Cumming, Alan_Pauline Christianity and Greek Philosophy. a Study of the Status of Women_JHI, 34, 4_1973_517-528

8/9/2019 Cumming, Alan_Pauline Christianity and Greek Philosophy. a Study of the Status of Women_JHI, 34, 4_1973_517-528

1/13

Pauline Christianity and Greek Philosophy: A Study of the Status of WomenAuthor(s): Alan CummingSource: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1973), pp. 517-528Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2708885 .

Accessed: 23/02/2015 12:18

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

University of Pennsylvania Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Journal of the History of Ideas.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Mon, 23 Feb 2015 12:18:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=upennhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2708885?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2708885?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=upenn


2/13

PAULINE

CHRISTIANITY

AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY:

A

STUDY

OF THE

STATUS

OF WOMEN

BY

ALAN

CUMMING

"I

wonder how

some

clever

writer

has

never

noticed

how

queer

women

are. It's

my

belief

you

could

write

a

whole book about

them."

James

Wylie

in J. M.

Barrie,

What

Every

WomanKnows.

Historycan root out prejudicesandsuspend udgments hat are too

hasty.

This

is a more difficult

ask than

merely

"reflecting

on

the

past,

and

darting

the keen

eye

of

contemplation

nto

futurity"

which

Mary

Woolstonecraft

alled "the

grand privilege

of man."'

History

depends

on exact

knowledge

and on

the

impartiality

of

discriminating

ob-

servation

and

analysis;

at

the same time

the

historian's

powers

of

insight,

interpretation,

and

sympathetic

magination

must breathe

life

into a

bald

narrative.

A

general

accountof

the

emancipation

f women

from their state of subjection s one in which men and women have

expressed

rrationalviews

and

inconsistencies;

nd the Westminster

e-

viewer

of 1831

discovered

hat there

were

few

practical

questions

that

have

given

rise to more

acrimony

and

stormy

discussions

han the sub-

ject

of female education.2

There is little doubt

that

any

historian

of

women,

their

status,

and their

education

will

provoke

some

resentment

however

careful

he

is to avoid

passion

and

prejudice.

The educational

historian

s

more than a chronicler

and

because

he

is so

consciousof

the

changefulness of social conditions he resists the temptation to

prophesy.

Nevertheless,

he does work

in the belief that

the

past

will

reflecta

light

on both the

present

and the

future.3

In

the Introduction

to his Historical

Survey of

Pre-Christian

Education

(1895),

S. S. Laurie

says,

"The

history

of

education s

in-

volved

in the

general

history

of

the world.

. . . The

history

of

the

educationof

a

people

is

not

the

history

of

its

schools,

but

the

history

of

its civilization."4

ince civilization s based

on

religious

and

civil

laws,

on manners,customs,andthe socialorder,the truth of Laurie'swords

is most evident

n

the adult

world.

Any

study

of the

rights,

duties,

and

Vindication

of

the

Rights of

Woman

(London,

1892),

214.

2

Westminster

Review,

15

(1831),

70.

3This was

the

spirit

in

which

a

reviewer

in 1855

sought

"evidence

of woman's

early

condition

as

may

prove

a

guide

to

us when

we

come

to

inquire

what is

her actual and

at-

tainable lot

amongst

the

most

highly

civilized

races." Westminster

Review

(1855),

379.

4S. S.

Laurie,

Historical

survey

of

Pre-ChristianEducation

(London,

1895).

517


http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/13

518

ALAN

CUMMING

capacities

or

incapacities

which have

determined

women's status

or

standing

in

society,

the

parts

or

roles

which

she has

undertaken

or

assumed

in

that

society,

and her

education,

must

recognize

the fact

that

her

status, role,

and

education

depend

on

the

civilization,

which

transcends

national

boundaries,

and

culture,

which reflects national

genius,

the

ideas

and

faith

by

which men

and women live.5

Religion

is

not

only

a

profession

of faith in

a

relationship

between

the human self

and

an absolute

God;

it is also a

way

of

living.6

The

lives of

Moslems,

Hindus,

Buddhists,

and

Jews are

regulated

by

the

religious

tenets

they

hold;

and

unlettered

tribes abide

by

spirit

worship,

totem

cults,

and

magic.

Their

religions

are reflected not

only

in their

social intercourse

but

also

in

their

legislation,

so that

"unbelievers" and "believers" con-

form to the same code

of

behavior.

Similarly,

in

Christian countries

men

and women

of

varying

shades of belief

and

agnosticism

have

ac-

cepted

Christian

ethics;

and

the

relations

of the

sexes,

from

time imme-

morial have

comprehended

a

great part

of

men's

earthly

existence,

and

religions

have

influenced them for

better or for

worse. It is not

difficult

to

discover the attitudes

to women demanded

by

different

religions.

For

instance, there is consideration, even if there is little guarantee of pro-

tection,

in

the

third of the

Buddhists'

five

rules of

morality,

the Pancha

Sila,

which

calls for sexual

control.

"Is she old?

Regard

her

as

your

mother.

Is

she

honourable?

