Hi cate: My answer is a resounding "yes!" Jesus was a feminist!

This applies to the archetypal Jesus. What the historical Jesus was like we'll probably never know. The qualities and characteristics we ascribe to Jesus are the highest idealized virtues of our religious culture.

My personal belief is that Jesus was a humanist and saw women as human.

LB

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is:  I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat or a prostitute.      Rebecca West, 1913

I agree more with LB - the idea of feminism would not be in Jesus mind - it is true he dealt with women differently from others in his culture but  he was not radically different from some others in Judaism, and he would not of called himself a feminist... that is our reading back - on his teachings we can construct a christian feminism. As Kathleen Corley argues in her book -Women and the Historical Jesus- we use his equalitarian ideas to construct a feminism - too often Jesus is made into a feminist at the expense or over against Judaism.

Again this is an interesting question and demands some digging into the historical context to answer.

I'm not really asking whether Jesus was literally a feminist. Clearly the term as it is defined today would not have existed in the time of Jesus. I am speaking more generally. Do you believe Jesus would support the goals of feminism? Do you believe Jesus was, for his era, a feminist for all intents and purposes?

Pan - could you expand on what you mean when you say "at the expense or over against Judaism"?

Often, some in trying to make the historical Jesus a feminist suggest women were treated completely negatively in Judaism and Jesus was absolute different from Judaism of his time - Jill Levine has written on this danger of not really understanding the place of women in Judaism by making Jesus a feminist.

Yes your point is yes if Jesus was around today he would support feminism - this is a what if and one can find in the egalitarian aspects this jump.

cate, could you define what you think Feminist means?

I don't know how the child of God couldn't want equal rights among men and women, if he didn't I have some serious rethinking to do.

 a feminist? No I dont think so, definitely a manly man haha yah that sounds funny..but this guy had no problem yelling or confronting some pharisee that was judging everything by law you could almost see him putting one in a headlock. I think lately people have put him into an effeminate role..where everything is about peace and love and qualities that (i'll probably get called on this) woman have more abundance of then men. But really, when I read the gospels, I didnt see that person at all...and more saw a guy that was ready to call out nay-sayers and deniers. (yes a woman could call out people as well but I dont associate these qualities with feminists...well maybe if there really angry at me) 

Jesus goes beyond our earthly categorizations.  Throughout history, people have tried to make Jesus into the champion of their own cause.  Jesus treated men and women as human beings and helped them realize who they could become.  He didn't judge the woman at the well.  He took who she was and gave her a new view of life through Him.  People have tried to use Jesus to justify war, crusades, capital punishment, murder, racism, etc.  Jesus is not responsible for the garbage people have done in His name.  Of course, for those who deny the historical Jesus the question is already resolved.  For those who accept the historicity of Jesus the question arises, "What do we do with HIm?"  We can deny Him, we can avoid Him, we can ignore Him, or we can search for the truth.

There's something in the Gospel of Thomas where the disciples are all twisted out of shape because Jesus is including Mary Magdalene in his teachings, and Jesus replies that he will make her into a man - pointing out the artificial boundaries, like gender roles, that we create because we can't share power.    Yeah, I would say that Jesus was - in his own context - a feminist.  It's too bad his disciples weren't.

stoneyeyeball - I think there's another option for what we do with Jesus......the search for the truth can take up our entire lives, so in the meantime,  we can just do our best to follow his example - to live like him, to see the world through his eyes - realizing we're always going to fall short of the mark.

I forget the name but one of the supporters of JESUS was a woman who was a seller of purple cloth. Due to how expensive the dye they used in the first century this means very high end expensive merchandise. In the modern era she'd basically be the head of HIS finance committee or something along those lines. This was very out of the ordinary for the first century and really stands out. I would definitely call this feminism.

I think maybe you mean Lydia.

What does that have to do with being in opposition to feminism? Some of the most "manly men" I know freely identify themselves feminists.

I agree with part of this - I agree that my understanding of Jesus is that yes, he was all about love, but no, he couldn't always accomplish what needed to get done through soft gentle talks etc. But again... I find this an odd issue to bring up in the context of feminism. Feminism has nothing to do with being feminine, per se.

