Orthodox Christians most likely rejected feminine descriptions of God due to the strict gender roles of the time. Orthodox women were expected to take on the subordinate role, and Gnostic beliefs contradicted these values. Gnostic holy books often referred to God as both feminine and masculine. The books also suggest that they prayed to both God the Father and the Divine Mother (pagels). This female genderization of God is the primary reason their books were excluded from the New Testament.
Dimmesdale. This passion was in the church (the rose) but people in the church opposed this passion, just as they opposed Anne Hutchinson. The rose symbolizes what happened to both women. Right away Anne was considered a threat to authority because of her growing number of followers. People said her meetings were disorderly, but she said she was following God.
The Church has many restrictions to be part of its clergy. Being a female is one restriction. Many officials are close-minded and immature for saying, “That women talk too much, or that it is not becoming for them to wear the clerical tonsure” (Viewpoints). A few officials, “have now come to terms with the fact that women are capable of heading academic faculties, running major corporations, ruling their countries as prime minister or presidents” (Viewpoints). Women are just as capable as men in governing the Church.
Smith drew many coincidences between Hutchinson’s role during the Antinomian controversy (the view that God's grace has freed the Christian from the need to observe established moral precepts) and powerful modern women today. The author defends her argument by vividly describing that no matter what Anne Hutchinson stated that she would be reprimanded not by what she said, but because of her gender. After reading this article one would conclude that her act of speaking were more of a crime than the words uttered. No matter how many times she would attempt to defend herself, she would not be heard unless she stated what the judges wanted her to say. During the period of the Protestant Reformation man were allowed to have a direct relationship with God and women could not.
Another church idea is from document 5, which is an excerpt from The Second Book of Homilies, which was produced by bishops of England, and it was authorized by Elizabeth I. It discusses the idea that men should be the ones leading and holding the power while women should cease from commanding and perform subjection. One last opposition from the church is explored in document 7. Edward Rishton, a Roman Catholic priest, discusses his hate for the fact that she is becoming more important than religious church figures, one example would be that the people are praising Elizabeth’s birthday more than the feast of the Mother of God. During this time there were also because who opposed the view of the church and accepted the fact that Elizabeth was their leader.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2376 states that “Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral”. This immoral act stems from the belief that infidelity is being committed when a third party is introduced, as procreation is a sanctioned act between husband and wife and should never be violated. Stephen A. Cooper, Ph.D, a professor of religious studies at Franklin & Marshall College, says that the fundamental values associated with assisted reproductive technology are the life of the potential child and the nature of the creation of human life in marriage. Surrogacy contradicts the unity of marriage and the dignity of the child brought into existence (The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). The Donum Vitae states that surrogate motherhood offends “maternal love, conjugal fidelity, and responsible motherhood,” as well as “the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents”.
This passage in so many ways is offensive and attacking. It points out a sense of disloyalty to their culture, putting them in a negative light. On the other hand that may depend on whose reading it. It could also show the diversity of their culture compared to other cultures. Reading this I envisioned the Latin women praying in a serene temple with huge incents and candles.
So, for an especially devout Roman Catholic - like Mary - it seemed only appropriate that she continue in the tradition of the Middle Ages and savagely punish those whose lives were setting a dangerous religious example (i.e. Protestants.) For, what it's worth, I think the arguments I've just given you are valid. But I still don't think that they excuse Mary from what she did. Politically, it made her far more enemies and destroyed
The reformation period brought fundamental change to the structure of the family, and thus when assessing the question of which offered more to women: Protestantism or Catholicism, it is important to draw upon evidence that predates the Protestant reformation in order to decipher whether the impact it had upon women was beneficial or not. What remains consistent across both Christian denominations however is that there was a marginal difference between female blessedness and female heresy. Highlighting that both faiths were similar to some extent in what they offered to women, even if they differed in what areas of society they did this. Luther’s domestication of women narrowed women’s options, because marriage became the only honorable way to live in a Protestant society. Therefore, Protestantism offered less to the unmarried women than that of a Catholic community where there was the option to join a convent.
This example can be seen by feminists as maintaining patriarchy in society so that women have less or different rights to men, meaning that men have more freedom to do what they want, while women are observed much more closely. Another example from De Beauvior (1953) argues that most scriptures in most religions suggest that 'man is master by divine right', if man is master by diving right, then what does this mean for women who practise religion is society? According to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Church, women are excluded from priesthood. In 1992 the Church of England decided that women were able to become priests, although this has brought up bitter controversy, and only came about after very long and difficult campaigns. In Buddhism for example, female nuns are given less status than male monks, and even in Sikhism, where religious offices are in theory equal for men and women, only a small minority of women take on important positions.