Regard

her

as

your

sister. Is she

of small

account?

Regard

her as

your younger

sister.

Is she a child?

Treat her

reverently

and

with

politeness."7

And the

Koran has more

to

say

on

the

position

of women than

on

any

other

social

question.8

As

far

as Chris-

tianity

is

concerned,

one

would

like

to

say

that

the

principles

and

practices derived from the Gospels have led to an enlightened relation-

ship

between men

and

women. "Read

Demosthenes or

Cicero,"

Calvin

wrote,

read

Plato,

Aristotle,

and

others

of

that

tribe.

They

will,

I

admit,

allure

you,

de-

light

you,

move

you,

enrapture

you

in

wonderful

measure.

But betake

yourself

from

them

to the Sacred

Scriptures.

Then,

in

spite

of

yourself,

so

deeply

will

it

affect

you,

so

penetrate

your

heart,

so

fix

itself in

your

very

marrow, hat,

com-

pared

with

ts

deep mpression,

uch

vigour

as

the oratorsand

philosophers

ave

willnearlyvanish.9

5The author has used

the word "civilization" to mean

a

stage

in

social

development

based

on

religious

and civil

laws,

on

manner, customs,

and

the

social

order.

The

word

"culture" is used

to

depict

intellectual

development

based on

faith,

knowledge, ability,

labor and

social

intercourse,

artistic and

creative activities of

all

kinds.

6The

name

Shinto

is

in

origin

Chinese,

Shin-tao,

the Tao or

Way

of

the

Gods.

Confu-

cius called his

message

"The

Way."

Buddhism s

"the noble

eight-fold

Path."

And

in the

Acts

of

the

Apostles early

Christianity

s

called "the

way"

(e.g.

16:17).

7C.

Humphreys,

Buddhism

(Harmondsworth, 1954),

112.

8ParticularlyChapter IV ("Women")of the Koran.

9Institutes

of

the

Christian

Religion

(London,

1961),

I,

VIII,

1.




4/13

WOMEN

IN GREEK

AND

PAULINE

THOUGHT

519

Nevertheless,

in

his Institutes

of

the Christian

Religion

Calvin

com-

mented

on

the

tyrannous

laws

which referred

to

only

human traditions

and not to

divine

sanction.

For

example,

he

approved

of

people kneeling

when

solemn

prayers

were

being

said;

but

he left the choice of

posture

to

the best interest of the

church and the

judgment

of

charity.

BecauseChrist

did

not

will

in

outward

discipline

nd ceremonies o

prescribe

n

detail

what

we

ought

to do

(because

He

foresawthat this

dependedupon

the

state of the

times,

and

He did

not

deem

one form

suitable or

all

ages),

here

we

must take

refuge

n

those

general

rules

which

He

has

given,

that whatever

he

necessity

of the church

will

require

or

order

and

decorum should

be

tested

against

these.10

Calvin was not

a

servile

follower of

the

primitive

church. He did not

think that

religion

consisted

in

a woman's shawl

so that it was

unlawful

for

her

to

go

out without

a

bare

head.11

He

saw,

more

clearly

than most

of his

followers,

that

the established custom

of a

region,

or

humanity

it-

self,

and

the

rules of

modesty

should

dictate what was to be

done or

avoided

in

so

many

matters.12

Instead,

Christians

submitted to those

rules

of

conduct

which St.

Paul,

an

earnest,

if

not

fanatical,

apostle

of

Christ prescribed. The Christian religion and certain "religious"

practices

have become

unconsciously

so

much a

part

of our

daily

lives

that

it

would

be worse than

pedantic

to

interrupt

the

continuity

of this

study

in

order to

draw attention to

each

occasion

that

appeared

to have

a Pauline

ancestry.

The

Christian

religion

has

a

deep-rooted

influence

on the role

and

status

of women.

At the same

time it

must

be

kept

in

mind that "there have been

few

longer,

or,

perhaps,

more fruitful

dia-

logues

in the

history

of

human

thought

than that between

Christianity

and Greek philosophy."13

The

old Hebraic view

of the

relations between men

and

women

derived

something

of its nature from the civil

laws

relating

to

property

and

marriage

codified

by

Hammurabi,

the

greatest

sovereign

of the

first

Babylonian

dynasty.14

The

women

of

Babylon enjoyed

a

legalized

status of

dignity'5

since

marriage

was a contract made

between hus-

band and

wife,

and the

dowry given

by

the

groom

to the

bride's father

passed

to her and

it remained

with

her

until she

passed

it on to her

children. No later cod'e either in the ancient or in the mediaeval world

was so

considerate of the female

citizen.16 But

the

interpretation

of the

statutes and

judgments

which

Moses

spoke

to Israel after

God

had

10Ibid.,

Bk.

IV,

Ch.

X,

Sect. 30.

"Ibid.,

Bk.

IV,

Ch.

X,

Sect.

31.

12Ibid.

13A. H.

Armstrong

and

R. A.

Markus,

Christian

Faith and

Greek

Philosophy

(London,

1960),

vii.

4c. 1700

B.C. See C.

