1

WOMEN IN THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS AND

MEDIEVAL THEOLOGIANS

I am Eve, the wife of noble Adam; it was

I who violated Jesus in the past; It was
I who robbed my children of heaven;
It is I by right who should have been crucified.

I had heaven at my command; evil the

bad choice that shamed me; Evil the
punishment for my crime that has aged me;
Alas, my hand is not pure.

It was I who plucked the apple; it went

past the narrow of my gullet; As long
as they live in day light women will
not cease from folly on account of that.

There would be no ice in any place;

There would be no bright windy winter;
There would be no hell, there would be
No grief, there would be no terror but for me.
- Anonymous, Old Irish Poem

The above poem from the medieval period1 clearly shows the position of women in those days.
According to a recent study women make up around 50% of the world's population and
comprise 33.3% of the official labour force. They perform nearly 66.6% of all working hours
but receive only 10% of the world's income and only less than 1% of the world's property2. Such
is the situation in our time. The situation in early Christianity was not better than this. This paper
will look at the condition of women under the reign of the church fathers3 and also in the
medieval period4, giving emphasis on St. Augustine of Hippo and the intellectual giant of the
medieval period - Thomas Aquinas.

I. Background
The early Christians were influenced in many ways by three major factors, viz. (1) Greek
culture and philosophy, (2) Roman civilization, and (3) Judaism. These three factors not only
influenced the early church, but their influence had been very much visible in the medieval
period as well. Among these three, Greek philosophy had made major contributions in the
theological formation of the church; that is evident from the fact that most of the Christian
theologians right from the apostle Paul down to the medieval philosopher like Thomas Aquinas,
1
This poem is taken from A Golden Treasure of Irish Poetry 600 - 1200, ( 1967), p.158 Quoted in Myrtle Langley,
Equal women: A Christian Feminist Perspective, (Hants, Uk: Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1983), p.58
2
Rani Moses, "Empowering Women", Dalit and Women, V.Devasahayam, ed., (Channai:Gurukul Lutheran
Theological college and Research Institute, 1993), p.195
3
Period covering 100 AD - 500
4
Period covering 600 AD - 1500
 2

were greatly influenced by Greek philosophy. For our discussion we will focus on the position
of women in these three groups.
(1) Greek culture and philosophy - In ancient Greece, women were generally considered to
be of an inferior kind. “She was to be guarded by dogs in separate quarters; she was fickle,
contentious and nature's greatest misfit with no claim to culture”5. She would be oppressed and
despised unless protected by a male. It is said that a household in which she has the final say
would ultimately perished6. However in Macedonia the condition of women seemed to be better
than in Athens where they enjoyed “high status and freedom of opportunity”7. The Athenians
were of course, known to have loved their wives and respected them, honouring them “as
mother of their children and managers of their homes” 8. But the equal status was far behind. In
the words of the 2nd century writer, “Men should be generals and city officials and politicians,
and women should guard the house and stay inside and receive and take care of the husband”9.
Women in Greece were classified into three main classes - hetairai10, concubine and
wife. One of the famous philosophers of the time, named Demosthenes, summed up the three
major classes in Greece in his now famous remark: “We have hetairai for the pleasure of the
spirit, concubines for sensual pleasures and wives to give us sons”11. Wives were closely
guarded and put under the control of the father, husband, husband's heir or even the state. A man
was reluctant to take his wife in a public gathering and resorted to hetairai who earned her living
by entertaining him.
Plato the famous Greek philosopher seemed to be moderate in his attitude towards
women. According to some commentators he was “moving in the direction of accepting the
basic similarities between the natures of man and woman so that he could recommend the
education of women”12. Aristotle on the other hand was extremely negative in his approach to
women. According to him man and woman are different by nature; man is strong, woman is
weak both in mind and body; man is complete in nature but woman has natural deficiency. For
Aristotle the male alone is responsible for reproduction. The female is only a passive
incubator of the male's seed. Females are born due to some defect in the process of