Why not?

Why limit the mythical Jesus to feminism?  Why not a humanist or a panenvironmentalist?

Indeed.

Crazy, that is essentially my broad definition of 'feminist'. Someone who believes in the complete and total equality of the sexes, and who harbours no gender-based resentment toward women (consciously or otherwise).

I don't think feminist is limiting him. He can be a feminist, a humanist, and lots of other great stuff all at once. 

I think there is something important in the act of naming him a feminist. It has become such a dirty word, which I believe is dangerous to the ongoing struggle for women's equality.

I think this is truly the issue.  Feminism, like every ism, becomes defined differently through the eyes of each person.  Look above and you see a poster who equates it with effeminatism; I await with unbated breath those who equate it with ball busting.

Those that define feminism as the desire for equality will see Jesus as a feminist because that was his historical position; that anyone could and would be welcomed in the house of the Lord.  He touched the "unclean" because - even today in some cultures - that would have been seen as a significant symbol of inclusivity.

It doesn't matter whether Jesus was out tossing the symbolic tables of his culture's gender roles, but that he was imploring the people to respect and give dignity to each member no matter who they were.

And to me that is my definition of feminism, respect, dignity, and opportunity equally regardless of genitalia.

LB

Does feminist mean large unpleasant person who'll shout at you or someone who believes women are human beings. To me it's the latter, so I sign up.     Margaret Atwood

Yes spockis, of course. We embody all of our ideals in our mythological archetypes. I regard Jesus as a humanist, panenvironmentalist, pacifist, and social activist as well as a feminist.

My world religions teacher used to say that she was a feminist, but didn't find anything wrong about what God did to women in the Old Testament.

he only employed men....clear case of gender bias there.

Thank you. I couldn't remember the name.

 Sometimes I wonder what Jesus would have said to the Apostle Paul, if Paul had become a follower in Christ's lifetime.

Thanks, LBMuskoka, for reminding us the word "feminism" is filtered through a lens.

Personally, I would hope Jesus would be a humanist or  feminist supportive with a male-positive perspective.

My experience is that the feminist movement though perhaps meant for all,  left so many behind... the Chicana, Jews, Native American women, women of colour...

For the women's movement, racism was not effectively dealt with as a theoretical issue. So, many women of colour simply did not join or formed their own alliances in the 60's. Not unlike years earlier with the ELF.  

The witch hunts after Charlotteown that took place at women's centres who hired lesbians also saw many left on the outside.

I would hope Jesus could do better than we have done.

 When I said that Jesus was not a feminist, I did not mean that he was an anti-feminist (indeed feminism did not exist at the time). He was basically someone telling people a way to live their lives.  I think someone mentioned a humanist might be a better term to describe him. But what I see is a softening of the person, and this "gentle Jesus" is more feminine. So maybe I was trying to say he was not as feminine as some may think.

As for him being a feminist, I would say he was not. I don't think there would have been any mass appeal to a feminist at that time. Jesus could have spent his sermons calling for woman's rights, but he didn't. Jesus was not one to call for vast social changes. For an example, several times in the gospel he talks of slaves, and never once says that slaves should be freed from their masters - another important social issue. 

Some Examples of Jesus mentioning slaves:

Luke 17:7"Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'?"

Luke 12:47"And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes"

Luke 12:43"Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes."

Now I know that you will have a counter to this point of view, but first I would like to hear your position, if Jesus was a feminist, tell me why! Don't cut my arguements to bits without giving one yourself!

Thought you might find this interesting :

Read (thoughts of others)

Editors Scholars My Favorite People Anyone

3 entries for this category: The marriage is over if the parters no longer care for each other according to Jesus`teaching(Matthew 19:4-6).   By: Takao Ogawa - March 18, 2009 - Public Category: Jesus the Feminist   Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation Because Femininity also is the other one of the human being.   By: Takao Ogawa - December 02, 2008 - Public Category: Jesus the Feminist   Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation JESUS WAS A FEMINIST You might want to read my new book, "Jesus Was a Feminst" (Sheed & Ward, 2007).  Leonard Swidler   By: Leonard Swidler - October 25, 2008 - Public Category: Jesus the Feminist Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation

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Sorry I couldn't clean up all the stuff on the right hand side.