H. W.

Johns,

The

Oldest Code

in the World

(Edinburgh,

1903).

15W.

G. de

Burgh,

The

Legacy of

the Ancient World


I,

26.

16C.T.

Seltman,

Women in

Antiquity

(London,

1956),

25.




5/13

520 ALAN

CUMMING

given

him

the Ten Commandments

ed

to

a

woman

being

classified

along

with her

husband's

ox or

ass17;

women were

in

fact

movable

possessions.

Adultery

was committed

and

the seventh commandment

broken

only

when there was sexual intercoursebetween a

legal

wife

who

had been

acquired

by

purchase18

and

a man who was not

her

spouse;

and

because

of the

prime

mportance

placed

on

continuing

he

husband's

family19

punishment

was severe.20While

not

denying

the

moral

element

n

the relationsof

men and

women,

the

emphasis

was

on

the

property

value and

usefulness

of the

women.

Although

a woman

had

few

legal rights2l

she was not without

influence,

neither was she

unappreciated

n the

home nor

unloved

as

a wife.

She bore

her

hus-

band's

children,

made the

family's

clothes,

baked their

bread,

fetched

water from the

well,

and made the home the center of a

girl's

education,

and

because

of all

these

activities

every

man

was exhorted o

revere

his mother.22

The

virtuous woman whose

price

was far above

rubies,

whose husband

praised

her,

and

whose

children

rose

up

and

called

her

blessed was not a beautiful ictional

character;

she was real

andthe

properties

whichshe

possessed

were

those admired

by

men.23

Severe laws

relating

o the conductand status of

married

women

n

particular

persistedup

to

and

beyond

the

time

of Christ.

Written

aws,

however,

do not

always

give

an accurate

representation

of

the actual

social,

intellectual,

and moral conditionsof the

times,

and

in

Jewish

ethics

generally

there was

always

present

a

recognition

f

the ideal of

brotherly

ove.24

In

that

spirit

Christ "felt a

peculiarly

real and

deep

sympathy

with

women,

and

understood

heir weaknesses

and difficul-

ties

with unusual

sensitiveness."25

ut

he

was

at the same time a

Jew

livingamongJewsand He honored hose lawswhichhadfortheirobject

the

preservation

of sexual

purity.

Indeed,

in

the matter of

divorce

Christ's

teaching

was aimed at

strengthening

the

marriage

bond

and

improving

he

position

of marriedwomen.

The

bill of

divorcement

which

a

husband

had been

required

to

give

his

wife was

falling

into

disuse

when

Christ told

the

Pharisees,

"What therefore

God

hath

joined

together,

let not man

put

asunder."26

A

man's

thoughts

and ac-

tions

cannot be divorcedfrom

the world around

him

and to

consider

themout of that context is to misunderstand im. Christ ived and was

crucified

during

the

reign

of

Herod

Antipas

in

Galilee

and

during

the

7?Exodus

0;

Deuteronomy

5. 18Exodus 21:

7, 8;

Genesis 31:

15,

43;

34:

11,

12;

Judges

14:

2;

Ruth

4:

9,

10.

19Genesis

1:

28.

20Numbers

5:

12-31;

Deuteronomy

22:

21-26;

Leviticus 12:

20, 21,22;

Leviticus

20.

21That

she received

protection

see

Deuteronomy,

21

and 22.

22Leviticus 19:

3.

23Proverbs

31: 11-27.

24Compare

Matthew 22: 39 with

Leviticus 19: 18.

25C.J. Cadoux, The Life ofJesus (West Drayton, 1948), 109.

26Matthew

19:

6;

Mark

10:

9.




6/13

WOMEN IN

GREEK AND

PAULINE

THOUGHT

521

governorship

of Judea

under the Roman

procurator,

Pontius

Pilate;

when

Christ

was born

Augustus

had been

Emperor

for about

twenty

years.

Besides

the taxes which

they

paid

to the

Temple

the Palestinian

Jews had also to

pay

tribute to the Roman

agents

or publicans, and

they

had looked forward to

the

restoration

of

the

kingdom

of

David

by

the

intervention of

God;

they

had

welcomed

the

preaching

of John

the

Baptist

as

much as Herod had feared

it. The

Romans

had taken their

civilization

to the

provinces

and it could have been no

secret

to

the

Jews

who

had

regard

for their

law and the moral

purification

of

society

that

the Roman

Empire

was

in a

state

of

degeneration.

"The

nobility," says

Stobart,

upon

whichmuchthat

was

great

and

glorious

n

Roman

history

depended,

was

morally

corrupt,

intellectually

inert,

spiritually

void,

and even

physically

sterile....

The

women,

ong

since

freed

from

iron

control

whichhad

kept

them

in

orderunderthe old

system

of the Roman

family,

dominated

ociety

with

an

influence hat was often

evil.

The Roman

boudoir

with

ts

throngs

of slavesand

parasites

was

not

only

profligate;

t had

already

begun

to

produce

he

type

of

murderous

ntriguers

hat

we meet more

prominently

n

the Messalinas

and

Agrippinas

f

imperial

history.

