed norms as the way to stop divisiveness that was fracturing the church. Hippolytus directed an official orthodox reply that specifically demanded the suspension of all prophecy, stating that true action of the Spirit ceased when the apostle John gave the last valid prophecy. The gradual solidification of this dogma became fixed, closing the functioning time of laity moving in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is vital to notice that at the same time that women were legislated out of church leadership, the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased to be recognized.

Catholic theology also stated, “The reason for denying women the right to teach is a reason that is absolute and universal, based on the natural condition of inferiority and subjection, that is the position of women.”