5
Langley, Equal women, p.38
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Karen Jo Torjesen, "Reconstruction of Women's Early Christian History", Searching a scripture: A Feminist
introduction, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, ed. (London:SCM Press Ltd., 1994) p. 304
10
Hetairai are a sort of companion or girl friend or mistress. They were normally artistic, cultured, often well
educated and even intellectual. Hetairai were treated essentially as equals and often earned their living by engaging
in commerce in the Greek cities. See Langley, Equal Women, p. 39.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
 3

reproduction that makes them “defective human beings”. As they are defective human beings,
they are non-normative humans, unable to represent the fullness of human nature. Aristotle was
very negative about women which is confirmed by his utterances like – “Women are physically
weaker, less capable of moral will power or intellectual acumen than males”, “they cannot
exercise dominion in society but must be governed by the male as their head”, “for females are
weaker and colder in nature and we must look upon the female character as being a sort of
natural deficiency”, “the first and the least part of a family are master and slave, husband and
wife, father and children”, “a husband and father rules over wife and children”, “the courage of
man is shown in commanding; of women in obeying”13. Unfortunately for women in particular
and the church in general, the most influential medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas adopted the
Aristotelian view. Thus says Langley, “Of immense consequence to medieval Christian theology
and misogyny in the church is the fact that Thomas Aquinas the angelic Doctor developed the
Aristotelian position”14.
(2) Roman Civilization - Women's position was better in Rome, the husband having
exercised superior but not oppressive power at home. Woman moved freely, “accompanying her
husband to theatre, races and other forms of public entertainment”, “some Stoics even debated
the possibility of education for women”15. However woman was under the control of her
husband, and her father had the final word on her marriage. But generally speaking, women
enjoyed a relatively high position. Unfortunately for women, Romans were weak in cultural and
religious philosophy, so their influence to early Christianity and the subsequent Christendom is
minimal.
(3) Judaism - At the time of Jesus when Judaism was fully developed, women had more or
less no right to claim. Langley explains this condition -
Legally a woman was more a chattel than a person. In marriage she passed from the
dominion of her father to her husband, who incidentally might have other wives; she is
also subject to the custom of the levirate which man could reject but which she might not.
Divorce was initiated by the man alone…Woman was openly despised: 'Happy is he
whose children are males, and woe to him whose children are female16.
Women in Judaism were devoid of formal education. The Torah was not to be taught, “May the
Torah be burned, they should not be handed over to a woman”17. Only males make up the
13
Cf. Rosemary Radford Reuther, "Catholicism, Women, Body and Sexuality, A Response", Women, Religion and
Sexuality: Studies on the Impact of Religious Teachings on women, Jeanne Becher, ed. (Geneva: WCC Publication,
1991) p.222 and also Langley, Equal Woman, p.39
14
Langley, Equal Women, p.39
15
Ibid., p.40
16
Ibid., 41
17
Ibid.
 4

quorum of ten male for a synagogue. The general formula – ‘woman, slave and children’
represents the position of woman in Judaism.

II. The golden age of Women

If there is any thing like the golden age of women, it would be the first century of the Christian
era, when Jesus Christ preached good news to all, irrespective of sex, caste, etc. especially to
women who were harshly treated and badly oppressed under the Jewish domain. Under Jesus
and his apostles women found themselves in the mainstream of the kingdom of God. Jesus
announced that he is bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and
letting the oppressed go free (Lk. 4:18). “Feminism claims that women too are among those
oppressed whom God comes to vindicate and liberate”18. In Jesus’ formula for a new Kingdom
of God ‘the first will be the last, and the last first’, ‘the poor becomes rich, the mighty put down,
prostitutes and the tax collectors will go to the kingdom of God ahead of scribes and the
Pharisees’19. Under such a formula, women have every thing to be happy for. Myrtle Langley
points out many revolutionary acts of Jesus that would have invited stern criticism from the
Jewish clergy. He allowed the Samaritan woman to give him a drink and converse with him,
which no sound-minded Jew of the time would do. He called out from the crowd a hemorrhaged
woman who touched him and he assured her of her health, reacting neither to her condition nor
to his own consequent ritual impurities. Again, in the house of Mary and Martha Jesus rebuked
Martha who was fulfilling her stereotypical role in ‘the busy household’ and praise Mary who
sat and learned from him, indicating that women have better roles outside than just being a busy
house wife. At the resurrection, he appeared first to the women and commissioned them to
announce the good news. Jesus, breaking the norms of patriarchal society instructed that a man
(not a woman) will leave his family and embrace his wife and not vice versa, as in case of
patriarchal society20.
In the first century we see women taking active part in the ministry and mission of the
church. They became missionaries, prophets and took leading parts in the house church; some of
them became deacons/deaconesses and even apostles. Some opined that Junia, found in Romans
16:7 is a short name of Junianus who is a male. But it is much more natural to read Junia as a
female name. Andronicus and Junia mentioned together in Rom. 16:7 could be a couple like that
of Aquila and Priscilla. In fact in some ancient authorities it is put as Julia instead of Junia which