.. Aboveall the Roman

family

upon

which he

piersof Romansocietyhadrestedwas nowin ruins.To be the husband f one

wife

from

marriage

o death

seems

o

havebeen

a rare

exception.27

The moral climate of

the

Empire

did

not

improve suddenly

when St.

Paul was converted

about

34

A.D.,

and

when he travelled

he saw the

world

of Petronius's

Satyricon,

a

world

depicted

"as

consisting

essentially

of

rogues

and swindlers

on the one

side,

and fools or

less

shrewd

rogues

who can be taken down

on the

other."28

The

deaths

of

Peter, Paul, and Nero and the fall of Jerusalem to the legions of Titus

all within two

years

brought

an end to an era.

Christ

and his

disciples

labored

at a

time when the

language,

literature,

and attitude

to the

life

of

the

"lively

and

loquacious

Greeks"29

was

growing

in

Palestine.

It

was

an eclectic

age

and

pro-

tagonists

of

a "new

way"

had to combat

many

distractions;

some

men

were

content to

possess

an

imperfect knowledge

of rhetoric

and

philosophy

rather than to

study

the old

religion;

others

were

tempo-

rarily attracted to the infant spirit of gnosticism; and although the

influence of Greek

thought

on

Christianity

was not

vigorous

until

the

second

century,

St. Paul was

a Hellenist30

in

as

much as

he

spoke

and

wrote

Greek,

albeit a

form

which lacked

elegance.

The

early

Christians

may

have

seen

in

Plato's

Laws

their ideal of

a

theocratic

state,

but

27J.

C.

Stobart,

The

Grandeurthat

was

Rome

(London, 1912),

194.

28Jack

Lindsay,

in

his Introduction

to his translation of

The

Satyricon

(London,

1960).

29

E.

Gibbon,

Decline

and

Fall

of

the

Roman

Empire

(New

York,

n.d.),

Ch. 54.

30Acts

6:

1.




7/13

522

ALAN

CUMMING

neither

the

theories of

the

philosophers

nor the

practices

within the

city

states

presented

them with

a

uniform notion

as to the

proper

status and

place

of

women in

society.

On the

whole

the

Greek

city

was

a

man's

club;31

in it

the

family

lost

its social

significance

and the

position

of

women

deteriorated.

In

Chios

girls

wrestled

in

the

gymnasia;

in

Argos

they

ran

races;

the

high-spirited

Spartan girls,

devoted to

the

State,

entered

upon

those

physical

activities

which were

designed

to

strengthen

their

bodies

if

not

their

judgment

and their

appreciation

of

art,

literature,

and

philosophy-they

were

not

denied

equality

with

boys

and

they

had the

same

opportunity

of

becoming

as

brutal and as uncul-

tured.32

In

Euripides'

Andromache,

Peleus,

the father of

Achilles,

gave

his

opinion

of

Spartan

women

to

Menelaus,

the

king

of

Sparta

and

brother

of

Agamemnon:

Virtuous ould

daughter

f

Sparta

neverbe.

Theygad

abroadwith

young

men fromtheir

homes,

and

withbare

thighs

and

oose

disgirdled

esture

Race,

wrestle

with them....

In Athens the courtesans-in

Lecky's

words-subsisted

by

their

fu-

gitive

attachments33 and

enjoyed

"power

without

responsibility,

the

prerogative

of the harlot

throughout

the

ages."34

The virtuous and

colorless wives

of ancient Athens

lived their lives in seclusion.

There

were

protests against

women's exclusion

from

public

life.

Plato,

for

example,

was

uneasy

at

the waste of

ability

and

he admitted women

to

his

Academy

provided

they

had

the

prerequisite

mathematical

qualifications,

and

in

Book

Five

of The

Republic

he

said that

if

women

were

to become

fit

to

be

guardians

there should not

be one education

for

men

and another

for women.

And K.

J.

Freeman,

writing

in

Schools

of

Hellas,

believes that Lastheneia

of Manineia

and Axiothea of

Phlious,

who dressed

in male

clothing,

were

the

first

"champions

of

women's

rights

to a

University

education

who

appear

in

history."

Contrary

to the usual

practice

of

fifth-century

B.C.

writers,

Aeschylus

gave

his women characters the

power

of

thought

and

in

his

plays

he

raised such controversial

questions

as the

right

to a

woman

to resist the

law

which

compelled

her

to

marry

and to forfeit to the

husband whom

she

disliked all her

property,35

or

if

a

woman

were

justified

in

killing

a

brutal

husband.36

Euripides

who died

only

three

years

before the

end of

31H.

I.

Marrou,

A

History

of

Education

in

Antiquity

(London, 1956),

33.

320n

Spartan

women

see,

for

example,

Plato,

Laws,

780

and

Protagoras,

342;

Aris-

totle,

Politics,

Bk.

II,

Ch.

IX;

F.

Henriques,

The

Pretence

of

Love

(London, 1966),

Ch. 2.

33Henriques,

op.

cit.

34These

are

the words with

which

Stanley

Baldwin

condemned the

press

barons

in

March

1931.

35

The

Suppliant

Women.

