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A Seminar Paper on Empowerment of Women in Christianity: Indian
Perspective
Submitted to: Rev. Biju Krishnan Submitted by: Alphamol G. Subject: History of Christianity
1. Introduction: Samuel Jayakumar agrees that the missionaries of the 19th century thought of themselves as change agents. The majority of 19th-century Christian missionaries who worked among the underprivileged and marginalized communities saw themselves as God's representatives, rescuing/delivering the people from the power of sin and Satan. In their minds, the Christian mission was a powerful force for liberation, sent by God to deliver men and women from the shackles of ignorance, false religion, and oppressive social customs and practices.^1 2. Women in the Bible The Bible mentions female participants in God's ministry in both the Old and New Testaments. Women served in a variety of roles. We can infer that women can take on responsibilities in various areas of the workplace, including Gospel ministry and eldership, from their examples (1 Peter 2:21; 5:3). 2.1. Old Testament women: God created man and woman in His image and gave them both authority to reign over the earth. The following are some of the women who played important role in the salvation history in the OT. The Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah dared to disobey the king who commanded them to slaughter the male babies of Hebrew women. Through their refusal to be oppressed, they became deliverers of many Hebrew babies. Three other brave women who dared to disobey the king in order to save the life of Moses are Moses’ mother, his sister Miriam and Pharaoh’s daughter. Judith had the courage to rebuke the council of elders, with wisdom and prudence, for their lack of commitment to the covenant relationship with God and challenged their decision. As a committed daughter of Israel, she took up the mission of saving Israel. She, thus, received the title of blessed among all the women of the earth. Judith’s maidservant is another empowered woman. Judith’s courageous endeavour was carried out by the supporting hand of her maidservant: she summoned the elders to Judith’s house; assisted her for all the preparations before, during and after the defeat of their enemy; accompanied Judith to the enemy’s camp and stayed with her in the tent of Holofernes; and she waited outside and guarded Judith while she killed the enemy and carried his head to the people of Bethulia. The next is Deborah, a prophetess and a woman judge who ruled the country. She was instrumental in defeating Sisera and redeeming Israel from the hands of King Jabin of Canaan. As a prophetess, she was a spokesperson for God. As a judge she made decisions on God’s behalf.^2 Esther was commissioned to rule as a queen and positively acknowledged the Queen of Sheba. Esther sacrificed her plans as a young woman and allowed herself to be taken into the king’s harem in order to be in a position to speak on behalf of God’s people at the appropriate time. Thus, she saved her nation and became a queen, who held a high position of leadership in the land and cared for the poor. We have several women who are recognized as prophetesses in the Bible - women such as Anna, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Philip’s four daughters. Among them, perhaps, the most widely unknown female prophet is Huldah. After the discovery of the Book of the Law, King Josiah sent five prominent official to Huldah and according to her oracle led the people in an act (^1) Samuel Jayakumar, “Christianity as a Change Agent in Indian Society: Service to the Marginalized Children andWomen,” Indian Church History Review XLIII/1 (June, 2009): 62 - 63. (^2) http://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Empowering-Women-in-the-Church-Sis-Licia- Pithuparambil.pdf (Accessed on 29th Novemeber 2022)
of covenant renewal. Apparently, the King did not seek out any of the leading male prophets of the day, such as Zephaniah and Jeremiah. 3 2.2. Women and God’s Mission in the New Testament: Mathew’s gospel presents a confident, bold and courageous woman who took the initiative to come out on her own and makes her request to Jesus to cure her daughter using the language of the Jewish prayer. The Canaanite woman during her dialogue with Jesus redefined Jesus’ mission to the gentiles. For, then, Jesus was of opinion that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is her direct and continued conversation that changed his attitude and extended his horizon. In the end, she is lauded by Jesus for her great faith. The gospel of John presents empowered women, who play significant leadership role. Among them are Mary, mother of Jesus, the Samaritan woman, Mary and Martha and Mary Magdalene. Mary, Mother of Jesus challenged convention in conceiving him and placed herself at risk of disgrace and death. At the wedding feast at Cana, she went ahead confidently to tell the servants to “do what he tells you” and was instrumental in letting Jesus perform his first miracle despite his statement “My hour has not yet come.” She was there at the foot of the cross and again at strengthening the shattered apostles in the upper room.