The people of Judea contemporaneously worshipped Asherah, who was referred to in a number of archaeological findings as the consort or wife of Yahweh. Asherah was a fertility goddess with various incarnations in the Levant, often depicted with lions but also associated with snakes, gardens, wisdom and trees. In fact, you can still find extant references to the worshiping sites for Asherah in the Bible itself. These were erected in high places in cities like the Kingdom of Solomon in the image of a many-branched tree referred to as an Asherah pole, where many ancient Hebrews would gather to pray for divine wisdom from the goddess to help guide their lives. It is believed that the Menorah actually derives directly from this ancient tradition. There's even direct Biblical evidence explaining why worship of Asherah ended. Exodus 34:13 explicitly states: "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles." It is likely that the creation myth originally featured Asherah as a Prometheus type figure gifting humanity wisdom to share in the responsibilities of the divine, however upon assuming power following the Babylonian exile the monolatrist cult of Yahweh rebranded Genesis as a cautionary tale of humanity becoming cursed in order to discourage worship of the goddess. Later Christians would lean into this "fall of man" interpretation to further justify the sacrifice of Jesus in redeeming "original sin", thus cementing this corrupted understanding of the original Judaean creation myth.
Great points. The arrival of the refugees from the northern Kingdom of Israel after the Babylonian invasion coincides closely with the (ahem) "discovery" of the Torah in a crack in the temple wall by Josiah. Israel and Judah were, historically, just two of the many Canaanite kingdoms in the area. Melding the traditions of two different populations to create some unity would have been smart politics. The re-working and weaving of Israelite El into the story must have been tricky. He appears in the Psalms as apportioning the Hebrews to Yahweh. El kind of dips out after that, so maybe once there was this concept of "Hebrew" as a people and Yahweh as their god, the most high god, El, wasn't really necessary.
I was in my 40s when I questioned the creation of all life by a man and his son. Seriously! I'm a mother of 4 children and wondered why I felt so insignificant. Of course, I felt insignificant. I was omitted from the story! I felt so foolish to have believed this my whole life up until that point. I love that Gerda Lerner outlines so clearly a framework for understanding how a culture's creation story shapes society, even thousands of years later.
Totally relate with this. One time I started reading the bible with the intent to do a more critical reading, and as I read the creation story I thought, “literally every man I know has been born from a women, I can’t believe that the people who wrote this were audacious enough to say that women came from the physical body of a man.” 😂
Unfortunately, there are some trolls in this comment section. For all the people who came here with an open mind, I'd like to say a goal of a troll is to shut down conversation by being annoying/stressful/insulting. Another is simply because they want attention. And it IS draining to engage with people who are here in bad faith. So for anyone reading this who feels upset coming across troll comments, please don't engage with them unless you have the emotional bandwidth for it, and remember women are more than half the globe's population. As long as women simply keep talking to each other and spreading awareness, the world will move in the right direction. Hugs! (Even for the trolls, y'all need them the most, frankly) P.S.- You will see me engaging with trolls because responding to them grows the channel, by increasing engagement. But I like arguing, to each their own 🙂
@@JohnStockton7459 The valid criticism is stuff like: "is this satire, how can one be so stupid?". I'm sure there's honest criticism somewhere, but what are being called trolls here are in fact, trolls
As a little girl who was raised with these beliefs and books as literal history, and a woman who never could understand the insufficient answers to my questions as to why things were “the way things are”… it’s all finally coming together in a way that makes sense. It hurts, but it’s incredibly validating and healing to understand what happened and what we can do about it with the knowledge we have now.
I agree the book has had a huge impact on our lives and in creating patriarchal societies. However, I argue one should be aware of the differnece between interpretation history and the stories themselves. What you present are the patriarchal dominant understandigs of the text. It leaves out the voice in the Bible of Eve and people like Miriam and Deborah. The partiarchal stories should be critizised, but there are solid feminist interpretations of the text, that are a good way of changing the religion from within, from its own premises.
This interpretation of Genesis 2-3 is based on a patriarchal mindset. This is not the only way to read the story, and I think it can even be shown that the text advocates against patriarchy: - in Gen 2,24 man is depicted as moving to the woman's household. This the opposite of patriarchal practice; - in Gen 2,24 a man can move only into one woman's household. There is, on the other hand, no limit given to the number of men in a woman's household. Polyandry, however, is unthinkable in patriarchy. - in Gen 3,15 - and that is even after the Fall - the descendants belong to the woman's bloodline. Patriarchy, in contrast, oppresses women and their sexuality in order to enforce a male bloodline. This shows that the rank of women has not been inherently changed by the Fall. - in Gen 3,16 patriarchy is depicted as a consequence of the Fall. Only fallen men suppress women. This verse is a prediction of what is going to happen to women, not what is required to be done to women.
creation stories are some of my favorites! seeing the complexities that were reflected across the world in early years of record keeping is just so fascinating!