18
Rosemary Radfort Reuther, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology, (London:: SCM Press Ltd.,
1983) p.24
19
Ibid., p.30
20
Langley, Equal women, p.,41-44.
 5

is definitely a female name (See NRSV text note on 16:7). Again, many house churches were
associated with the names of women like Apphia in Colossae (phil.2), Nympha in Laodicea
(Col.4:15), Prisca and Aquila in Corinth, Ephesus and Rome (I Cor.16:19; Acts. 18:18; Rom.
16:5), and Chloe in Corinth (I Cor. 1:11). These women seemed to have exercised leadership in
the house churches. St. Paul also commended women missionaries like Mary, Tryphaena,
Tryphosa and Persis in Rome (Rom. 16:6, 12) and Euodia and Syntyche in Phillipia (Phil.4:2-3).
It is undoubtedly clear that women made a considerable contribution to the development
and extension of Christianity during the first four centuries, and they also provided leadership to
the church in certain capacities. According to Torjesen, women were very much a part of the
fabric of every Christian community, and their "contributions to the formative Christianity have
been largely suppressed or ignored"21.
The main focus of the church during this period was mission and evangelism. Keeping
the hope that Jesus would return soon, the first century Christians engaged themselves in sharing
the Gospel, having fellowship together in breaking of bread. Both men and women worked
together in a joint enterprise of realizing the kingdom of God in their midst. There was no time
for philosophical speculation, let alone attempt to deduce the rightful position of women in the
church. But soon the young church had organized herself in a more rigid way and by the middle
of the 2nd century the golden age of women in the church had come to an end; with the church
fathers and the subsequent theologians, the so-called `saints' developed extremely negative
attitude towards women and their involvement in the church.

III. Women and the church Fathers

The church fathers are not one in their approach to women issue. While the majority was
negative to them, some of the fathers had a soft corner towards women's involvement in the
church's activities.
(1) The only friend among the fathers - Among the church fathers, Clement of
Alexandria may be the most popular among the feminists22. He is reported to be pro-feminist.
Against the popular notion of the inferiority of the wife vis-à-vis the husband, Clement declared
that she is man’s equal in every thing, endowed with precisely the same human nature, though

21
Karen Jo Torjesen, "Reconstruction of women's Early Christian Church", p.291.
22
Titus Flavius Clement (c. AD 155-220) lived in Cosmopolitan City of Alexandria that was shaping his outlook,
his approach to women is also different from his contemporaries, especially that of Tertulian who lived in a rather
small town. However feminist scholars are not agreed in their opinions about Clement. Mary Daly, for example
branded him as anti-women whereas Elaine Pagels puts him as pro-feminism. See Susanne Heine, Women and
Early Christianity, (London: SCM Press, Ltd, 1987), p.33. See also Mary Daly, The Church and the Second Sex,
pp. 86, 87f and Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospel, (Penguin Book, 1980) p. 87f.
 6

