The 'woman' question

I Timothy

No wonder Paul has had a bad press regarding his teaching about woman's place.*

I find it hard to believe that Paul would teach this way. Referring to Adam and Eve (chapter 2) to back up the teaching considerably weakens the writing: there is nothing spiritual about this teaching; nothing to inspire. In contrast, one thinks of how Paul treats the couple Priscilla and Aquila: when introduces them as his loved helpers, he names Priscilla first (Rom. 16:3).**

My Harper Collins Bible Dictionary gives me a good interpretation of Eve (under the entry on Women in the New Testament, New Approaches):

It is clear…that at the creation, woman was not intended to be subordinate to man, for the Hebrew word ezer, normally translated “helper” (Gen. 2:18) is frequently used of God (e.g. Ps. 30:10; 54:4) and does not imply subordination. Eve is portrayed as the spokesperson for the couple, and during her talk with the serpent she presents theological arguments. She is never portrayed as wanton, or as tempting or tempted sexually, nor does the biblical author single her out for greater blame than her partner.

And doesn't the textbook of Christian Science (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy) say of Eve that she was the first to acknowledge her fault? Hey! This is good stuff. (Isn't everything in Science and Health “good stuff”?):

Truth, cross-questioning man as to his knowledge of error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She says,“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat; as much as to say in meek penitence, “Neither man nor God shall father my fault.” She has already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence she is the first to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to manifest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man.

Having to some extent come to terms with the “woman” question, I can now be grateful for the truly inspiring words in other parts of the letter.

Under the sub-heading “Gratitude for Mercy” in Chapter 1, one finds this:

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the foremost.

(I Tim 1:12-15 NRSV)

I will leave I Timothy here to get on with II Timothy.

Joyce Voysey

* Ed. It is my understanding that most Bible scholars today are disinclined to accept these letters as original Pauline writings.

** Ed. Romans 16:3 opens with a warm introduction to another woman, namely Phebe, who Paul refers to as "our sister".

The ideal church leader

In its Introduction to I Timothy, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) says that these letters are valuable “because of their concern with leadership offices and pastoral oversight of the churches.”

So, I do well to take heed of the teaching of these little letters, which scholars seem to agree were probably not actually written by Paul. I note that I and II Timothy are banded together with Titus and called The Pastoral Letters. (Note for our editor: could we include Titus in this reading?)

Under a section called Language and Sources, NRSV promises that I Timothy contains lists of vices and virtues! Also, the church and the role of women seems to be prominent. It is noteworthy that since the coming of Christian Science, women have been winning more influence in some mainstream churches. What a role model women have in the life and work of Mary Baker Eddy - uncovering the Science of Christianity, founding a church, establishing a thought-influencing newspaper in The Christian Science Monitor.

I rejoice to read that Timothy was considered to be “the ideal church leader, whose sound doctrine and morals stand in sharp contrast to the corrupt lives and words of the false teachers.” So, I feel I can compare these letters with those written by Mary Baker Eddy to the loyal students who assisted her so nobly in the founding of the Christian Science movement.

I guess I need to know who the false teachers are and what they are teaching. I hope I am ready to learn from I and II Timothy.

Joyce Voysey

Rembrandt and Timothy

Rembrandt's painting of the child Timothy with his grandmother Lois is wonderfully descriptive, especially in its use of light and shade. 

The author of the two Timothy letters in the Bible has Paul saying to this exceptional young man (who Paul first met on his second major voyage when Timothy was still a teenager): 

"For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well" (2 Timothy 1:5).

How precious is the network of friends and family around us. Mary Baker Eddy once wrote to a student of Christian Science: 

"You, dear one, are God's appointed to stand if others do not...Not but you can go apart to pray--this we all need to do, and I want you to do it. But note this, do not go where, if you get frightened, you have no one well skilled in truth to encourage you and neutralize error with Truth."

So then, when Paul and his friends were assaulted by hostile Jews and Gentiles (Acts 14: 5-7, 19-20), with Paul being almost stoned to death, how important it was that "the disciples stood round about him" with the result that he was able to continue on to Derbe the very next day. 

