Women were with Jesus and involved in his ministry from beginning to end, at the cross, the first at the empty tomb. The Twelve were all male – but for the most part the segregation stops there. The pairings continue – with Simeon and Anna, the lost coin and the lost sheep, the parable of the persistent widow followed by the pharisee and the tax collector. But while Zechariah is punished with months of dumbness for his unbelief, Mary is only commended. One is Zechariah who becomes John the Baptist’s father. Before Jesus’ birth, two people are visited by the angel Gabriel and told they are going to become parents.

Luke constantly pairs men with women, and when he compares the two, it is almost always in the woman’s favor. The portrayal of women in the Gospels – particularly in Luke’s Gospel – is stunningly countercultural. Rebecca emphasizes the way women are portrayed in the Gospels to make the point. I’ve highlighted a wide selection of these in several posts – most recently A Look at Biblical Womanhood and Women of the New Testament. Women play important roles in many places throughout Scripture. Christianity might not go as far as some in our culture today would like, but it certainly does not denigrate women. The short answer to the second question doesn’t Christianity denigrate women? is a resounding no. Last week we looked at the first of these – hasn’t science disproved Christianity? Rebecca McLaughlin addresses these as seven, eight, and nine in her book Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion.

Confronting christianity mclaughlin