36

Agamemnon.




8/13

WOMEN

IN

GREEK AND

PAULINE

THOUGHT

523

the

Peloponnesian

War

in 404

was not

typical

of his

century

and in

his

plays37

attacked

the

accepted

notion

that

women were inferior

to

men.

His chorus of Corinthian

ladies

looked

forward to the time

when

....

the roll

of

the

ages

shall

find

for

the

poet-sages

Proudwoman

hemes

for their

pages,

heroines

worthy

heir

singing.38

But

to

Medea,

"Woman

is

but woman-born

for

tears."39

Xenophon

recorded Socrates'

views on women

in

his

Memorabilia,

OEconomicus,

and

Symposium.

While

discussing

the

science

of

husbandry,

Xenophon

relates how Socrates met Ischomachus, a man esteemed by both the

sexes,

citizens

and

strangers.

It was

Ischomachus who

instructed

his

wife,

married

at

the

age

of

fifteen,

to

manage

the

house

and

together

they

were a sober husband

and

a virtuous

wife

preserving

their

fortune;

she

was

comparable

with the

busy

bee

that

remained

in

the

hive.

"I

think,"

said

Ischomachus,

"that the mistress

bee is

an

excellent

example

for

the wife."

In his Ecclesiazusae

(Women

in

Assembly),

Aristophanes

used

situations

similar to

those advocated

by

Plato at

the

same time in the

Republic

Children were the sons and daughters of

elders because

marriage

was

abolished

and women

were held

in com-

mon.40

Sabine has made

a sound observation

on the radical

utopias

envisaged

by

Aristophanes

and Plato. "It

is,"

he

says,

an

obvious inference that

early

in the

fourth

century

at

least,

an Athenian

audience ound

nothing

ncomprehensible

n a

thoroughly

ubversive

riticism

of

their

political

and social

system.

Plato

was not

an

innovator;

e was

merely

trying

o take the social

position

of women

seriously,

a serious

question

hen

as

now.41

And

with this

in

view he said that the

wicked

man,

after

he

had

lived

his

appointed

time,

would be transformed

in

his

second

birth into

a

woman.42

Aristotle's views

on the moral

and

social

disabilities

of

women

and

their

place

in

society

are contained

particularly

in the twin treatises,

the

Nicomachean

Ethics

and

his

Politics.

In

Book

VIII of

the

Ethics,

he

presents a dissertation on "Friendship," the bond of social commu-

nities.

The

friendship

of husband

and

wife

is

comparable

with

that

existing

between father

and son or between

ruler and

ruled;

the

hus-

37Alcestis,

Medea, Ion,

and

Andromache.

38Medea,

ines

428-29.

39Ibid.,

ine

928;

also

lines

230-66.

40Herodotus

had

already

recorded

instances

of women

held in common.

See his ac-

count of the

Agathyrsi

and

the

Gindanes

in

Book

Four of

The Histories.

4'G.

H. Sabine,

A

History of Political Theory(London, 1948),

35.

42

Timaeus,

42.




9/13

524

ALAN

CUMMING

band,

like the

just

king,

looks

to

the welfare of

his

subject.

In his

Politics

Aristotle

divides

his discussion of domestic

economy

into three

branches43-the

relations of

a

slavemaster to his

slaves,

the relations of

a father to his

children,

and those of a husband to his wife. He distin-

guishes

the

paternal

from the marital form of

rule;

"for

although

the

head of

the

family

rules

both

his wife and children and

rules them

in

both cases as

free

persons,

yet

the kind

of rule is

different,

being

consti-

tutional

in

the wife's

case,

while in the

children's

it is

regal."

He

justifies

this

by

saying

that "males are

by

nature

better

qualified

to

command

than females wherever the union

is not

unnaturally

consti-

tuted,"

and

he

sees a

similarity

in

the relation which the male bears to

the female with the

relation which rulers

in

a constitutional

country

bear

to their

subjects.

It

is this difference

which determines

their

different kinds of

education,

"for

as

every

household is

a

part

of

a

State,

and man

and

wife,

father and

children,

are

parts

of

a

household,

and the

excellence of

any

part

must

have reference

to that of the

whole,

it is

essential to educate our women and children with

constant

reference to

the

policy."

Of this Aristotle

had

no doubt since women formed half the

free

population.

At

the

time when

Philip

and Alexander had

overthrown the Greek

ideal

of

a

city

state,

when

traditional Greek

pagan

beliefs

that had been

subject

to

increasing

criticism

since

the

Sophistic

movement of the

fifth

century

B.C.

had

failed to

support

the

people,

and

when

Aristotle

had

left

Athens to

die

at Chalcis

in

Euboea,

Zeno came

to

Athens and es-

tablished his

school

in

the Stoa.

Zeno was born

in

Citium,

a

town

of

Cy-

prus,

of Phoenician

extraction

and most

of his

pupils

and

followers

came

from

parts beyond Greece,

from

countries with a

developing

Hellenistic

culture.