Poor Eve! To be blamed for an act of generosity. She could have kept the fruit all to herself, but no, she had to go share it with Adam. Perhaps it would have been better if she had been selfish . . . but either way, we women were screwed from that point on.
No she completely lied, Adam was right by Eve he literally seen her eat the fruit he could’ve stopped her but he didn’t, don’t feel discouraged the women in this video lied to you evil came through both man and women, and women wasn’t screwed from that point on because God choose a blessed women most blessed women of all Mother Mary to be birth from. A women blessed be Mary so the role for women is to be like Mary her lifestyle her Motherhood her love for her son whom she was at the foot of the cross and watched her son take his last breath poor Mary and poor to all the women who feel discouraged if only God can show you guys what it means to be a women of God well he did show you through Mary, I mourn for women who feel discouraged, I pray for women who feel discouraged.. the women in this video just completely lied in her video, be a women like Mary. Mother of God blessed be Mary. 🧎🏼➡️
@@quentindorsey9902 Well if the role for women is to be like Mary in her lifestyle and her motherhood, I guess that rules out women like Zaha Hadid, Marian Anderson, Barbara McClintock, Julie Kron, Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Blackwell, Marie Curie, Mary Cassatt, Jane Austin, Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix, Dorothy Day, Ida Wells, Sally Ride, Emma Goldman, Sojourner Truth, Margaret Thatcher, Florence Nightingale, Helen Keller, Velma Johnston, Edna Ferber, Willa Cather, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Mother Jones, Madame C. J. Walker, Catherine Evans Whitner, Julia Child . . . just to name a few. Because Mary never did anything other than get married and be a stay at home mother. She apparently made only one trip on her own before she got married and that was to see her cousin Elizabeth. She didn't work outside the home, she never wrote anything, she never invented anything, she never discovered anything, she never created anything, nope, none of those things. All she did is to have one very special son, and that without having sex. But you say she is a role model. Well, I grew up in a time where little girls were taught right from the get-go that getting married, having babies and be a stay-at-home mom was all that they were ever supposed to aspire to. If you haven't heard of most of the women I listed, don't feel bad, because little girls like me weren't told about them either. We didn't know they existed. We didn't know women could do the things they did. We didn't know women could design bridges and buildings, we didn't know women could become scientists, or explorers, or astronauts, or even become artists and composers. We didn't know women could be leaders and politicians. We didn't know women could be doctors and lawyers. We were deliberately NOT told these things. We were deliberately NOT told about women who were out there making discoveries, who were changing the world while we were still in school. We were told our choices were nurse, secretary, teacher. Not entrepreneur. Not inventor. And certainly not activists. Boys, on the other hand, well even the sky wasn't the limit for them. They had no shortage of brave, bold role models to draw upon. No one ever said to them, as you are saying to us: the role for men is to be like blessed Joseph, husband and (foster) father. But women, that's another story. We are to be wives and stay at home moms, regardless of our talents, our interests, our abilities, and our educations. We are to be like Mary, who stayed in the background (except at Cana) and meekly put up with everything even when her son spoke rudely to her (again, see Cana--"woman, what is that to me?"). Nope. Not having it. And by the way, Eve could have kept that fruit for herself. She was generous and that's where she went wrong.
@@quentindorsey9902 If the role of women is to be like Mary in her lifestyle and her motherhood then that rules out Zaha Hadid, Bessie Coleman, Barbara McClintock, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Caroline Bartlett Crane, Helen Keller, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton, Virginia Woolf, Jane Addams, Dorothy Day, Maria Mitchell, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell, Velma Johnston, Wilma Mankiller, Maria Tallchief, Marian Anderson, Elizabeth Stanton, Mary Cassatt, Rosa Bonheur, Amelia Earhart, George Sands, Eleanor Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale, Mary Anning, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Catherine Evans Whitener, Lottie Moon, Jane Austin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Julia Ward Howe, Anna Sewell, Julia Child, Julie Krone, Simone Weil, Edna Ferber, Willa Cather, Sally Ride, Queens Elizabeth I and II, Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Mother Jones, Rachel Carson, and many, many, many others. Because the only thing that Mary ever did was to bear a child without having sex. She did not create anything, she did not write anything, she did not discover anything, she did not invent anything. She was not a leader. She pretty much stayed in the background, unlike the women I have named. What she did did not take any intelligence, it did not take any talent, it did not take any education, all it took was the ability to get pregnant (albeit by the Holy Spirit) and have a son. She is not recorded as doing anything else, other than taking a trip to see her cousin Elizabeth. Oh, and informing her son that the wedding party they both were attending had run out of wine, to which he replied "Woman, what is that to you and me?" Yes, a real role model all right. But I suppose the women I've listed are not real women of God . . .
