Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter

by April D. DeConick

Overview

In Holy Misogyny, bible scholar April DeConick wants real answers to the questions that are rarely whispered from the pulpits of the contemporary Christian churches. Why is God male? Why are women associated with sin? Why can't women be priests? Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the early Christian literature, she seeks to understand the conflicts over sex and gender in the early church-what they were and what was at stake. She explains how these ancient conflicts have shaped contemporary Christianity and its promotion of male exclusivity and superiority in terms of God, church leadership, and the bed.

DeConick's detective work uncovers old aspects of Christianity before later doctrines and dogmas were imposed upon the churches, and the earlier teachings about the female were distorted. Holy Misogyny shows how the female was systematically erased from the Christian tradition, and why. She concludes that the distortion and erasure of the female is the result of ancient misogyny made divine writ, a holy misogyny that remains with us today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623565565
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/12/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

April D. DeConick is the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University (Houston, Texas). She specializes in early Christian history and theology, noncanonical Gospels, and gnostic and mystical traditions. Her books include Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas (1996); Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature (Sheffield Academic, 2001); Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth (T. & T. Clark, 2005); and The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation, with Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel (T. & T. Clark, 2006) and The Thirteenth Apostle: what the Gospel of Judas really says (Continuum, 2007). She has also edited the collection of papers, Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (SBL, 2006).

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Lady God?
Chapter 1.
Where did God the Mother Go?
The Jewish Spirit
The Angel Sophia
A Hebrew Goddess
The Recovery of God's Wife
Chapter 2.
Why was the Spirit Neutered?
Introducing Jesus' True Mother
Carried up Mount Tabor
In the Name of the Mother Spirit
Born from the Womb of Water
Milking the Breasts of God
The Mother's Erasure
God's Gender Crisis
Chapter 3.
Did Jesus Think Sex is a Sin?
A Double Message
Sex Limits
Sex According to Jesus
A Women's Advocate
Chapter 4.
Did Paul Hate Women?
The Burgeoning of Chastity
To Veil or Not to Veil
Vanishing Women
Chapter 5.
Is Marriage a Sin?
Rereading Genesis
The Devil Made Me Do tI
In Defiance of the Creator
It's the End of the World
Chapter 6.
Is Marriage Salvation?
Sacred Sex
The Law is a Joke
Soul Collectors
Chapter 7.
Once a Woman, Always a Woman?
The Church is a Household
Brides of Christ
The Devil's Gateway
Chapter 8.
How do we Solve a Problem Like Maria?
Mary Caught in the Crossfire
The Male Mary
The Sexual Mary
The Apostolic Mary
Chapter 9.
Because the Bible Tells Us So?
Further Reading
Notes

Editorial Reviews

In this compelling book April D. DeConick applies her characteristic interest in marginalized early Christian groups to a topic that has drawn considerable scholarly attention in the past several decades: the study of women, sex, and gender in early Christianity. Holy Misogyny is an accessible and imaginative historical reconstruction of the textual and extratextual conflicts behind early Christian displacement of both 'the female aspect' of deity and women's bodies, identity, and authority.” —Justin Glessner, University of British Columbia, Near Eastern Archaeology

“In this lucid and logically arranged book, April D. DeConick, professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, makes a presentation of the ways in which women appear or don't appear in the ancient religious record ... DeConick canvasses a broad range of sources and presents complexities that will interest advanced readers and provoke reflection among them ... The relevance of this book to questions of religion and gender is unquestionable.” —Mark Masterson, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Religion and Gender

“Despite the fact that the subject is well-known, almost cliché in certain circles, DeConick brings some new information and insights to the table in her analysis...The most important anthropological message in her eye-opening work is that every tradition, including its scriptures (which claim the greatest authenticity and authoritativeness) is diverse and historically constructed...” —Anthropology Review Database

“April DeConick has collected materials from a wide range of early Christian evidence. The result is a brave book, in a straight-forward style accessible to a non-specialist audience, on an uncomfortable subject.” —Jorunn J. Buckley, Associate Professor of Religion, Bowdoin College, USA