^4 The Samaritan Woman questions Jesus at every significant moment of the narrative. She challenges the religious association between the Jews and the Samaritans as well as the social association between men and women. She appears to be a woman well versed in her religious traditions. She was empowered to become a "missionary", a preacher of the good news to a whole community of Samaritans, who otherwise might not have received this good news! Martha’s sister Mary stepped outside her proper housewifely role and sat at the feet of Jesus to be taught by him. The undaunted action of a woman enabled her to touch Jesus’ garment and to experience the divine healing. She was considered an outcast – unclean, contaminating all whom she touched. She risked the fury of the crowd with the hope that if she could touch his garment she would be made whole. Her faith made Jesus not only heal her but also to bless her by addressing her ‘daughter’, and asking her to go in peace. The bravery and audacity of Mary Magdalene made her the apostle of the apostles, the great announcer of the resurrection.^5 According to Luke there were four women, who proclaimed and declared the good news of the resurrection to the frightened disciples. “Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other woman with them who told this to the apostles.”^6 Jesus made them the harbingers of the good news, the bearers of the good news, the messengers of the resurrection and the new heralds of Christianity.
3. The Empowered Women in the Early Church: The Prophet Joel prophesied about the future outpouring of the Holy Spirit, "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, ... Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit."^7 Further, Jesus said after his resurrection "when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and to the ends of the earth."^8 When the 120 people gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, the count included women. In the same way, both men and women (^3) http://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Empowering-Women-in-the-Church-Sis-Licia- Pithuparambil.pdf (Accessed on 29th Novemeber 2022) (^4) http://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Empowering-Women-in-the-Church-Sis-Licia- Pithuparambil.pdf (Accessed on 29th Novemeber 2022) (^5) http://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Empowering-Women-in-the-Church-Sis-Licia- Pithuparambil.pdf (Accessed on 29th Novemeber 2022) (^6) http://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Empowering-Women-in-the-Church-Sis-Licia- Pithuparambil.pdf (Accessed on 29th Novemeber 2022) (^7) Joel 2:28-29. (^8) Acts 1:8.
marry his daughter before her menses.” Thus, there had been practice in India that, when a girl would reach at the age of 8, she would be considered to be an adult and married off.Young girls, some of whom even before attaining puberty were married to old men (especially toBrahmin priests) who had other wives. Many old men would marry young girls of nine or ten years in exchange for money. It was sin for a girl to remain unmarried in her father’s house after the age of puberty. Through this practice, girls had been doomed to have a miserable life. This also included injury of girls and premature maternity.^14 The Christian missionaries criticized the Indian practice of child marriage. They suggested that the girls’ marriageable age should be fixed at 16. Finally, because of the contributions of missionaries, the Child Marriage Restriction Act came into active in 1929, which prohibited child marriage.^15 5.1.3. Abolition of Sati practice Sati was an act of a widow entering the pyre of her dead husband voluntarily or involuntarily, most often involuntarily; because it was considered a curse to live as widow in the traditional joint family. It was believed that after the death of the husband, the wife's chastity and faithfulness is proved only by committing sati. Those widows who refused to jump into the funeral pyre were not allowed to re-marry. G. N. Morje asserts that, "Both the British Government and the missionaries considered 'sati' as a cruel and inhuman practice.”^16 It was on April 1, 1799; Carey first time witnessed the practice of sati. The complete eradication of the practice of sati would have been only in 1987. However, it is essential to note that today the sati is not being practiced just because of the initiation taken by Carey.