During

the

period

of

the old Stoa-to about 208

B.C.-Zeno,

followed

by

Cleanthes of

Assos

in Asia

Minor,

and

particularly by Chrysippus

of

Soli

in

Cilicia,

constructed

the

"greatest

system

of

organized thought

which

the mind

of man had built

up

for it-

self

in

the Graeco-Roman

world before

the

coming

of

Christianity."44

Edwyn

Bevan

has

drawn attention

to

the

resemblance between

Aeno,

the Hellenized

Phoenician of

Citium,

and

Paul,

the

Hellenized

Hebrew

of Tarsus three and a half centuries later. "The author of the Acts," he

says,

has

assuredly

put

into the mouth

of

his

Paul,

with deliberate

purpose,phrases

characteristic f the

teaching

which

went

back

to Zeno.

Nor

is

the

connection

made

by

the writeran

arbitrary

ne;

it is

the

indexof a

great

fact-the actual

connection

s

history

betweenStoicism

and

Christianity.

Looking

back,

we

can

see more

fully

than

was

possible

at the momentwhenthe

Acts

was

written,

to

43Bk.

1,

Ch. III.

44G.

Murray,

The

Stoic

Philosophy

(London, 1915),

14.




10/13

WOMEN

IN

GREEK

AND

PAULINE

THOUGHT

525

what

extent

the

Stoic

teaching

had

prepared

he

ground

n

the

Mediterranean

lands

for

the

Christian,

what

arge

elementsof

the

Stoic

tradition

were destined

to be taken

up

into

Christianity.45

Whatever Paul

thought

of the

logical,

physical,

and

ethical

aspects

of

Stoicism,

he met

with

an

opinion

which conflicted

with

his

general

views

on

women.

The

Stoics

said that women

from

fourteen

years

old

were

flattered

with the title

of "mistresses"

by

men.

Therefore,

perceiving

hat

they

are

regardedonly

as

qualified

o

give

men

pleasure,

hey

begin

to

adorn

hemselves,

and n that to

place

all their

hopes.

It

is

worthwhile,

herefore,

o

fix

our

attention

on

making

hem sensible

hat

they

are esteemed fornothingelse butthe appearance f a decent andmodest and

discreet

behaviour.46

At about

the same time that

Zeno

arrived

in

Athens,

Epicurus,

the son

of an

Athenian

who

had

emigrated

to

Samos,

paid

his first visit

there;

he

returned about 307

B.C. and

while one school

met

at

the

Stoa

Poecile,

the

Epicurians

gathered

at

their

founder's

Garden.

Repre-

sentatives

of

both

schools

met

Paul

in

Athens47

and

he could

not

have

been

unaware

of the

Epicurean

attitudes

to women.

In

the

fourth

cen-

tury

A.D. Christians were still amazed that

Epicurus

had included

women

in his

appeal,

believing

that

all who

bore the

human

form

could

become wise.

But,

said

Lactantius,

how

were

women

to learn

grammar,

rhetoric,

geometry,

music,

and

astronomy

when

their

girlhood

was

spent

acquiring

domestic

arts.4

Commenting

on the

problem,

so

sharply

raised

by

Lactantius,

how

women

were to

get

enlightenment,

Farrington

says

that

it

"hardly'got

squarely

faced

on

paper

until

More

wrote

his

Utopia."49

Yet there seems

to be

a

more

obvious

parallel

be-

tween

Epicurus's

Garden

and Rabelais'

Abbey

of Theleme which Gar-

gantua

built

for

monks

and

nuns whose

lives would be

regulated

ac-

cording

to

their

free

will

and

pleasure.50

Themista,

the wife

of

Leonteus,

was

a friend

and

correspondent

of

Epicurus;

Idomeneus,

another

member,

had

married

the sister

of

Epicurus's

close friend

Met-

rodorus;

and

the consort

of

Metrodorus had

been an

Athenian

courtesan.

By

the time

of Christ

and Paul

the

teachings

of

Epicurus,

like those of

Cleanthes,

were

too

strongly

entrenched

to

be

rejected

45E.

Bevan,

Stoics and

Sceptics

(Oxford,

1913),

14.

46The

Enchiridion

of

Epictetus,

para.

XL. The discourses

and handbook

of

Epictetus

were

compiled

by

his

disciple

Arrian,

a Greek

by

birth but

a

senator and

consul

of

Rome.

Compare

the

extract

from

the Enchiridion

with

the First

Epistle

of

Paul

to

Timothy,

2: 9.

47Acts,

17:

18.

48Devinae

Institutiones,

III,

xxv,

quoted

in

B.

Farrington,

The

Faith

of

Epicurus

(London,

1967),

107.

49Ibid.,

107.

50See

the final

chapters

of the

first book of

The Histories

of

Gargantua

and

Pantag-

ruel

(Harmondsworth,

1965).




11/13

526

ALAN CUMMING

suddenly

and

completely,

and

although

some

of Paul's

utterances

revealed more

than a

suspicion

of

Epicureanism51

he attacked a

pleasurable morality

which

in essence advocated

eating

and

drinking

"for tomorrow we die." And although he was always grateful for the

hospitality

extended

to

him

by

women52

and

although

he made much

of

the

family

from

the

religion53

he

did

not

expect

women

to take an active

part

in

the instruction of others.