different in sex and vocation and function. She is capable of attaining the same degree of
perfection23. For him man and woman are identical as far as virtue is concerned. He said that
woman and man should be “equally concerned for morality and justice and any other virtue,
since it is a fit consequence that the same nature possesses one and the same virtue” 24. However,
he believes that there is difference in the function of man and woman. Woman, according to him
is destined for childbearing and housekeeping, and he says, “We do not train our women like
Amazons to manliness in war; since we wish the men even to be peaceable” 25. He concludes,
“Women are therefore to philosophize equally with men, though the males are preferable at
everything unless they have become effeminate”26. He advised women to cook not because they
were destined to but because its taste good to the husband; and also to take exercise for good
health (Paidagogos III. 49.3-4)27. This shows that Clement understood women to be more than
just housewives limited only to confines of the kitchen.
From the above discussion it is obvious that Clement of Alexandria held women in high
esteem. Susanne Heine observes: “Clement already does to a considerable degree what is called
for today in feminist literature, namely to talk of God as a mother or in terms of motherhood”28.
She comes to such conclusion because of the words of Clement that says, “For when we were
reborn in Christ, the one who gave birth to us again fed us with his own milk, the word; for it
is appropriate that the being who bore us should immediately give his children food” (emphasis
added) (Paidagogos III, 49.3)29. Such words ‘who give birth’, ‘fed us’, ‘own milk’, ‘who bore
us’ which are used to describe God (Christ) reflect womanhood in a very explicit way.
Therefore, considering the context in which he was doing his theology, Clement of Alexandria is
exemplar in his approach to women.
(2) The degenerated position of women. Another important father is Tertullian (c. AD
160-220), a father from Africa. It is reported that he was also quite positive toward women in his
early days. He even recognized the order of widows30 to be included among the clergy that have
23
Derrick Sherwin Bailey, The Man-Woman relation in Christian Thought, (London: Longmans, 1959), p.62
24
Heine, Women and Early Christianity, p.34
25
Clement of Alexandria, Stomaties IV, 62:3 Quoted in Heine, Ibid., p. 35
26
Clement of Alexandria, Stomaties IV 62.4 Quoted in Heine, Ibid. He also advised women to take exercise in
spinning, weaving and also superintending the cooks, if necessary (Paidagogos III, 49.2). Women are to bathe for
purification and for their health, men only for their health (Paidagogos, III 46.1). See Heine Ibid., p.35
27
Ibid.,
28
Ibid.., p. 34
29
Ibid.
30
There are two types of widows in the early church – ‘aged widows’ cared for by the community, and ‘real
widows’ who remain alone ( see Acts. 6:1-2, 9:39, Titus 2:3-4, I Tim. 5:3-10) and set their hope on God, continue
in prayer day and night. This second category with it emphasis on the ascetic life becomes an ‘order of widows’.
They are associated with ministry of prayer, the pastoral care and teaching of women in their homes, caring for the
sick, general instruction of Women and engage in charitable work. This type of widow is respected in the early
church and they were recognized among the clergy and power to baptize and ordain. See Langley, Equal Woman, p.
 7

power to baptize and ordain. They were very useful, especially to minister to women in their
quarters where men could not reach them. However, the functions of the Order of Widow were
gradually restricted which culminated in taking away their right to baptize and ordain because
they were alleged to have misused their power and encouraged heretics31. “By the middle of the
third century” states Langley, “the order has entered into a decline and by the fourth it has
disappeared altogether”32. At this juncture Tertullian was negative enough towards women and
says, “Women are not permitted to speak in the church, but equally they are forbidden to give
the official teaching, to baptize, to make the offering or to lay claim to any function of man, or
of the sacerdotal ministry”33.
Torjesen also stated that the long process of canonization which began in the middle of
the second century and concluded in the early fourth century took place concomitantly with a
struggle over women's leadership. As a result books celebrating women's apostolic activity (like
Acts of Thecla), containing women's words (collections of oracles of women prophets), and
transmitting women teaching (like Gospel of Mary) which had nurtured the religious life of
many churches, were not included in the canon which was defined in terms of male authorship.
In the book of Acts of Thecla we find the story of Thecla's calling as evangelist. St. Paul
confirmed her mission and commissioned her to preach and even baptize. A century later the
women of Carthage appealed to the story of Tecla to defend their right to baptize. Tertullian who
was trying to supress women's public ministry claimed that the Acts of Thecla (also called the
Acts of Paul and Thecla) was a forgery and that a presbyter admitted he had written them out of
a love for Paul34.
Early Church Fathers such as Justin Martyr, Ireneaus, Origen and Tertullian associated
women “with the seduction of the angels and the consequent wickedness of the human race”35.
Eve was seen as the source of evil. And likewise all women were also ‘Eve’ who should bear the
consequences of sin of the first Eve. Tertullian made his now famous statement on women:
Do you know that each of you is also an Eve…You are the devil’s gate way, you are the unsealer
of that forbidden tree, you are the first deserter of the divine law, you are the one who persuaded

