2. Eve is a very important figure for Judaism because she is the first women that was created. The Jewish understanding of her is slightly different than the Christian understanding, in that Jews do not see Eve as the source of original sin like Christians do. The negative and most common way of viewing Eve is that she is the cause of the fall of humanity and the expulsion of her and Adam from the perfect Garden of Eden is blamed on her. Many people see her as weak because she fell for the lies of the serpent. Because of Eve’s punishment, numerous women blame her for the horrible pains they experience during childbirth. People are taught to hate Eve, because without her mistake, we would be living a perfect and easy life in the Garden of Eden.
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Granted, Eve is seen is a slightly more positive light in Judaism than in Christianity but the relationship between Adam and Eve serves as the foundation of Jewish beliefs on the status of men and women and how they interact with each other (Anderson and Young 55). While Judaism views women’s sexuality as a stronger force than men and see it as a positive thing, they also hold the idea of the “curse of Eve”. The curse of Eve is the belief that because of Eve’s mistake in the garden, women are subjective to their husband and not allowed to initiate sex. Part of the punishment given to women through Eve is having a strong sex drive but only being allowed to release it when they are with their husband …show more content…
I think that Islam was empowering to women when it first began, but has become less empowering to women over time. When Islam was first founded, patriarchal religions and cultures abounded. Muhammad appears to have respected and empowered women. In fact, his first wife Khadijah, was the first person to believe in his vision of Allah and supported him financially while he was starting Islam. It is a common fact that even though Muhammad had 9 to 12 wives after Khadijah’s death, most of those marriages were to widows or to cement relationships with surrounding tribes. His wives were old, young, beautiful, plain-looking; it is clear that Muhammad didn’t have all of these wives just for pleasurable reasons (Anderson and Young 230).
Followers of Islam adopted the practice of polygamy of up to four women in order to be an example of Muhammad and to care for women who had no way to earn an income in a patriarchal society. What was originally used to elevate the status of women and care for widows has become a contentious idea in modern times. Since women can now work and take care of themselves, many people inside and outside of Islam wonder why polygamy is still
Granted, Eve is seen is a slightly more positive light in Judaism than in Christianity but the relationship between Adam and Eve serves as the foundation of Jewish beliefs on the status of men and women and how they interact with each other (Anderson and Young 55). While Judaism views women’s sexuality as a stronger force than men and see it as a positive thing, they also hold the idea of the “curse of Eve”. The curse of Eve is the belief that because of Eve’s mistake in the garden, women are subjective to their husband and not allowed to initiate sex. Part of the punishment given to women through Eve is having a strong sex drive but only being allowed to release it when they are with their husband …show more content…
I think that Islam was empowering to women when it first began, but has become less empowering to women over time. When Islam was first founded, patriarchal religions and cultures abounded. Muhammad appears to have respected and empowered women. In fact, his first wife Khadijah, was the first person to believe in his vision of Allah and supported him financially while he was starting Islam. It is a common fact that even though Muhammad had 9 to 12 wives after Khadijah’s death, most of those marriages were to widows or to cement relationships with surrounding tribes. His wives were old, young, beautiful, plain-looking; it is clear that Muhammad didn’t have all of these wives just for pleasurable reasons (Anderson and Young 230).
Followers of Islam adopted the practice of polygamy of up to four women in order to be an example of Muhammad and to care for women who had no way to earn an income in a patriarchal society. What was originally used to elevate the status of women and care for widows has become a contentious idea in modern times. Since women can now work and take care of themselves, many people inside and outside of Islam wonder why polygamy is still