^17 5.1.4. Widow Remarriage The prohibition of sati immediately created new problem; as rightly pointed out by G. N. Morje that the prohibition of sati did not make much impact on women's status, because after the prohibition of sati women started facing a living death in widowhood. Widows often were of them confidence to wear upper-cloth. However, when the Nadar women began to put on cloths to cover their breasts, it led to a widespread conflict with the higher castes that came to be known as the "Upper-Cloth Rebellion". These women were ill-treated and beaten up very badly. So, the missionaries presented the entire matter to the Madras government. Due to the force of Sir Charles Trevalyan, the Madras government wrote to the Rajah on 6th May 1859 to concede the Nadar women privilege to wear the upper-cloth.^18 Finally, once more the Madras government interfered in this matter and as a result, Rajah issued a decree in 1865 permitting the women of the all castes to cover their breasts. Thus, due to the intervention of missionaries and their contribution, Nadar women were permitted to wear upper- cloth.^19
6. Contribution of Indian Women in the Ministry According to Sakhi M. Athyal, Indian women faced several obstacles in their ministry. People questioned their intellectual abilities; women were called “water buffaloes”, but they proved themselves as capable of learning, growing and serving as men. God helped them to overcome the cultural and theological problems of the Church and society, to become strong and powerful vessels for the ministry. Below are some Indian women, who actively participated in the ministry during 19 th^ and 20 th^ centuries. 6.1. Rajdei (^14) G. N. Morje, Sociocultural Change in Maharashtra and the Christians (N.p.:Primalogue Books, 2015), 125. (^15) Ibid. (^16) Ibid., 134. (^17) D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Themes (Chennai: Published by Author, 2016), 72. (^18) Aleyamma Zachariah, Modern Religious and Secular Movements in India (Bangalore: Theological Book Trust,1992), 14. (^19) Aleyamma Zachariah, Modern Religious and Secular Movements in India (Bangalore: Theological Book Trust,1992), 14.
Rajdei was a Sikh convert, who served the Lord in Punjab for fifty years. She was not highly educated, but her simple faith and self-sacrificing zeal helped her to be an effective minister of the Lord. During Rajdei’s early ministry, she was beaten by the villagers and became disheartened. However, her sweetness and patience soon won the hearts of the villagers, and the people began to love and respect her. Eventually, she was so successful in the ministry.^20 6.2. Aleyamma Ommen Aleyamma Ommen was born in Kerala. After her conversion, she began to witness to her family.Her husband teased her, but she did not give up. She started visiting homes and preaching in meetings. She did not have much knowledge of the Bible, but still she was so effective in witness. Her main method of preaching was sharing her own testimony and telling how God had changed her as a person. Aleyamma was also a good singer and composer of gospel music. She had a team of singers, who communicated the message of the gospel through music. She held campaigns throughout Kerala. Many people came to know the Lord through these campaigns and revival broke out in many places. Aleyamma also went to Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka to conduct evangelistic campaigns. She also had the gift of healing and casting out demons. She used them to heal people and delivered people from the clutches of demons. God used her in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Her ministry lasted until 1967. Her ministry brought both men and women to the Lord and her example led many women into ministry.^21 Conclusion: It is deeply regrettable that the freedom and equality for women which partially emerged in the first century was again soon submerged. The process of emancipation in patriarchal cultures takes generations of collective revelation and education, and seems to be never quite complete. The men of the Early Church had not experienced women in public office, academia, or executive positions in the Ancient World, and thus doubting women’s abilities, drew false and harmful conclusions which they supported with selective scriptures and distorted theology. But Jesus, by word and example, had sowed the subversive seeds of love and service, and Paul developed the Christian ideals of the worth and equality of all humans. In the progress of the Kingdom of God, liberation and leadership for women was, and continues to be, partial, but its perfection is promised. (^20) Sakhi M Athyal, Indian Women in Mission (Madhupur, Bihar: Mission Educational Books, 1995), 105 - 106. (^21) Ibid., 45-49.
