Should official Christian teachings resist current secular views of gender?'
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Course
5. Society (H573)
Institution
OCR
A bullet-point revision plan covering the question 'Should official Christian teachings resist current secular views of gender?'. Includes a personal thesis statement from a student aiming for top grades. Discusses teachings from scholars including Aristotle/Augustine/Aquinas/Beauvoir/Oakley and Da...
Should official Christian teachings resist current secular views of gender?
Intro:
• official Christian teachings - influenced by thoughts of Aristotle/Augustine/Aquinas
• Biblical traditions holds authority
• Current secular views of gender - addresses gender inequalities
> eg, pay gap/patriarchal societies/under-representation
Thesis:
• Official Christian teachings should be open to current secular views of gender - whilst
maintaining tradition
> certainly - official Christian teachings have become outdated + should be reconsidered
with their contexts
> eg, context of “wives, submit to your husbands” - time of male promiscuity
> Aristotle’s misconceptions of female biology
• however - there is an argument for Christian teachings promoting separate, but equal
roles of a mother + father
> modern secular views of gender are more radical + questionable
> do not necessarily promote equality
Bible:
• Genesis - Eve = Adam’s helper
• A woman is listed amongst a man’s possessions
• Ephesians - father’s are the head of the marriage
> just like Christ is the head of the Church
• however - women are the ones who give birth/breastfeed etc
> arguably - makes sense for the man to have authority over other matters
• The Bible holds contradictions
> Galations - “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, nor slave nor free etc”
> Person of Jesus - promoted status of women such as Mary Magdeline
• husbands + wives can naturally assume stereotypical positions within the household
without it being an expectation
> so long as both are happy with their roles + have equal authority
Mulleres Dignitatem:
• motherhood = ‘fruit of marriage’
> in entering the marriage union, the wife must be open to the gift of life
• mothers have a ‘special role’ - husbands have to be aware that they owe a ‘special debt’
> but both should contribute
• a mother gains a new openness as she commits herself to the life of another
> opportunity to fill her potential
• widely agreeable that mothers have a ‘special role’ - a man can not carry a child for 9
months
> a husband should be grateful etc
• understandable that for Christians, motherhood is the fruit of marriage
> facilitating God’s will + preserving His creation
> however - Christian authority should reconsider the expectation placed on mothers/
wives
> outdated notion that motherhood fulfils a woman’s potential - it is only a biological
potential
> Aquinas himself advocated the cultivation of other virtues
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