Together they fought "the good fight of faith" (I Timothy 6: 12), and this network of believers was an encouragement to them all and surely enabled them and their families to continue in their Christly work of healing and of establishing church communities "before many witnesses" (I Timothy 6:12). 

Julie Swannell

Ancestry and Adam

The other day I opened the Bible to Zechariah 1:1. It begins by telling us about Zechariah's immediate ancestry – the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. Then I realised that it is a general practice in the Old Testament to state right at the beginning, the writer's parentage. If we turn to the New Testament, we find really serious ancestry recorded for Jesus in Matthew – from Abraham to Joseph, Mary's husband.

I was fascinated at Luke's placement of Jesus' genealogy. I couldn't find it for a while, but there it is in chapter 3. Luke starts at Jesus and goes back past Abraham all the way to Adam, who he declares was the son of God. (In Christian Science, we might question that.)

I can see a similarity now between the Bible's recording of lineage, and Mrs. Eddy's brief mention of her forebears. She was so in tune with the Scriptures that she would instinctively follow its pattern.

I was satisfied that I had covered all that I wanted to about genealogy, so I turned back to Retrospection and Introspection - the Faith-cure chapter - and there we find the closing words, “the race of Adam” (p. 55:8). 

Mortals are indeed descended from Adam, but note how Science and Health defines that name in its Glossary: “Error; a falsity; the belief in 'original sin', sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, – of God and His creation; a curse; ...” p. 579:15). This is the reason mortals need Christian Science: it is the Christ teaching about true manhood. This is the antidote for mortality.

The “platform” in Science and Health (pp. 330-340) gives further instruction on the word Adam. See page 338. It has been my habit when on duty in my church's Reading Room to tune in to the continuous reading of Science and Health on JSH-Online. Last Thursday it was at these numbered paragraphs. The reading is exquisite, the reader being a man with a beautiful English-style accent. Could it be Australian?

Joyce Voysey

Ed. Importantly, Eddy writes (Ret. p. 21:13-15, 25-27) "It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man's real existence...Mere historic incidents and personal events are frivolous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics of Truth." 

Familiarity with the life of Mary Baker Eddy

In the chapter Foundation-stones (from September's book Retrospection and Introspection pp 56-58), I find a war theme: "War is waged between the evidences of Spirit and the evidences of the five physical senses; and this contest must go on until peace be declared by the final triumph of Spirit in immutable harmony" (p. 56:12-15).

In this chapter, there is one “I” to tell us that this is part of Mary Baker Eddy's story. (With Eddy, it is never, “This is what I say is true”, but “This is what God has shown me to be Christian-scientifically true: the universal truth which is God in action.”) She writes: "The following ideas of Deity...I found to be demonstrable rules in Christian Science..." (p. 56:1).

Then in the chapter Sin, Sinner, and Ecclesiasticism, we read: “Christian Science gives vitality to religion ...” (p. 66:3).  How quiet is that vitality. 

Merriam-Webster (dictionary) lists the following for "vitality":

1.     Lively or animated character

2.     Power of enduring

3.     The peculiarity distinguishing the living from the un-living

4.     Capacity to live and develop; also: physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed.

It seems so important for us to grasp even a little of what Christian Science teaches about sin.

In my research of JSH-Online to seek what other students have written about our book, I found the following, titled History, by Archibald McLellan, in the June 29, 1907 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

"In these days when so much is being written about our Leader and Christian Science, it is well for us to remember that Mrs. Eddy has not left the world in ignorance of her early history, nor of the early history of the Cause which she has founded. We do not need to turn for information on these subjects to the alleged histories which have been published by unfriendly magazines and newspapers...

"The study of this book is important to Christian Scientists...and every Christian Scientist should be as familiar with it as they are with our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.""  (Emphasis added - J. Voysey.)

And here is how the Editor of The Christian Science Journal of December, 1891, welcomed the new work:

"The new book, Retrospection and Introspection, by the author of Science and Health, is a treasure of Love; and is a wonderful adjustment of the questions of thy day, to the students of Science and Health. It disentangles many a vexed problem which has caused severe and prolonged struggles. In our great need the Light has come."

Joyce Voysey