61
31
Women who were included in the clergy were charged of following heretical teachings for which Tertullian
remarks: “They actually dare to give the church's teaching, to engage in disputations, to practice exorcism, to
promise cures, perhaps even to baptize” See Langley, Ibid., p. 62 Also Torjesen, "Reconstruction of women's early
Christian history", p.302
32
Ibid., p.62.
33
Ibid.
34
Torjesen, "Reconstruction of women's early Christian history", pp. 291-292.
35
Ibid., p.64
 8

him whom the devil was too weak to attack. How easy you destroyed man, the image of God!
Because of the death which you brought upon us even the Son of God had to die…36.

John Chrysostom was no better father in respect to women. He considered women lower than
man and not an equal partner in marriage and she has to submit to her husband. Man’s duty is to
“regulate woman” and woman’s duty is to “summit and obey”37. He says, “Our life is
customarily organized into two spheres: public affairs and private matter…To woman is
assigned the presidency of the house; to man all the business of the state, the marketplace, the
administration of justice, government, the military and all other such enterprise” 38. The most
negative comment on women came from him again: “There are plenty of dangerous and harmful
animals in the world, but none of them is as dangerous and harmful as women” 39. To make the
matter from bad to worse the council of Laodicea (AD 343) declared that “in future women
might not be appointed elders in the church”40. After learning all this Zeitler lamented: “From
Tertullian on, Christian women bear the stigma of outcastes in the ecclesiastical society. Even
great Ambrose… preached that women should go in rags and mourning because all the evil had
come into the world through them”41.

IV. Augustine and woman

The influence of Augustine’s (354- 430 C.E.) sexual moral teaching was enormous and continues
to be considerable both among Roman Catholics and Protestants. He is not happy with the
‘earlier synthesis of Genesis’, using the Greek philosophical concept following Philo, because it
had ‘tended to associate women’s inferior origins and subordination with her lesser
rationality’42. He believed that it is inconsistent to Christian commitment to spiritual equality.
However he is not better than his predecessors. Though he tried to “defend women against what
he perceived as the misogynism of the earlier exegesis…his own interpretation still puts women
in an ambivalent position with respect to reason”43.

36
From Tertullian, De cultu feminarum 1:1 quoted in Bailey, The Man-Woman relation in Christian Thought, p.64
and also in Langley, Equal Women, p. 65
37
Bailey, The Man-Woman Relation in the Christian Thought,p.62
38
Torjesen, "Reconstruction of women's early Christian history", p.306
39
E.Zeitler, "Women in Catholic Theology" Theology of humanhood: Women's perspective, Aruna Gnanadason, ed.
(Delhi: ISPCK, 1986) p.83. Zeitler also reported that some monks were discussing whether they should go to the
common celebration of the Eucharist where they would also women and with them devils and temptation (p.83).
40
Langley, Equal Woman, p.62
41
Zeitler, "Women in Catholic theology" , p.83
42
Genevieve Lloyd, "Augustine and Aquinas", Feminist Theology a Reader, Ann Loades, ed. (London:SPCK,
1990) p.90
43
Ibid.
 9

(1) Women - devoid of God's image - According to Augustine man is the image of God
but woman is not, because she is made for the helpmate of man. He held that the male by
himself, alone without woman, is the image of God. Whereas “woman in so far as she is
assigned as helpmate can be said to be image of God only together with her husband” 44.
Therefore, According to Augustine -
Male = the image of God
Female = not the image of God
Female (+ male) = the image of God