I'm not sure why You Tube keeps deleting my reply to quentindorsey9902 but here it goes: If the role of women is to be like Mary in her lifestyle and her motherhood, then that rules out a whole lot of women. Women like Zaha Hadid, Julie Krone, Marian Anderson, Rosa Bonheur, Barbara McClintock, Mary Anning, Bessie Coleman, Amelia Earhart, Maria Mitchell, Elizabeth Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cody Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, Catherine Evans Whitener, Mary Cassatt, Marie Curie, Caroline Bartlett Crane, Lottie Moon, Wilma Mankiller, Maria Tallchief, Jane Austen, Anna Sewell, Julia Ward Howe, Madame C. J. Walker, Sally Ride, Dorothea Dix, Dorothy Day, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Rachel Carson, Julia Child, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Velma Johnston, Joan of Arc, Queens Elizabeth I and II, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Edna Ferber, Willa Cather, and many, many, many, more. Mary did none of the things that these women did. All she did was to have a son. That doesn't take a whole lot of talent, a whole lot of ability, a whole lot of education. Even if it was a miracle as the Bible says. If you aren't familiar with the women I've listed, look them up. Growing up as a little girl in the 1960's I was explicitly taught that my goals in life were to be either a nurse, teacher, or secretary but ultimately a wife and mother. We little girls were deliberately NOT told about women who were architects, who were doctors, who were lawyers, who were leaders. We were not told about female artists or scientists or explorers. We were to keep our interests narrow and not dream big dreams. The little boys, on the other hand, well, even the sky was not the limit as they could dream about going into space. Not us little girls. Oh, no. We were to stand on the sidelines and cheer the boys on. No matter what our talents, our abilities or our interests or even our educations, we were destined for one role and one role only in life, the role that quentindorsey9902 describes. I dare say that this person has never ever been told that they should not pursue their dreams or even have dreams just because of the body they were born in. To have doors slammed in your face because you are a certain gender. I remember reading Marguerite Henry's "Misty of Chincoteague" and feeling sad for Maureen because she could not go on the Pony Penning roundup with her brother Paul because this was something girls and women were not allowed to do. And how she didn't get to ride the Phantom in the big race--but her brother Paul could do all those things! That's just the way things were. It was reinforced in literature. It was reinforced in culture. We girls were deliberately NOT told about women who were breaking the mold, who were out doing things that we were being told we couldn't or shouldn't do. And then--to hear that women lie when we speak up about these things because our role is to be like an uneducated Jewish peasant teenager who had a very special male baby . . . why don't men take Joseph as a role model? Hmm?
I'd like to offer a different perspective. The Book of Genesis, rooted in oral traditions, uses allegory effectively. Adam and Eve might not be the first humans, but rather the first to gain consciousness. Perhaps, in the course of evolution, the female was the first to gain consciousness and then spread it to men. But is consciousness a good thing? That which has set humans apart from all other species turns out to bring suffering, demanding it be named a sin and remembered as the day humans fell from grace
Who even knows. Wildly varying sects had all sorts of books and interpretations until 7th century or so when church really got serious stamping out "heresy" and established the dogmas we experience today. Ancient editorialists like Jerome and Augustine and of course mr no chicks Paul of tarsis. Their spin villifies women, knowledge and snakes all in one go.
I remember thinking during the creation presentation in the LDS temple, “…So, would the church rather we believe that God and Christ were gay over having a woman involved in creation…The thing she’s supposedly supposed to do?”
Can you please make a video on 'Saktism' in Hinduism the only believe system that believes the the Ultimate pawer to be feminine.....❤❤ Please it is more interesting than people think .......
Well you grew up thinking the Bible is the “literal” word of God. That’s false no educated Christian or Jewish person would tell you it’s the literal word of God it’s the inspired word of God, if you’re looking for a “literal” word of God go to the Quran
18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. -colassians 3
@@person1420 "as it is fit in the lord." People tend to miss this, the bible never speaks of man having complete dominance over women. It's simply situationaly advantageous since leadership also comes with burden. 3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband - 1 corintheans 7 I would recommend reading into this chapter as it goes a lot more in depth on men and women in relationships also see: 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh - genesis 2 24 I would incourage you over everything else to read it first hand and decide what you think/want it to mean, don't listen to what these randos skew it to be and that goes for whatever I might have said also. My opinion and the person in the videos opinion are inconsequential to you, please form your own separate from 3rd party influence.
