0.8 2.4 the life and teaching of jesus  (Page 4/5)

Curiously, there were few textual references to Jesus and women in Texas Baptist sources from 1880 to 1900. Salvation was available through his sacrifice, life was lived for him, he was waiting in heaven for the faithful—belief in him was the core of religious faith—but examples from the gospels regarding his attitude toward the female sex per se were seldom advanced. Several hypothesis partially explain this: 1) the writers were primarily men and they tended to use Genesis and Paul to support their stand on women and religion; 2) women's concept of themselves as a distinct group to whom Jesus might respond was undeveloped, so they did not seek a pattern for that response; and 3) the passages in which Jesus interacts with women were particular favorites of women, who wrote more prolifically in the twentieth century.

A long article written by a man in 1900 on "woman's sphere in the church" made only one reference to a text in the gospels. He claimed that Jesus had given woman a place in the church and that was "to see that He and His disciples were supported. . . . We do not find that men looked after the temporal needs of the Lord during His public ministry. They doubtless did, but it is put on record four different times that women did. Now, it is not out of the line of a woman's work to look after the necessities of the Lord's ministers." BS, November 8, 1900, p.3. While this extremely limited and traditional view of women's religious activity was not often repeated, neither was it refuted at the time, indicating that it was probably a safe, acceptable stance.

Just as unassailable were references to women in the life of Jesus as exemplary characters. Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared in lists of Bible heroines, but with less frequency than one might expect. She was hailed as "the ideal woman" BS, October 15, 1914, p.3. and credited with interpreting the "innermost mind and heart of Christianity concerning woman," BS, June 8, 1916, p. 8. but Baptists' resistance to what they considered to be the excesses of Roman Catholic Mariolatry checked exaggerated claims regarding her importance. In the Magnificat, claimed one minister, she did not single out herself alone as blessed but spoke "in the name of common womanhood." Ibid. The sisters, Mary and Martha, were the other women most frequently named as worthy New Testament females.

With the clear success of women's missionary efforts (both their serving as such and organizing for support) and the recognition of women's rising status in the twentieth century came credit to Jesus for effecting the change. He and women became legitimate partners and proof of the appropriateness of their relationship was sought in the New Testament. The Bible story of his taking the hand of a woman and lifting her from her sickbed was symbolic of the assistance he had given to all women. BS, October 15, 1914, p.3. "A slave she was," one observation ran, "and thus she groped her way in darkness until the voice of Him who spake as one having authority in one word broke the chains of her serfdom, rebuked the hypercritical disciples and commended the faithful services of Mary who anointed His body to the burying."