(2) Women for procreation - Augustine argued that Adam is a compound being, in him
dwells both male spirituality and female bodiness. When Eve is taken from Adam, She
symbolizes the bodily side of man, derived from him in order to be his helpmate, “but only for
the bodily task of procreation”45. The only reason for the creation of female to be male's
helpmate is to beget children. Augustine observes, “We find no likely reason except the need to
beget children just as the soil is a help for the seed”46.
(3) Women - devoid of headship - In a patriarchal system only the male can be the head
of the family. Women remain by nature permanent dependents lacking the possibility of
autonomous or civil personhood in society47. Augustine used this concept of headship to
interpret the biblical doctrine of God. “The image of God is understood” says Reuther, “to mean
sharing God's dominion over the lower creation. Only the male head of the family is understood
to possess such dominion”48. As woman is devoid of God's image, she being the head of the
family or any institution is out of the question.
(3) Virginity - the only hope - Augustine is very negative about sex. Myrtle Langley said
that Augustine locates sin in the male erection and finds in woman its occasion and cause49. He
viewed that the sinful nature of the sex act, however good in intent, even within marriage taints
44
Ibid., p.92. This is Augustine's rendering of Paul's injunction that man as the image and glory of God, ought not to
cover his head; whereas the woman, as the glory of man ought to have her head covered. Augustine says,
How then did the apostle tell us that man is the image of God and therefore he is forbidden to cover his
head, but that the woman is not so and that she is commanded to cover hers? Unless forsooth according to
that which I have said already, when I was treating of the nature of human minds that woman together with
her own husband is the image of God, so that the whole substance may be one image. But when she is
referred to separately in her quality as a helpmeet, which regard the woman alone, than she is not the
image of God. But as regarded the male alone, he is the image of God as fully and completely as when the
woman too is joined with him in one. (De Trinitate 7.7.10) quoted in Reuther, Sexism and God Talk, p.95
45
Langley, Equal woman, p.67
46
Maria-Teresa Porcile-Santiso, "Roman Catholic teachings on female sexuality", Women, Religion and Sexuality:
Studies on the impact of religious teachings on women, Jeanne Becher, (Geneva:WCC Publication, 1991), .p.196.
47
Rosemary Radford Reuther, "Catholicism, women. Body and sexuality, Women, Religion and sexuality, p.221
48
Ibid., p.221
49
Langley, Equal woman, p.67
 10

the resulting child with original sin50. So, he strongly advocated virginity and opined that, as
virginity she arises to a spirituality and personhood equal to the male, but only by denying
her female nature and crushing her body51. Virginity enables women to attain the highest
spiritual achievement, which will make them ‘equal’ in spirituality to men. However Augustine
praised good mothers like his own mother, Monica. In his Confession, he describes his mother
as “a Christian who served her husband as her Lord, bearing with patient his infidelity and bed
temper until toward the end of his life, he was converted to God by her patient example” 52.
Augustine wanted this to be a model for all mothers.

(V) Women in Medieval Period

The Medieval period bridged the early Christian period and the modern period. This period
witnessed more or less the same attitude towards women with that of the early fathers, “Though
the former express themselves less crudely, and hardly display any prejudice against women as
temptress supposed to incite men to commit venereal sins”53. Towards the end of the period the
position of women declined considerably. The popular didactic literature of the time that
addressed wives and young girls emphasized that “woman's domain is the house, that she should
obey and honour her husband and that the young girls should adapt their behavior and attend to
their appearance so as always to please the man"54.
1. Powerful women saints. The Medieval period witnessed women taking active part in
the expansion and establishment of the church. These women, leaving their womanhood in
celibacy, pursued holiness and exercised great power. One such powerful woman was Saint
Lioba, a missionary in Germany who became “a spiritual friend and confidante of St. Boniface,
Bishop and Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Germans”55. A deep scholarship and a holy life made
such women powerful. It is said that such a quality gave Lioba an “almost magical authority”, in
addition “afforded practical power in the vast administrative task of bringing order to the raw
new church of Germany”56. Bishop St. Boniface was very impressed by Lioba and he was
convinced of her power and authority. “He gave her permission to pray at his monastery at
Fulda, a privilege never granted to any woman either before or after”57.

