When we think of the Bible, the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is Adam and Eve, the miracles performed by Jesus, the conversion of Paul or the poetic word of the Psalms. Most are prone to forget about the women in the Bible, for in the Bible the characterization of most women is either that of being a seductress, an unholy prostitute or a supporting character there to either lend aid to men in terms of pleasure or as someone’s wife. Ruth, a book about a lonely widowed young woman, is often preached as a sermon about kinship and not abandoning family in their times of need. Most preachers fail to acknowledge the sexist ideals that are perpetuated in this book of the Bible. We see a slight shift in thinking of women in the Christian
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Paul, a devote follower of God says, “Blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they shall be well pleasing to God and shall not lose the reward of their chastity. For the word of the Father shall become to them a work of salvation in the day of the Son, and they shall have the rest for ever and ever” (Acts of Paul and Thecla 178). Dissimilar to that of Naomi, Paul is sending the message to women that their worth isn’t in finding a man or the exploitation of their body, but is about purity and worshiping God. Paul is encouraging women to stay virgins, not necessarily because he thinks marriage is wrong but because marriage can serve as a distraction from God. He doesn’t want women, men too, to forget that their top priority is maintaining a spiritual relationship with God and not their significant …show more content…
It allows women to become autonomous agents of their body and life, without feeling the need to comply with earthly expectation that society has of women. This is shown in the scene of Thecla removing the cloak and crown of a man named Alexander after trying to bribe Paul for her and hugging her (The Acts of Paul and Thecla 180-181). Thecla now recognizes through Christ that she no longer has to be treated as a glorified sex object and accept harassment from men. Her disrobing a man of stature of his symbols of power, his crown and cloak, is representative of her saying that she is more than a prize to be one and he is her
Paul, a devote follower of God says, “Blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they shall be well pleasing to God and shall not lose the reward of their chastity. For the word of the Father shall become to them a work of salvation in the day of the Son, and they shall have the rest for ever and ever” (Acts of Paul and Thecla 178). Dissimilar to that of Naomi, Paul is sending the message to women that their worth isn’t in finding a man or the exploitation of their body, but is about purity and worshiping God. Paul is encouraging women to stay virgins, not necessarily because he thinks marriage is wrong but because marriage can serve as a distraction from God. He doesn’t want women, men too, to forget that their top priority is maintaining a spiritual relationship with God and not their significant …show more content…
It allows women to become autonomous agents of their body and life, without feeling the need to comply with earthly expectation that society has of women. This is shown in the scene of Thecla removing the cloak and crown of a man named Alexander after trying to bribe Paul for her and hugging her (The Acts of Paul and Thecla 180-181). Thecla now recognizes through Christ that she no longer has to be treated as a glorified sex object and accept harassment from men. Her disrobing a man of stature of his symbols of power, his crown and cloak, is representative of her saying that she is more than a prize to be one and he is her