The Sexes in Science and History / An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man

by Eliza Burt Gamble

The following from Paul’s writings shows that his aim was to crush the influence and power exercised by women, and the means employed was to subject them to the dominion of their husbands.

The head of every man is Christ; and the head of every woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.

For the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man.

Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience.

And if they would learn anything let them ask their husbands at home.

That women were no longer to be the equals and companions of their husbands but that they were to become sexual slaves is indicated by the command, “Wives subject yourselves unto your husbands.”

It must be remembered that these commands of Paul were not, as has been frequently asserted, delivered to and about weak, ignorant women devoid of influence, but were directed against those whose position of equality in the new religion had not before been questioned, and whose legal disabilities had at that time been well-nigh removed.

Before the close of the second century, the simple, ethical teachings of Jesus were forgotten. Christianity had disappeared and Paulism had taken its place. A century later, after the Empire had come under the control of so-called Christian rule, woman’s influence, as we have already seen, entirely disappeared. All that had been gained by means of the middle Roman law had been annulled by the decrees of the Canon law.

Pauline Christianity in the fourth century A.D. was an attempt to re-establish that form of Paganism which had prevailed prior to the rise of Greek philosophy. This older religion, which had its origin in Sun worship, or in the worship of the two fecundating principles throughout nature, had as early as the Periclean age ceased to claim the attention of the educated classes among the Greeks. Æschylus barely escaped being stoned to death for heresy, and as is well known, Socrates the founder of the Stoic philosophy was forced to drink of the fatal cup because of his unbelief in the prevailing superstitions. Not to destroy Paganism itself but to exterminate the last vestige of Greek philosophy was the task which the Pauline Christians had set themselves to perform. Jesus now became the new Solar Deity and all the forms observed under the older Paganism were now attached to his worship. He was born at the winter solstice, or at the time when the sun had reached its zenith and was about to return. He died and was buried, but at the vernal equinox, Easter, the time at which all nature is revived—he arose from the dead and became the Saviour of mankind. The entire Christian calendar is copied from the ancient Pagan worship. A medal was struck on which appeared the figure of a man on a cross, on the obverse side of which was the representation of a blazing sun. Christ was the new Sun of Righteousness, the giver and preserver of life.

Every page in the history of the Pauline religion reveals its masculine origin. The Deities worshipped are a Father and a Son. All the angels and archangels are men. All extant Gospels and Epistles have been written and expounded by men. It is true that in response to a popular demand in the fifth century for a recognition of the female principle, the Virgin Mary, an ancient Deity, reappeared. The lateness of her coming, however, shows that she was an afterthought. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that, true to the ancient doctrine which was revived by Paul relative to the divinity of man and the material nature of woman, the Mother of Jesus was human while the Father and the Son were divine. She was matter. They were spirit.

Among the discussions of the early Pauline “Fathers” none was more important than these. Ought women to be allowed to learn the alphabet? And has woman a soul? It is recorded that a few of these pious leaders entertained the opinion that because of the great power and goodness of the Almighty “women may possibly be permitted to rise as men at the resurrection.”

As we have seen, to destroy Greek philosophy was the slogan of the new movement. The destruction of the Alexandrian library by a fanatical mob led by Archbishop Theophilus is an example of the fury with which all institutions not directly connected with the new religion were attacked. As is well known, this library contained the accumulated knowledge of a highly civilized people, extending over a period of several thousands of years. Among the priceless treasures stored in this library were the records of astronomical observations scientifically registered during a period of not less than three thousand years.

The lectures delivered by Hypatia in Alexandria during the latter part of the fourth century were the last attempt made to stem the tide of fanaticism which was destined to sweep over a large portion of the habitable globe. The fate of Hypatia who was foully murdered by a mob led by St. Cyril was a forecast of the fate which awaited any and all who should henceforth dare to think or act independently of the new religion.