50
Ibid., p.68
51
Ibid.
52
Ibid.
53
Bailey, The man-woman relation in the Christian thought, p.157
54
Ibid.
55
Eleanor Mclaughlin, "Women, Power and the pursuit of Holiness in Medieval Christianity" Feminist theology, a
Reader, p.101
56
Ibid., p.103
57
Ibid., p.104
 11

We have a number of such women, who lived the life of a virgin in a monastery,
exercising power and authority. Some women like Mother Tetta were so powerful that “no man
dared enter her monastery, even Bishops were forbidden”58. We cannot give them in detail in
such a paper like this59. For a woman in the medieval period to live a monastery life is the only
way out of bondage and oppression. This virginal religious life offers to a woman a mean of
escape from the natural subordination and inferiority of her sex. But this demands a high price of
the denial of her essential womanhood and devaluation of everything deemed to be feminine60.
These women were well versed in scriptures, they taught, they administered great
religious houses and they evangelized alongside men, and like men, they founded monasteries.
But slowly the male church could not cope with this type of women's activities and by the
middle ages the position of women in the monastic life had suffered a sharp decline. They were
forced to remain inside where they followed the contemplative life, too dangerous to the male
and too weak for the world61. One Mother, the product of such a contemplative life, wrote a
book - Revelations of Divine Love, the first book in English to be written in English by woman,
in 1373. In her book St. Julian gave us very interesting and thought provoking lines which may
be regarded as the foundation of modern feminism, like, “God was rejoicing to be our father;
rejoicing to be our mother”, “For the almighty truth of the trinity is our father; the deep
wisdom of the trinity is our mother in whom we are enfolded”, “Jesus who set good against
evil is our real mother” (emphasis added)62.
It is clear that women flourished, in some way or the other, in the Medieval period,
especially in the early part of this period (let’s say from 600 - 1200 AD). However, the last part
of this period is marked by a decline in women’s position; the main reason for this decline may
be attributed to the emergence of Thomas Aquinas.

2. Thomas Aquinas and Women- Thomas Aquinas63 was deeply influenced by Aristotle, a
pagan Greek philosopher who lived about 1600 years before him. Aquinas’ theory of man
-woman relation is based on the Aristotelian biological theory.

58
bidI., p.103
59
For a detailed enquiry about women saints, see Maclaughlin, “Women, Power and pursuit of Holiness in
medieval Christianity”, Feminist Thoelogy, a Reader, pp. 99 - 123.
60
Langley, Equal Woman, P.73.
61
Ibid., p.74
62
Ibid.
63
Thomas Aquinas, the most influential theologian and philosopher in the medieval period, was born in 1225 near
Naples. He studied in the University of Naples in 1244 under Albert the Great; and joined the Order of Preachers,
the Dominican. In 1252 he taught at Paris and Italy until his death in 1274. For more details see in Tony Lane, The
Lion Book of Christian thought, pp. 68-70.
 12

(1) Woman a mis-begotten male. Having adopted Aristotelian biological theory Aquinas
branded woman as a mis-begotten male. According to him as a norm, “every male insemination
would produce another male in the image of its father”. But because of some accident, “this
male form is sometime subverted by the female matter and produces an inferior or defective
human species or female”64(emphasis mine). Because of this women are entirely inferior to
men.
(2) Woman for procreation. As woman is a necessarily evil in creation there is only one
good thing in them, that is, the ability to beget. Aquinas viewed woman to be a helpmate of man
for procreation only. For any other companionship, “man is better helped by another male than a
woman”65. This reflects the classical understanding of friendship as relationship only possible
between equals. For Aquinas, woman can only have a servile helping relationship to man
because she is inferior to him. Aquinas maintained that the male created for more noble pursuit
of intellectual activity, where as the female, though they also possess rational soul, is created
solely for reproduction to preserve the human species. He claims, “No justification, other than
reproduction, can be given for the existence of a ‘second sex”66. Because for any other job, other
than procreation, male is better helpmate than female.
(3) Woman subordination- before the fall. Thomas Aquinas believes that the
subordination of women is not only the result of sin. But, “it was a part of the natural order
created by God”67. Sin only deepened the inferior status of woman - this is due to the role of Eve
in the fall. If women are defective human beings inferior to men before fall, why should God
have created such defective individuals? To this Aquinas says, “Woman though defective and
misbegotten in her individual nature, nevertheless belonged to the overall ‘perfection’ of nature
because of her role in procreation”68.
(4) Only male can save. Aristotelian theory of anthropology also influenced Aquinas's
Christology. Because of this he began to think that “the maleness of Jesus Christ is not just a
contingent historical fact” but “Christ maleness is an ontological necessity” because “only the
male represents perfect or normative human nature”69. Therefore in order to represent the whole
humanity Christ needs to be male, as woman cannot represent Christ. Aquinas strongly holds
that redemption can be achieved only through a male redeemer.

