Application of Concepts

1
Application of Concepts

• The restriction of Womens Roles in Religion

2
The following few slides are taken from the Bible
(NIV) and are used as emic justifications for
restricting womens religious roles by those
Christian groups who do so.
3
As in all the congregations of the saints, women
should remain silent in the churches. They are
not allowed to speak, but must be in submission,
as the Law says. If they want to inquire about
something, they should ask their own husbands at
home for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak
in church. (I Corinthians 1433-35)
4
Now the overseer must be above reproach, the
husband of but one wife, temperate,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to
teach.(I Timothy 32)
5
A woman should learn in quietness and full
submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or
to have authority over a man she must be silent.
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam
was not the one deceived it was the woman who
was deceived and became a sinner. But women will
be kept safe through childbirth, if they continue
in faith, love and holiness with propriety.(I
Timothy 211-15)
6
After Eve was deceived by the serpent and ate of
the fruit from the tree of the knowledge og good
and evil and gave it to Adam as wellTo the
woman he (God) said, I will greatly increase
your pains in childbearing with pain you will
give birth to children. Your desire will be for
your husband, and he will rule over
you.(Genesis 316)
7
Again when we take a nomothetic comparative
approach, we find many different religious
systems that restrict womens roles, including
the Lakota. The Lakota are a tribe that I have
done some field research among in the past. Read
the emic explanation given by one Lakota elder as
to why womens religious roles are restricted by
traditional Lakota.
8
People will say that a woman who is having her
moon should stay away from the ceremonies because
she could ruin them, but they dont understand or
know why this is. It is because a woman is the
only one who can bring a child into this world.
It is the most sacred and powerful of all
mysteries. Certainly the man must be there to
plant the seed, but his part is simple and
relatively unimportant . . . . When a woman is
having her time, her blood is flowing,
9
and this blood is full of mysterious powers that
are related to childbearing. At this time she is
particularly powerful. To bring a child into
this world is the most powerful thing in
creation. A mans power is nothing compared to
it. We respect that power. If a woman should
come into contact with things that a man prays
with pipe, rattles, medicine objects during
this time, it will drain all the male powers away
from them. You see, a womans power and a mans
are opposites not in a bad way, but in a
10
good way. Because of the power of the woman has
during this time it is best that, out of respect
for her men and for their medicine things, she
stay away from them.--Joseph RockboyYankton/Sic
hangu Elder(Cited in St. Pierre Long Soldier,
Walking in the Sacred Manner)
11
Ok, we have now seen the emic explanations give
by both Christian apologists and Lakota
apologists for restricting womens religious
roles. Each groups explanations are
different.What are we to make of this?
12
We can accept each groups explanations for why
they have certain customs or beliefs or we can
probe deeper. What if instead of looking at
cases individually (idiographic) we took a
comparative (nomothetic) approach and looked for
possible common reasons why such different cases
might have similar outcomes, in this case
restricting womens roles in religion. Further
more, we wont limit ourselves to insider (emic)
understandings but also look at things from an
outsiders (etic) perspective.
13
Can you think of any common reasons that an
outsider, who is not invested in the emic
explanations given by a particular group, might
give as a reason why such different cultures in
this case each have the same outcome of
restricting womens roles in religion?