Biblical Interpretations (Genesis 16) and Gender Bias in the Thought of Church Fathers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how Church Fathers saw women in their Biblical interpretations and theological controversies. While the title “Fathers” continues to be widely used for its convenience, this use is not without criticism for its gender bias (Charles Kannengiesser).

Gender is an important issue in the recent study of Christian origins. The roots of gender studies and feminist studies started within the discipline of Biblical studies. Articles from feminist perspectives elucidated the role of women in the early churches, and discovered some level of egalitarianism within the early Christian movement.

Recent church historians began to evaluate the role of women in the Christian communities from the perspective of gender criticism. Elizabeth Clark shows that most ancient Christian writings were highly literary and rhetorical in their construction, and illustrates the gender bias of Fathers by showing examples of their allegorical interpretations of Genesis 16.

But when we turn to the interpretation of the Abraham-Sarah-Hagar motif in Clement's Stromateis, he could effectively assert the value of learning by means of feminine disciplinary images. The sociologist Rodney Stark has argued that this early egalitarianism was one of the major contributing factors to the initial success of Christianity, so Clement seemed to show a sort of egalitarianism for the acquisition of Virtue.