@@person1420 Hello, random person on the internet. This is shaping up to be a great channel that is informative. But the comment that you responded to here is just a troll, with no curiosity, so I doubt talking to them will be productive (unless you want to troll them back, which I personally find fun!). If you are curious to get more good information about patriarchy and the church, I would also suggest the "Mormon Stories" channel, and for broadly more information on patriarchy, I suggest Laura Danger, Rose Hackman, Mel Hamlett and "Decenter Men" content. 🙂I hope you have a lovely day and don't let the trolls bug ya!
The confidence with which some of these claims are made are unhelpful - the "two perspectives" that you find in Genesis is quite heavily refuted by some scholars. To claim that there were many versions of the Genesis story that had to be decided upon is not a undeniablyfactual but debated topic in biblical scholarship. Historically / Traditionally - the authorship of the Torah goes to Moses and has been affirmed by many jewish scholars. So while its "passed down orally" it's passed down as the words of Moses.
Indeed, but the idea of multiple authors is pretty much confirmed. Besides, we can't truly consider Moses as a historical figure (not that his existence has been refuted, mind you).
the bible is the word of God, it is men who have misapplied its true meanings “A Christianity rooted in patriarchy will always define women first and foremost by their relationship to men. A Christianity rooted in the gospel of Jesus will see women first and foremost as human beings created in God’s image. May we understand the difference.” - Benjamin Cremer
Actually the bible says in Eph 5-21 submit one to another. Because of Jesus’ redemptive work, both women and slaves were now considered equals with free men as Christians but due to persection Paul wanted them to conduct themselves carefully with this new found freedom so they would not make waves thus he said things like women submit and obey and told masters to treat their slaves as equals and slaves to obey their masters.
@@fellinuxvi3541 the verse after that says "husbands love your wives as christ loved the church" Ephesians 5:25, to me this means that husband must respect their wives and treat them as equals, not that the wife should be treated as a doormat. Another verse says "The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife." Corinthians 1 7:4. Becuase of this I beileve that the christian faith veiws men and women as equals.
@@susanbarackman-artist7670 This seems to be born from the idea that Jesus changed the terms of the covenant, but Jesus explicitly says multiple times that the reinforces Old Testament rules. Whatever applied before, applies now, with the added bonus of salvation through Christ.
@@JoshuaAmalaraj This does not contradict the oppressive nature of the first verse. On the one hand, Christ does not love the church as an equal, he is superior for he is God, so this view only reinforces patriarchy if applied to male-female relationships. Besides, the submission of women does not start in Ephesians but all the way back in Genesis, with Adam and Eve. And no, there's no grounds to argue from scripture that Jesus changed the terms of the covenant or rejected Old Testament teachings. Eve's punishment still stands.
You err in presenting the origins of Genesis as oral tradition that has variants. The two accounts of female creation you claim Genesis has is completely untrue. It’s not two different accounts, it’s the same account presented briefly first in Genesis 1 then explored in further detail in Genesis 2. I don’t believe anything you said about the authorship of the Pentateuch is widely accepted as true, in fact I had never heard someone make such a claim until you did. Moses is the widely accepted author of the Pentateuch. Furthermore, this account was not fabricated in order to make women appear villainous. The Bible goes on to say that through Adam sin entered the world. To me, it seems like a sharing of blame (supported by the fact that God also punishes Adam). Aside from presenting biased speculations as facts, you are also doing wrong by seemingly presenting the Bible as the only source of “patriarchy” in the whole world. Men, being stronger than women, have typically always been the providers and rulers, regardless of religion. Women, being able to bear children and nurturing have typically always been the homemakers. What’s so wrong with that? We were clearly designed very differently (since any assumption that we evolved into these complex beings is absurd) so why is it wrong to have different roles? Why is it wrong for men to be the head of the family as is instructed in the Bible? Husbands are commanded to love their wives, and love does no harm. There is only good that can come of the Biblical family structure, so long as both parties fulfill their commandments.
