Today I started reading "The First Paul Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon" by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. I made it a point to read the chapter on patriarchy. Two statements about the theology of Paul stood out and I really wish that I had found this book a long time ago. I remember asking the pastor of the church that I grew up in (who happens to be my great uncle) about the whole women being submissive thing. The answer I got was crap and I have a funny feeling that he knew the right answer and just did not want to tell me. So back to those two quotes that I found:
1. "From the very start of his discussion it is explicitly clear that Paul presumes a Christian assembly that includes both "any man who prays or prophesies" and aslo "any woman who prays or prophesies." That equality is taken for granted- female and male are equal in the communal Christian assembly just as in the private Christian family."
2. "For him [Paul] women as well as men were called by God to be apostles of Christ. The Christian gender equality that existed in marriage and home also prevailed in assembly and apostolate."
Religious traditions that abuse and neglect women cannot claim to follow a loving God. This notion that women need to be silent and submissive is crap. Patriarchy has no place in the Kingdom of God.
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