Episode 97: Christ Chose Women
When one thinks about the events of Jesus’ life and ministry, it’s natural to think about women. The Bible shows us a man whose inclusion of women was radical within its cultural context. Yet for most of history, his namesake religion has been marked by near-total domination of the patriarchy. What happened? Greg Prince once asked Chieko Okazaki a question that bears repeating: “…where do we need to go to get women in the Church where He wants them to be?” In this episode, Cynthia and Susan pose that question again in a conversation shining light on a few of the women hidden in plain sight at Christianity’s beginnings.
Notes & Quotes:
NPC Headliner Luncheon: Elder David A. Bednar, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 05/26/2022
Apostle David Bednar quizzed on declining LDS growth, same-sex marriage, ‘Under the Banner,’ Salt Lake Tribune, by Peggy Fletcher Stack, 05/26/2022
Taylor Petry on Facebook, 05/27/2022
The LDS Temple Ceremony: Historical Origins and Religious Value, Dialogue Journal, by Edward H. Ashment, 10/01/1994
Christianity is Many Things, Learning to See with Brian McLaren, podcast Season 3 Ep. 1, 05/21/2022
There Is Always a Struggle: An Interview with Chieko N. Okazaki, Dialogue Journal, by Greg Prince, 11/25/2005
Elder Joanna?, By Common Consent: A Mormon Blog, by Kevin Barney, 06/16/2007
Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel, and the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet, by Meggan Watterson
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Breaking Down Patriarchy, by Amy Allebest, podcast Season 1 Ep. 15, 11/25/2021
Who Was Junia? The Junia Project
Junia The Apostle and Mormonism’s Priesthood, Patheos, by Taylor Petrie, 10/05/2014
Shifting Footings, by Scot McKnight, Patheos, 01/02/2012
3 reasons Mormons don’t know what to do with the Apostle Paul, Religion News Service, by Jana Riess (Flunking Sainthood), 08/02/2019
The Acts of Thecla: A Pauline Tradition Linked to Women, by Nancy A. Carter, January 2000
Rebecca Solnit on Facebook, 06/02/2022
“We follow the pattern of the ancient church. … The pattern anciently was that the apostles were men.” —Elder David A. Bednar
“Jesus has not stayed the same for me through my whole life’s journey. And so I’ve had to be open to understanding that even though there’s one verse in Hebrews that says Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever, I have not stayed the same yesterday, today, and forever. The church does not stay the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And so in a very real way, Jesus has changed for me. Jesus changes for the world. Jesus changes for the institutions of faith, for the church.” —Diana Butler Bass
“It seems to me like Christ loved the women. I think he really included them in many areas where Jewish society excluded them. He didn’t mind breaking those rules.” —Chieko Okazaki
“…It is difficult for us to appreciate how radical Jesus was to include women in his entourage. Women simply didn’t travel with men to whom they were not related….Jesus ignored the ritual impurity of a woman’s menstruation, which normally would have been an impediment to this kind of frequent contact.” —Kevin Barney
“According to the canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene was present at the crucifixion, she was there at the burial, and she was there alone at the empty tomb. And she is the first to witness the resurrection. Let me say that again: MM was the one Christ resurrected to. In the Gospel of John, Christ gives MM special instructions and commissions her to be the one to announce the good news. Her. She is the one he chooses.” —Meggan Watterson (MM Revealed, p. 108)
“If Christian theologians in the Latin West were going to establish an exclusively male church, then the central figure to Christ’s story, Mary Magdalene, needed to be retold. Starting in the 4th century, with the formation of the traditional bible, all of the gospels that confirmed Mary’s spiritual authority and unique relationship with Christ were excluded from the canon and deemed ‘heretical,’ like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Thomas. And the scriptures that confirmed and validated women’s leadership in the earliest forms of Christianity like The Acts of Paul and Thecla, were also excluded.” —Meggan Watterson (MM Revealed, p. 106)
“To be sure, the word ‘apostle’ undoubtedly has a narrow meaning (the twelve, Paul, etc.) and it has a broader meaning (church-planting, founding, missionary). It still means ‘apostle’ (one sent by Christ) and not only that — this term describes the highest office for the first century Christians. And Junia is in that small and highly esteemed circle.” —Scot McKnight
“If we hadn’t silenced women and asked them to leave the altar from the start, I wonder what the world would be like now. And I wonder how girls and women would be treated if we would have been able, all along, to hear who Christ was, who Christ is according to women, to mothers, to daughters … Or to put it another way, I am excited to see how the world might change once we do.” —Meggan Watterson (MM Revealed, p. 47)