64
Reuther, Sexism and God-Talk, p.96
65
Reuther, "Catholicism, Women Body and sexuality, A response" , Woman, religion and sexuality p.222
66
Langley, Equal woman, p.71
67
Reuther, Sexism and God-Talk, p.97
68
Ibid., p.96
69
Reuther, "Catholicism, Woman Body and Sexuality A response, p.223
 13

(5) Woman -inferior image of God. Unlike Augustine, Thomas holds that woman is the
image of God like man, and both have ability to know and love him. However, he maintained
that the male possesses the image to a greater degree than the female because he demonstrates
greater intellectual capacities than woman70. According to him females have less rational
capacity and are less capable of moral self-control. Aquinas argued that woman should be
subject to man because “in man the discretion of reason predominates”71. It is good that the
naturally superior rules the naturally inferior. Because of their inferiority women cannot rule
over men. Aquinas considered that woman cannot be ordained since ordination also is a position
of dominion, rule and teaching, authority over others; women cannot be ordained because they
cannot exercise dominion72. For Aquinas, the inequality of men and women will go on till the
end of this world. He believed: “true and genuine equality of the sexes comes…only at the
resurrection”73.

Reflection and Conclusion

The above discussion reveals the place women occupied in the minds and theologies of men
whom we are looking up to for theological and spiritual help. These individuals are the ones
who shaped Christian thought and guided the Christian Church through their mortal bodies and
immortal writings and are responsible for the formation of Christian doctrines. In short they are
normative for the church then and now. Their views on women also left an indelible mark on the
life and theology of the church. So, Mary Daly's view of Tertullian (‘you are the devil’s gate
way’), Augustine (‘women are not the image of God’), and Aquinas (‘woman a mis-begotten’)
as ‘past history’ (Beyond God the Father, p.3), which are not worthy of our attention, is not
correct. It is evidently clear that they still exert a considerable degree of influence on the
contemporary church.
These theologians should be understood against their background. Barring a few
theologians, all have shown negative attitudes toward women. This is mainly because of the
influence of Greek philosophy and their context of patriarchal system and also to some extent
scientific ignorance. For example, before 1827 the general idea is that woman did not contribute
much in procreation apart from acting as the incubator of male genes. It was only after the
discovery of the female ovum in 1827 people was convinced that women contribute as much as

70
Langley, Equal woman, p.71
71
Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: Towards a philosophy of women's liberation, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1974)
p.101
72
taken from Summa theologica, I, 92 quoted in Reuther, "Catholicism, women Body and sexuality" , p..223
73
Langley, Equal Woman, p.71
 14

men in procreation. So it is quite understandable that these theologians (both the church fathers
and medieval theologians) considered women as the second sex, playing an insignificant role
even in reproduction.
The context in which they lived, and their own lifestyles play a significant role in their
theological outlook. Looking at Aquinas, who lived and studied only with men throughout his
life; his opinion of women as inferior in rationality and intellectuality could be understood
against his background. Had he sat in a class room, like we do today, with brilliant women
around him, who have shown academic superiority and intellectual ability quite a number of
times, he would not talk of women as less rational, defective and inferior to men in all respects.
Therefore, their biased theological thought is the outcome of insufficient knowledge about
human biology that they inherit from Greek philosophers as well as their contemporary
worldview, influenced, saturated and directed by Greeco-Roman and Jewish tradition.
Therefore, as a free human being of the 21st century, free from scientific ignorance and
biased and fixed philosophical bondage, there is a great opportunity left for us to re-shape, re-
construct, re-formulate, re-originate a balance, unbiased Christian thought based on the
untainted teachings of Jesus Christ which will give sisters and brothers a just position. The task
is left to us.
………..