Another Article About Gender and the Church

I think it's funny how this lady clambers for gender equality and then seems to bring her own bias into a situation that lacks clarity. She's not necessarily wrong, but she appears blinded by her dogmatism.

 

Historically Engaging but Not Theologically Neutral: A Review of Lynn H. Cohick, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians

Benjamin L. Merkle

Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, North Carolina

Lynn Cohick is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and is coauthor of The New Testament in Antiquity (along with GaryM. Burge and Gene L. Green). Because of the various analyses concerning New Testament women, in Women in the World of the Earliest Christians, Cohick seeks to offer, as much as possible, an unbiased description of what women were like and what they did during the time of the New Testament. Her goal is not to present "a theological argument that debates important issues concerning women in the contemporary church" but "to provide an engaging and accurate reconstruction of ancient women's way of life" (21). In order to accomplish this task, Cohick acknowledges that the data we have about women during Second Temple Judaism must be interpreted correctly. For example, when men write about women we must take into account the "ancient author's polemics or ulterior motives in describing women" (21). Nevertheless, Cohick is confident that an accurate portrayal of women can be discovered, and thus she does not embrace an extreme hermeneutics of suspicion, which views all texts written by men "to be irredeemably andocentric, patriarchal, and misogynistic" (22). 

The goal of Cohick's book is simply "to tell the story of the average women" (23). She seeks to accomplish this by considering women and their familial relationships (as daughters, ch 1; in marriage, ch 2; as wives, ch 3; and as mothers, ch 4) as well as what women did (in religion, chs 5-6; in work, ch 7; as slaves and prostitutes, ch 8; and as benefactors, ch 9). Cohick considers women from various strata of society by examining not only extant literature but also by analyzing legal documents (such as marriage contracts), inscriptions, and art. She readily acknowledges that this book is not a book on women in the New Testament but is rather a prolegomena to the study of women in the New Testament. Cohick admits, however, that she hopes "to correct the misconceptions about women's lives that have crept into our modern imagination, such as the notion that first-century AD women were cloistered in their homes" (24). 

Although Cohick should be commended for her knowledge and grasp of primary sources (as well as the secondary literature), one wonders how possible it is to present a coherent picture of women that is based on various sources that span about 400 years (from c. 300 BC to c. AD 100) and represent three major ethnic and religious groups (Roman, Greek, and Jewish). Nevertheless, Cohick at least partially achieves her goal to offer a descriptive historical picture of women's lives in the Hellenistic and early Roman period, relating her study to the women mentioned in the New Testament. 

Some of her conclusions have important consequences for the study of the New Testament. For example, many scholars now affirm the existence of a "new woman" in the Roman Empire based on the decrees of Augustus that addressed the lack of children produced by Roman citizens and promiscuity of women. These decrees are viewed as countering a new paradigm of behavior among women that spawned an ancient sexual revolution in which wealthy women were dressing with provocative clothes and hairstyles and seeking the sexual freedoms that were formally only given to men. Such a view is espoused by Bruce Winter in Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,2003). These "new women," it is argued, were blatantly disregarding ancient social customs of modesty and were actively flaunting their new found liberty. In response to this cultural dismissal, then, Augustus issues various decrees seeking to keep such women in check.

Cohick, however, asserts that such a reading of the evidence is incorrect. She maintains that Augustus had other political motives for issuing the decrees and that much of what is found in the literature regarding women is an overstated polemic against such women. Cohick concludes,

-The existence of the "new woman," who was sexually promiscuous and upset the balance of propriety in Rome and beyond, is more a poetic fiction and a political smear than a historical reality.There is no evidence of increased female immorality under Augustus.... Rather, male authors used the charge of female sexual misconduct as a weapon against political enemies. The charges of female immorality need not reflect actual misconduct in most cases, but rather reveal the increased presence of women in the political arena (75).- 

If Cohick is correct, then those who base their interpretation of Scripture on this so-called "new woman" are prone to force this unwarranted stereotype on certain texts. For example, in his recent commentary on 1-2 Timothy, Philip Towner assumes the reality of this "new woman" when he offers his commentary on key texts such as 1 Tim 2:9-15 (The Letters to Timothy, NICNT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006]). 

Cohick also challenges the status-quo on texts such as the Samaritan woman in John 4. Although many commentators and expositors assume that the woman's presence at the well at noon was proof that she was a social outcast because of her immorality, according to Cohick, this assertion is unfounded. She further notes that simply because the woman was married five times does not necessarily indicate promiscuity. She could have been widowed several times (given the high death rate) and/or divorced several times. This thesis is supported by the fact that others in the village were willing to listen to her testimony about Jesus (which would not be the case if she was shunned as an immoral outcast). Cohick summarizes, "The Samaritan woman has been harshly treated by centuries of commentators who have labeled her a promiscuous vixen bent on seducing unsuspecting men.... [I]t seems unlikely that the Samaritan woman was involved in a series of divorces that she initiated" (128). 

My main concern with Cohick's work is when she interacts with the New Testament texts dealing with women. She sometimes strays from her commitment to be objective and consistently interprets the passages in ways that lean heavily toward egalitarianism. For example, she assumes that Phoebe was a deacon (which she interprets as "emissary") in the church at Cenchreae (190, 301) and that Lydia was a leader of the church in Philippi (190, 307). In another place, she affirms the position that Junia was counted as one of the apostles, which suggests that she was "an authoritative figure in the community" (216). Furthermore, she calls Prisca (or Priscilla) "the teacher" simply because she is mentioned as instructing Apollos with her husband (224). In other words, whenever possible, Cohick seems to opt for the interpretation that gives women the greatest amount of authority in the early church. In her conclusion, Cohick remarks, "I hope I encouraged the reader's imagination to think beyond the stylized snapshots of ancient women sequestered in cramped homes, barefoot and pregnant" (324). She later adds that "we have to appreciate that women held both official and unofficial titles and positions of power" (325). Thus, at times one wonders how theologically neutral Cohick remains since she is constantly seeking to demonstrate how much authority women in the early church possessed. 

Although I disagree with some of Cohick's conclusions (assumptions?) that women held formal offices in the early church, her work as a whole is carefully researched and skillfully presented. She brings to light what life was like for women in the ancient world which helps us better understand the cultural milieu of the New Testament world. It seems to me, however, that at times she fails to remain theologically neutral in her task of presenting a descriptive analysis of the women mentioned in the New Testament.