It is a normal belief that women did not play a role in the Church because they weren’t at the forefront. However, I believe they were the backbone and foundation of the Church. As the saying goes, “behind every great man is a great woman.” I’ll be honest that it does make me a little mad the low amount of women that are named in the Bible. There are stories in the Bible that surround women, but we run out of names before running out of the stories. I take this as the women weren’t important enough to name. Some of the women in the Bible that are named include Mary Magdalene, Elization (Mary’s cousin), Anna (Mary’s mother possibly?), and another Anna (the Prophet in the Temple). The Bible limits women to certain roles like prostitute, mother, daughter, and housewife. I believe this is because of the internalized misogyny that women have always experienced.
One new insight I learned about women in the Bible surrounds Genesis and Adam and Eve. Eve, a woman, is usually blamed for sin and eating the fruit from the tree. However, a new viewpoint I learned is that it was Adam’s fault. Eve wasn’t created yet when Adam was told not to eat from the tree. Adam’s teacher was Jesus. Eve was stuck with Adam has her teacher who did a bad job (clearly). Eve ate from the tree because she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to because Adam was responsible for telling her and failed to. (A typical man, I might add).