He

told

Timothy

that

women

should

learn

in

silence.54 Paul

wanted women to

maintain

lives

of

faith, love,

holiness,

and

gravity;

he

did

not

deny

them

the

blessings

of

instruction,

but he wanted

them

to

learn

quietly

and

humbly.

It is

not

surprising

that

Paul,

in

his

writings,

revealed a wide

knowledge

of beliefs and events both within and

beyond

Palestine. Born

"a

Pharisee,

the son of

a

Pharisee,"

he received a strict

education,

be-

came

exceedingly

zealous of

the traditions of

his

fathers,55

and looked

on

the Law as "blameless."56

He was

"brought

up

at the feet

of Gama-

liel,"57

the

grandson

of

the

famous

rabbi

Hillel and

so renowned

for

his

learning

that

he was called "the

glory

of the

Law." It was

from

him

that

Paul received

encouragement

to

study

Greek

authors,

and from

him Paul

acquired

his

strong

enthusiasm

for the Jewish Law. He saw

in

practice

the Jewish attitude to

woman;

her

place

was that of

providing

for

her

family

within the

home;

when she had no official

place

in

religion

it was

pointless

to

teach her the Torah.

"The

Talmud,"

says

Gollancz,

considered

hat

in

the

domain

n which

feeling

predominates,

woman

may

best

be seen

to

perfection,

and

n her most

captivating

apacity.

When,

however,

he

mind s trainedat the

expense

of

feeling,

woman oses

her

simple

womanly

and

unsophisticatedway,

she assumes

the masculine

habit,

and

becomes

thereby

alienated

romher natural

mission.58

Paul

has become

"the

eternal

enemy

of

Woman"59

for

several

reasons.

He and Christ

endeavored to

raise women

out of

servility

and

humiliation

by

improving

the institution

of

marriage;

but

succeeding

generations

have

been

hypnotized

by

what are not

more

than

by-

products

or

side-issues

of the

main

tenets

of

Christianity.

Congrega-

tions of nominal

Christian

worshippers

have taken

literally

that

Paul's

utterances

were "not

after man"

but

had been

revealed to

him

by

Christ.60Aristotle had criticized the women of Athens as he had seen

them,

women

who

had done

nothing

to

raise

themselves

out of

sub-

51See

N. W.

DeWitt,

St.

Paul

and

Epicurus

(Minneapolis, 1954),

especially

at

his dis-

cussion

of the influence of

Epicurean

ethics on Paul's

hymn

to love in 1

Corinthians,

13.

521

Corinthians

1:11;

Acts 16:14.

531

Corinthians

1:16,

and

16:16;

Romans

16:5;

Philemon,

2.

541

Timothy

2:11-12.

55Galations

1: 14.

56Philippians

: 6.

57Acts 22:

3.

58H.

Gollancz,

Pedagogics of

the

Talmud and That

of

Modern

Times

(London,

1924),

111.

59G.B.

Shaw,

Preface to Androcles and the Lion.

6?Galatians1: 11-12.




12/13

WOMEN

IN GREEK

AND

PAULINE THOUGHT 527

jection;

similarly,

women

for

centuries

have been

content,

in

a

masochistic sort of

way,

to

obey

Pauline commands

relating

to their

coiffure,clothes,

jewelry,

and

such like. After

all,

it was so

much

easier

to followsomeof Paul'sletters to

Timothy6l

thanto lead the Christian

life in

accordance

with the

Sermonon the Mount.62

The

Fathers of

the

Church,

who

systematized

Christian

doctrine,

did

not

always

bring

a

shining ight

to

bear on the

question

of

women's

place

in

a

Christian

society.

But

ministers,

whose

Biblical

scholarship

was

limited to

mere

exposition,

continuedto

accept

ceremonies and

practices

invented

by

St. Paul and the

Church

Fathers,

because

they

added

to these customs the

spirit

of

Calvin's theocratic Genevan

state-ignoring his injunctionagainstactionswhich ignored he age in

which

men and womenwere

living

because

they

regarded

as

sacrosanct

a

Directory for

the

Public

Worship of

God

and a Form

of Presbyterial

Church-Government

both

of

whichwere

composed

n the

middle

of

the

seventeenth

century

when

the

daily

lives

of

many

Christians

were

extremely

circumscribed).

Little

wonder

that

hope

for women

was

deferred

and

at times

the

female

heart was

sick.63Men and

women

particularly

he women who

have been

content to

live in

subjection-

have avoidedthe embarrassment f

attempting

o

distinguish

between

the

outwardforum

and

the

forum

of conscience.

In

their obsession to

achieve universalasceticism

the Fathers

of

the Church

"explored

all

the

by-ways

to

lust,

and

highlighted

all the

minutiae

of

sexual

behav-

iour,"64

and

succeeding generations

have

been

controlled

by

their

pronouncements

n the relations

between

the

sexes,

the

behaviorof

women,

and the

resulting

orm

of education

which

girls

should

receive.

