8 Fear, History, and the Handmaid's Tale

History, Fear, and
the Handmaid’s Tale
O Sister, Where Art Thou?
Part 8

Hildegard’s SistersDamian’s Boy’s Club

Damian’s Boy’s Club Apostle Paul (5 – 67?)
1 Timothy
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume
authority over a man; she must be quiet.
1 Corinthians
“For man did not come from woman, but woman
from man; neither was man created for woman, but
woman for man.”

Damian’s Boy’s Club Tertullian (155-240)
On the Apparel of Women
“…do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? ...You are the
devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are
the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him
whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed
so easily God’s image,
man. On account of your
desert – that is, death –
even the Son of God had
to die.”

Damian’s Boy’s Club Jerome (347-420)
“You've already learned the miseries of marriage. It's like
unwholesome food, and now that you have relieved your heaving
stomach of its bile, why should you return to it again like a dog to its
vomit?”
On 1 Corinthians 7: 1
“...if it is good not to touch a woman, it is bad
to touch one: for there is no opposite to
goodness but badness.”
“Christ loves virgins more than others,
because they willingly give what is not
commanded them.”

Damian’s Boy’s Club Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Literal Commentary on Genesis
“What is the difference whether it is in a
wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress
that we must beware of in any woman.”
Literal Commentary on Genesis
“Woman does not possess the image of God
in herself but only when taken together with
the male who is her head, so that the whole
substance is one image...

Damian’s Boy’s Club St. Peter Damian (1007-1072)

Damian’s Boy’s Club St. Peter Damian (1007-1072)
(To the Wives of Pastors)
“I speak to you, O charmers of the clergy, appetizing flesh of the
devil, that castaway from paradise, poison of the minds, death of
souls, companions of the very stuff of sin, the cause of your ruin.
You, I say, I exhort you women of
the ancient enemy, you bitches,
sows, screech-owls, night-owls,
bloodsuckers, she-wolves…
...come now, hear me, harlots,
prostitutes, with your lascivious
kisses, you wallowing places for fat
pigs, couches for unclean spirits…”

The Second Lateran Council (1139)

1. Clergy are no longer allowed to marry.
2. This was socially disruptive and took centuries to implement.
3. Why did the Church go this way?

1. Clergy are no longer allowed to marry.
2. This was socially disruptive and took centuries to implement.
3. Why did the Church go this way?
A. The spiritual dilemma: Women compete with God for the souls of men.
(1). How dedicated to Christ are you?
(2). Demonizing women; they are “The Gateway of the Devil”.
B. Ritual purity; Sex and impurity are seen as the same.
C. The institutionalizing of authority and control.

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
The Two Paths
“Aut maritus aut murus” (either marry or enclosure)

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Doctor of the Church, prophet, writer, preacher, abbess, musician...
Anchoress
Abbess

Theologian
Mystic
Author
Visionary
“But when I had passed my youth and
attained the age of perfect strength, I heard
a voice from heaven saying ... write what
you see and hear.”

Theologian
Mystic
Author
Visionary
“So God gave him (Adam) a helper which
is his mirror image, woman, in whom the
whole human race lay hidden...
...And the man and the woman were thus
complementary, so that one works through
the other, because man is not called ‘man’
without woman, nor is woman without
man, called ‘woman’”.

“God too cannot be seen, but can
be known through his creation, just
as the body of a man cannot be
seen on account of his clothes.
And just as the inner brightness of
the sun cannot be seen, so God
cannot be seen by mortal man, but
he may be understood through faith
as the external shape of the sun can
be seen by the watching eye.”

Preaching Tours

The Doctor is In
Musician

Dear Hildegard...
Saint & Doctor

How was she able to do it?

How was she able to do it? PROPHET

Mechthild of Magdeburg (1207-1282)
“The Ancient Sybil of the Rhine”
The Beguines
They were Christian lay religious
orders active in Northern Europe.
They were semi-monastic without
formal religious vows, free to leave
the community at any time.

Mechthild of Magdeburg (1207-1282)
“The Ancient Sybil of the Rhine”
The day
of my spiritual awakening
was the day I saw—
and knew I saw—
all things in God
and God in all things.
Love your fellow beings—
for they are all
tabernacles of God.
The Flowing Light of the Godhead

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church, Evangelist, Peace Maker, Political Activist...

Asceticism.
Mystical Marriage to God.
From Mysticism to Action.
The Dialogue of Divine Providence.
The Stigmata.

“Be who God meant you to be and
you will set the world on fire.”

Julian of Norwich (1342- 1416)
Crazy Cat Saint, Mystic, Writer, Spiritual Counselor...
“But God forbid that you should
say or assume that I am a teacher,
for that is not and never was my
intention; for I am a woman,
ignorant, weak and frail.
But I know very well that what I
am saying I have received by the
revelation of him who is the
sovereign teacher.”

Black Death & Revolt.
Spiritual Counselor.
The Revelation of Divine Love.
The Gender of God.
The Hazelnut.

“...and all shall be well, and all
manner of thing shall be well.”

Joan of Arc (1412- 1431)
Patron Saint of France
This illiterate teenage peasant girl
changed history.

Teresa of Avila
Gertrude of Helfta
Hadewijch of Antwerp
Heloise &
Peter
Abelard
Clare of Assisi

Damian’s Boy’s Club
She’s a Witch!