I would like to start by saying I appreciate this content, I want to dismantle patriarchy, and have always been an atheist. So saying, I think this video bumps up against a chicken and the egg problem in regards to the bible. A lot of the Christians I talk to WILL acknowledge Christianity subjugates women, but that's because it's based off the Word of God, conveyed through the bible. And if you genuinely believe the bible is the word of God, quibbling with what it proscribes using our 'silly' concepts of Earth bound justice and equality is hubris, and will deny you the dominion of heaven. So the question, for them, isn't 'does the bible say men and women are equal?' and is instead, 'why do you have such vanity to think your individual Earth bound concepts of equality are more important than God's word?' Once again, I would like to stress I am an atheist and find that stance patently absurd. But I think the 'word of God' belief makes many impervious to the rest of the logic in this video, and so I personally have realized engaging in such conversations just emotionally drains me and does not change minds. We need to be ready for the reality that most people uphold patriarchy for emotional not logical reasons, and the best way to change emotions is often not to make rational arguments, but to befriend people and show by example a different path. 🙂 I appreciate the work of scholars such as yourself to change minds, but am just adding hearts must change too, and that often requires different methods. To summarize, I see 'logical' discussions of the bible to be using the master's tools. And as Audre Lorde said, “The master’s tool will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”
It feels the same way with Islam. Couldn't have said it better. "So the question, for them, isn't 'does the bible say men and women are equal?' and is instead, 'why do you have such vanity to think your individual Earth bound concepts of equality are more important than God's word?' " This. It's always God is Just and fair so if Quran does read patriarchal then it's because patriarchy is just and fair.
This is true, I often think that Jesus’s most profound miracle was getting people to believe in him and change their minds. We have now figured out a lot of new medical stuff, but many of us our powerless in the face of bad ideas. I think talking about patriarchy with men is so hard, because most men treat us with respect, a kind of benevolent patriarchy, but it is hard to show them how institutionally any patriarchy is problematic. My dad has always said quoting from Isaiah, “God’s ways are higher than our ways”, so we won’t always understand why patriarchy is good. In the mormon church only male members are ordained to the priesthood. I was trying to explain why that was wrong, but he said that, “Women are more spiritual anyway. If men didn’t have exclusive access to the priesthood, they might be less motivated to stay righteous, and unrighteous men would be an effect worse for women than the current effect of women not receiving the priesthood.”
@@rebekahrutledge1633 Well, I'll give your Dad this....he's a gold medalist in mental gymnastics, lol! (I'm not trying to disparage your Dad, I'm sure that relationship is very valuable in many ways, just saying how he defends shutting women out of the priesthood is.....wild). And yes, benevolent sexism can absolutely read as "respect", and it's everywhere! For myself, I started conceptualizing benevolent sexism as the "good cop" in a good cop/bad cop interrogation. The good cop is actually just as invested in keeping you behind bars as the bad cop, they just use different tactics. As long as men refuse to let go of power, the excuses they use (women can't lead because they stink, or women can't lead because they're TOO good) is irrelevant. It's WAY more heartbreaking walking away from the 'good cops' in the system though, because it's so so so so tempting to believe they are really on your side. Wishing you happiness on your journey unpacking this, and sending you grace to walk away if someone refuses to listen, no matter how nice they are being about it. 🙂
@@FishareFriendsNotFood972 It is harder to walk away from the good cops, sometimes you don’t recognize you are being kept down when you get treated so nicely. It is crazy because I know that some women of my faith have always questioned why women don’t get the priesthood, but I never questioned it at all, it didn’t even bother me, until learning the story of Lilith. The synapses between patriarchy and religious teachings finally fused together. I had never connected them before.
@@rebekahrutledge1633 I just want to say I'm really happy for you, sincerely. We can all, if we're lucky, keep learning to see our world more clearly over time, and I think that's beautiful 🙂
She's being more truthful than any religion content creator. She left out the decision to call it original sin was made by middle aged church weirdos perverting the obvious lesson about the cost of knowledge.
@@waltershumer4211 Oh, you misunderstand me, I LOVE engaging with trolls. It's a nice place to get out my anger, I assume that's why you do it too? Because as long as it's HERE, on this video, it increases the views, and comments, and that's what tiny channels need to get off the ground! Of course, I'm not naive enough to go onto your "manspace football no homo bro girls are gross" channels and leave comments there, because that would boost those voices, and they just need to fade away in silence. So as long as we are successful getting you to comment here, and you're unsuccessful at getting women on your channels......we win. It's all just views, my brother. Troll watching is still watching 😎😎Have a blessed day
@@waltershumer4211 Oh, you misunderstand me, I LOVE engaging with trolls. It's a nice place to get out my anger, I assume that's why you do it too? Because as long as it's HERE, on this video, it increases the views, and comments, and that's what tiny channels need to get off the ground! Of course, I'm not naive enough to go onto your "manspace football no homo bro girls are gross" channels and leave comments there, because that would boost those voices, and they just need to fade away in silence. So as long as we are successful getting you to comment here, and you're unsuccessful at getting women on your channels......we win. It's all just views, my brother. Troll watching is still watching 😎😎😎😎Have a blessed day