Clement of

Alexandria,

who

lived

in

the latter

part

of the

second

cen-

tury

and the

early

part

of the

third,

is

acknowledged

o be the first to

bring

the culture of the Greeks

and

the

speculations

of

the

Christian

heretics

to

bear on his

explanation

f Christian ruth. It is

unlikely

hat

he

alone

among

the

early

Fathers looked on

Christianity

as another

school of

philosophy;

he

saw

in

Greek

philosophy

a

preparation

or

Christ and

to

him

Plato was Moses

speaking

n

the

idiom

of

Athens.65

The

manner n whichthe

early

Christian

apologists

composed

a

code

of

behavior which

they

attached

to

Christian

tenets is

made clear in

Clement's

Paedogogue;

n it he

describes

the manner

of

eating

and

drinking,

he

furnishings

f

a

house,

the

way

to dress and to

act

in

so-

ciety,

and the care

of

the

body

which

should

be

expected

of one who

regarded

Christ

as the

Logos

and

who

lived a

Christian

ife. More

61Somescholars

say

that Paul

did not

write the two

epistles

to

Timothy.

62Matthew

5,

6,

7.

63Proverbs,

13:

12.

64F.

Henriques,

TheImmoral Tradition

London,

1966),

13.

65He

was

a saint until

Pope

Benedick

XIV

(1740-58)

struck his name off the

calendar.




13/13

528

ALAN

CUMMING

liberal

than

others,

he insisted

on

the

full

participation

f women

n

all

that became a

man;

he

rejected

the

notion

of masculineand feminine

virtues as heathenishand he

requiredmodesty

in men and

courage

in

women.

Nevertheless,

he said that

every

woman shouldblush at the

thought

that she was a

woman. St. Jerome's

injunction

to

regard

everything

as

poison

which

bore within t

the

seeds of sensual

pleasure

colored

the

instructions

which

he sent from Bethlehem

to

the

Roman

matronLaeta

concerning

he

educationof her

daughter

Paula.66

"Boys

with their wanton

thoughts,"

said

Jerome,

"must

be

kept

from

Paula....

You must

see that

the

child

is not led

away by

the

silly

coaxing

of

women to form a habit

of

shortening long

words

or

of

decking

herself with

gold

and

purple.

Of

these

habits one

will

spoil

her

conversationand

the

other

her

character."

After

Augustine

was

con-

secrated

"archbishop

f the

English

nation"

he

sent,

about 600

A.D.,

the

priest

Laurentiusand the

monk Peter to

Pope

Gregory

c.540-604)

with

several

strange

enquiries

on

matters which had been

attended

to

by

St.

Paul

in

his letters to the Christians

of Corinth.

Is

it

permissible

for

two

brothers o

marry

two

sisters,

providing

here

be

no blood ties

between

the

families?

s it lawfulfor a man to

marry

his

step-mother

or

relative?To

what

degree may

the faithful

marry

with their kindred?

May

an

expectant

mother

be

baptized?

How soon

after

childbirth

may

she enter the church?and how

soon

after childbirth

may

a husband

have

relationswithhis

wife

before

he has washed?Or receive

the sacred

mystery

of Communion?67

dd

as these

questions

were,

their

im-

mediate

object

was the erectionof a code

of

behavior or the "uncouth

English

people."

Universityof NorthQueensland,Australia.

66Extracts from St. Jerome's

letter

to

Laeta:

....

Paula's

nurse must not be

intemperate,

or

loose,

or

given

to

gossip.

Her

bearer must

be

respectable,

and her foster-

father of

grave

demeanour.... Let her

very

dress and

garb

remind

her to Whom she is

promised.

Do not

pierce

her ears

or

paint

her

face,

consecrated to

Christ,

with white

lead

or

rouge.

Do not

hang gold

or

pearls

about her neck or load her

head with

jewels,

or

by

reddening

her hair make it

suggest

the

fires

of Gehenna

....

You

will

answer,

"How shall

I,

a

woman

of the

world,

living

at

Rome,

surrounded

by

a

crowd,

be able

to observe

all

these injunctions?"In that case do not undertake a burden to which you are not equal.

When

you

have

weaned

Paula

as

Isaac was

weaned,

and when

you

have clothed

her as

Samuel

was

clothed,

send her to

her

grandmother

and

aunt;

give up

this most

precious

of

gems,

to

be

placed

in

Mary's

chamber and to rest in the

cradle where the infant Jesus

cried. Let her be

brought

up

in a

monastery,

let

her be one

amid

companies

of

virgins,

let

her learn to avoid

swearing,

let her

regard lying

as

sacrilege,

let

her

be

ignorant

of the

world,

let

her live

the

angelic

life,

while

in the flesh

let

her be without the

flesh,

and

let her

suppose

that all

human

beings

are

like

herself.

67Bede,

A

History

of

the

English

Church

and

People


Bk.

One,

Ch.

27;

esp.

Gregory's

answers to

Augustine's

eight

questions.

Documents

Cumming, Alan_Pauline Christianity and Greek Philosophy. a Study of the Status of Women_JHI, 34, 4_1973_517-528