Jesus definately treated woman differently then most men did at that time. Perhaps because he didnt blame all woman for Eve eating the apple?

Ok, now... here comes the angry Jew in me. Some of what is supposedly in the Hebrew Scriptures is viewed through a New Testament lens or our modern lens and what others said it meant. That is revisionist history and not actual history. The same as some of what came out of Christianity years later in their dogma and doctrine is not the same as the Scriptures contain.

The Bible says nothing about Jezebel being a whore or Mary Magdalene being one.

We forget Jesus was a Jew. If the Jewish law said it was not done, it was not done without punishment or sanction, not even by Jesus.

Judaism was far less repressive than we like to believe. So, too was Christianity once upon a time with Prisca, Pheobe, Lydai.... We think that way because it became very repressive and we would like to blame ancients far more than blaming more modern folks who look, talk and act like us. Heck many of those those ancients came from  Goddess religions... we like to be better than they were, though....

Try reading "Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue". There you can find Sophia of Gortyn, Rufina,Gaudentia, Marin, Veturia Paulla... you can also find out about the push to make Jael a man because the role made no sense if she was a she.

Our knowledge of ancient cultures is thin and it is hard to believe there were women leaders all over the world in their time and we did not let women to vote in provincial elections until 1916. We also love the woman as property thing, because where they once were of "independent means" and queens in ancient times we only declared  them "persons" in 1929.

The Scriptures also contain things that seem to contradict things and things we have to discern. If woman is less than man, why did Exodus 21 address females on the same level as men.

One can also point out all the woman as inferior verses in the Christian Scriptures. There were many policies of a developing people and church, including going backwards instead of forwards.  Judaism is viewed as stagnant in ways it is spoken about at times.

Stevie I agree Jill levine as a new testament scholar makes the point of how we do not really understand the times and attitudes - also Kathleen Corley in women and the historical Jesus -

On another point there is the womenist movement of women of color who found some types of feminism did not meet their needs.

On a final note many scholars have rejected the reading of Paul as anti woman and find points in his writing that can be used today to support a type of feminism - 

I may be coming to this late, but here is my two cents.

Perhaps we should start by making clear what we mean by feminist.  Rather than being a single feminism, there are a number of different approaches.  I think most of you are talking about a kind of feminism that simply seeks gender parity and tends to view women and men as more of less the same.  Another version of feminism would also seek gender parity while maintaining that there are profound and important differences between men and women.  We might say that these are as much humanist as they are feminist.  There are yet other versions of feminism that place women at the centre of historical and social analysis. All of these are quite legitimate and have some common goals.

So what about Jesus?  My understanding is that the historical Jesus spoke in the language of his time (or at least, the Gospel writers did).  Nonetheless, there seems to be in the Gospels a genuine concern on the part of Jesus for women and their social position (or lack of position) which is not surprising, given the passion of Jesus for those who were excluded or marginal.  I am also not surprised that Mary Magdalene figures so importantly, although the fantasy that she was his lover is just fantasy (sometimes I think that some folks think every relationship has to be romantic and thus the same people who insist on the Mary-Jesus gf/bf story are probably the same ones who love romance novels.  No harm done as long as they don't get too hysterical about the historical).  It is also intriguing that the first people to see the Risen Christ are the women.

We also know that the church of Paul was very likely egalitarian in terms of gender, although there was apparently some early revisionism of Paul's writing to make it appear that this was not the case.  Certainly many prominent women were drawn to Christianity in those early years at least in part because they could achieve a measure of equality not possible in pagan Roman civilization. The role of women in early Christianity unfortunately disappeared, although it probably lingered on in the British Isles a little longer.

On balance, it seems to me that we could anachronistically refer to Jesus as a feminist, with all the caveats of using modern terms to describe the ancient world.