Malleus Maleficarum (1486)
A manual for witch-hunters,
a “burst of misogyny without
parallel in Western history.”

Witch Hunts (1560-1760)
1. Associated with the devil
Making a pact with the devil
Having sex with the devil
Deformed child could be interpreted as “of the devil”
2. About 200,000+ “witches” were burned in northern Europe.
3. Scapegoats
Witches were mostly poor women.
Scapegoats for problems, i.e. famine, sickness...

The Middle Ages
SUMMARY
1. Women were God’s Competition and Tool of the Devil.
2. Two Paths: Marriage or Monastery.
3. Women were expected to be Passive.
4. Prophecy is the Key to being heard.

Middle Ages
Two Paths: Marriage or Monastery
The Reformation
One Path: Marriage
(It is still a Male Dominated World.)

Katharine von Bora
“Let them bear children until they are dead
of it; that is what they are for.”
-The Young Single Luther
“Next to God’s Word there is
no more precious gift on
earth than holy
matrimony…”
-The Older Married Luther

Runaway Nun
A Role Model
A Business Woman
“My Lord Katie”
“You have complete control. I
concede to you the control of the
household, providing my rights are
preserved. Female government has
never done any good.”
Katharine von Bora Luther (d. 1552)
My Lord Katie

Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549)
The Nagotiator, Defender of the Persecuted, Advisor to the King
Higly Educated
Worked both sides
Santuary for many Reformers
Financial Support for many Reformers
Reformed Abbys in France.

Runaway Nun, married former Priest
School for girls in Geneva
Wrote a history of Geneva
Wrote defending the Reformation
Coresponded with Marguerite
Criticized Calvin (but respected)
On the Wall!
Marie Dentière (c. 1495-1561)
The Lightning Rod

Marie Dentière (c. 1495-1561)
The Lightning Rod
“For what God has given you and revealed to us women, no more
than men should we hide it and bury it in the earth. And even though
we are not permitted to preach in public congregations and churches,
we are not forbidden to write and admonish one another in all
charity.”
(Epistle to Marguerite de Navarre, 53)

Letters and Public opposition to the University of Ingolstadt.
Argula von Grumbach (1492-c.1554)
The Debater
“That most noble woman, Argula, is there making a valiant fight with
great spirit, boldness of speech and knowledge of Christ... I commend
her to you, that Christ through this infirm vessel may confound the
mighty and those who glory in their strength.”
(Martin Luther)
“What have Luther and
Melanchthon taught save the Word
of God? You have condemned them.
You have not refuted them.”

Jeanne d’Albret (1528-1572)
The Little Princess, Queen Mother
Daughter of Marguerite de Navarre
Mother of King Henry IV
Opennly Protestant
Sponsored Translation of Scritpure
Supported Huguenots

Jeanne d’Albret (1528-1572)
The Little Princess, Queen Mother
“Although I am just a little
Princess, God has given me the
government of this country so I may
rule it according to His Gospel and
teach it His Laws. I rely on God,
who is more powerful than the King
of Spain.”

Quakers
“And the priest said to her, ‘I permit not a woman to speak in the
church’…
Then I spoke ...what the woman was that was not to speak, and what
the woman was that might prophesy and speak: and it broke them
all to pieces and confused them...”
Gerorge Fox
(1624-1691)

Quakers
“And the priest said to her, ‘I permit not a woman to speak in the
church’…
Then I spoke ...what the woman was that was not to speak, and what
the woman was that might prophesy and speak: and it broke them
all to pieces and confused them...”
Gerorge Fox
(1624-1691)
Gift, not Gender

"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a
dog walking on his hind legs. It is
not done well; but you are surprised
to find it done at all."
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Margaret Fell Fox (1614-1702)
Judge Thomas Fell
Swarthmoor Hall
Supported Quakers
Marriage to George Fox
Women’s Speaking Justified

The Reformation
SUMMARY
1. One Path: Marriage (monastery is no longer an option).
2. Diversity in Protestantism (Still a Man’s World).
3. Most Reformers were married, they had a woman in their life.
4. Priesthood of the Believer includes women.
5. Education for girls began to become common.

Second Great Awakening (19th century)
Purify the Country!
Fueled Women’s Rights, Abolition, and Temperance Movements.
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) Sojourner Truth (d. 1883)

Sojourner Truth
"Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be
something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and
the women of the North, all talking about rights, the white men will
be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
...Look at me! Look at my arm! I could have
ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns,
and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man-
when I could get it- and bear the lash as well! And
ain't I a woman?
I have borne thirteen children, and seen them
most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out
with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me!
And ain't I a woman?”

First Wave (1830’s – 1900’s)
Susan B. Anthony Sojourner Truth

D. L. Moody and the Early Moody Bible Institute
“MBI women openly served as
pastors, evangelists, pulpit supply
preachers, Bible teachers and even
in the ordained ministry.”
“Consequently, the early MBI
stands as an appropriate
educational symbol of
‘fundamentalist feminism’.”
Janette Hassey

Council on Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood (CBMW)
Council for Biblical Equality
(CBE)
BOTH
Identify as Evangelical
Teach Christ as Central
Hold Scripture as Authoritative

Council on Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood (CBMW)
Council for Biblical Equality
(CBE)
Egalitarian
Patriarchy is result of sin
Leadership is based on gifts,
not gender
Hierarchical
Patriarchy is God’s plan
Leadership is based on gifts
and gender

8 Fear, History, and the Handmaid's Tale

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