Wednesday, June 4, 2025: Where are the Women?

Today we begin again with analysis from our friend and theologian Diarmuid O’Murchu:

The queer theorist has noticed something even queerer! According to the theologian, Christ Greenough (114), “Queer approaches in Biblical studies breathe fresh air into texts saturated in patriarchy, misogyny, and negativity towards same-sex and transgendered lives.” 

From Acts which recounts the last words of Jesus before his resurrection and the first acts of the apostles:

5Jesus says to the disciples:” “ For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk[c] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In this case it is the misogyny we have to deal with. What has happened to the women referenced in Acts 1:14? Why are they excluded from the ecclesiastical lockdown? Why have we made them invisible?  

Surely, Luke must have heard of Mary Magdalene and her co-disciples, their outstanding witness at the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and their crucial role in the unfolding of the Church in its early decades, a good glimpse of which we get in Romans, chapters 15 and  16? 

From Romans Chapter 15: Paul writes of his intention to go to Spain with a stop in Rome so he can visit the community there. He writes: “I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.”

Paul then writes to let the community in Rome to acknowledge people who have helped him spread the good news: Note how many women he mentions:

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.(a house church!)

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding amon the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.

Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

So we ask – what’s happening with the writings of Luke?  Does he want to ignore or suppress that information about the critical role of women that Paul emphasizes?  

This is the response of theologian Elizabeth Johnson:

“Desiring to impress his readers in the Roman Empire with the trustworthiness of this new movement, Luke consistently depicted men in public leadership roles and, in order to conform with the empire’s standards, kept women decorously under control in supportive positions. 

Having eyes mainly for elite men, he fudged women into an insignificant background ignoring the leadership roles they in fact held. . . .  Consequently, Acts does not contain a representative picture of church leadership in the early decades. It tells only part of the story.” (Elizabeth Johnson, Truly our Sister, 300).