“An intriguing, important, and appropriately dangerous book. DeConick brings her study of the difficult canonical and apocryphal texts into conversation with contemporary concerns in a satisfying and accessible way. Her style is both technical and easy-going. This is a book for the general public as well as the academic classroom. I learned a great deal from it and am left with many questions to chew on happily and to discuss. The reader is aided in the search for 'Lady God,' and in the struggle to create societies that abhor and reject violence to the female body.” —Jane Schaberg, Professor of Biblical Studies and Gender/Women's Studies, University of Detroit Mercy, USA

“April DeConick, a world class scholar, has written a must-read book for those interested in gender issues in relationship to God. By integrating her vast knowledge of extra-canonical and canonical texts, she expansively analyzes the effect of misogyny on conceptions of the female body and the profound difference such marginalization has made, even today for women's ecclesiastical leadership and ordination.” —Ann Graham Brock, Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Iliff School of Theology, USA

“The near-programmatic downgrading and degrading of women is one of the most shameful aspects of traditional Christianity. In this powerful book, DeConick rejects conventional theological and hermeneutical attempts to soften the absence of the divine and human female by challenging head-on the vilification of women and the othering of their bodies in early Christianity. This bold discussion makes for uncomfortable but essential reading - and rightly so.” —Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible, University of Exeter, UK

“DeConick's research traces the root of the problem beyond he usual interpretations of scripture, theology, and the social structures of the times to something deeper and much more perverse...” —ForeWord

“DeConick... has done a wonderful service for all readers interested in the history of women in the early church and provides a helpful, if at times painful, analysis of why the fight for equality in the church is so challenging.” —Lisa Rand, Light to Read blog

“Overall, DeConick has a lot of interesting things to say about gender and sexuality in the early church... I do think her account is appropriately dangerous, and can hopefully jar Christians into action to reverse the long tradition of misogynistic interpretation of Scripture and misogynistic action in the Church.” —Englewood Review of Books - Vol. 4 # 17.75

“Highly recommended for readers willing to look at recent archaeological evidence to question traditional religious beliefs and conclusions.” —Library Journal

“This book may be singled out as a model of a popular though, at the same time,sound scholarly work. Its author, well known for her leading contributions to the study of early Christianity, outlines the story of women in the early church … In nine chapters the story is told with an impressive command of the original sources ... A book like this deserves a wide circulation.” —Johannes van Oort, University of Pretoria, Vigiliae Christianae

From the Publisher

[Deconick] is an expert in her field, and this book should serve as a good, basic introduction for any course on ancient religion and gender. It will likely raise more questions than it answers for most readers, but shouldn't a good book do that? I would recommend this book for anyone interested in learning a little bit more about the history of women in Christianity.

Association for Mormon Letters Jeffrey Needle

Though one may argue with her historical reconstructions at many points, and sometimes with her method, the case is otherwise well made."- William Loader, Murdoch University, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly "[Deconick] is an expert in her field, and this book should serve as a good, basic introduction for any course on ancient religion and gender. It will likely raise more questions than it answers for most readers, but shouldn't a good book do that? I would recommend this book for anyone interested in learning a little bit more about the history of women in Christianity.

Jeffrey Needle

DeConick (Isla Carroll & Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies, Rice Univ.; The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says) begins her new book by briefly tracing the hints of a "lady God" in the Hebrew scriptures, noting a few echoes in the Wisdom literature, the Kabbalah, and elsewhere, before her disappearance altogether. The author then notes similar trends in Christianity, beginning with Jesus's call of female disciples—a departure from Jewish tradition and practice—to increasing restrictions upon female leadership as the early church developed. She articulates clearly the progressive degradation—partly under the influence of Roman culture—of women's bodies and women's leadership in the second and third centuries C.E. She then demonstrates how views of women have influenced Christian Trinitarian doctrine, polity, and subsequent Christian history even into the 21st century. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers willing to look at recent archaeological evidence to question traditional religious beliefs and conclusions.—Carolyn M. Craft, formerly with Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

Library Journal