Gender Construction in "Book of Showings"

"As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and he revealed that in everything, and especially in these sweet words where he says:... I am he, the power and goodness of fatherhood; I am he, the wisdom and the lovingness of motherhood"(Damarosch,478). In today's society it is commonplace, even routine to think of Christian divinity in terms of male gender. How amazing it seems then, to be presented with medieval language which portrays God as a female gendered divinity. Where did the idea arise to portray God as feminine? And what purpose does it serve? This essay seeks to examine whether Julian of Norwich's gender construction of the divine is subversive and radical in light of the reduced power of women in medieval Christianity.

To say that the religious power of women was reduced, is of course, to suggest that they held power in first place. In the early Christian church, women had great influence, and in fact held several offices: deaconess, widow, presbyter, and wives of clergy. Praying for the congregation, instructing female catechumens, baptizing women, teaching doctrine, and consecrating the Eucharist were just some of the responsibilities of these early female church officials (Ute, 53). But by approximately 750 C.E. women had lost these major roles in the Church, as well as the power and influence they once had.

This loss of power was a direct result of several factors: the patriarchal canons of early Eastern and Western Church councils, the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, and the decree of Emperor Theodosius that made Christianity the state religion of Rome (Lynch,10). These events led to positions in the Church such as presbyter, deacon, and bishop being held in high regard, and also hi...

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...thout the eventual help/intercession/support of the Church.

Works Cited

Bynum, Caroline Walker. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New York: Zone Books, 1992.

Damrosch, David. (Ed.) The Longman Anthology of British Literature 2nd ed. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003.

Eisen, Ute E. Women Officeholders in Early Christianity. Collegeville: The Order of St. Benedict Inc., 2000.

Long, Thomas L. "Julian of Norwich's "Christ as Mother" and Medieval Constructions of Gender" The Madison Conference on English Studies, James Madison University., Mar 18, 1995.

Lynch, Joseph H. The Medieval church: A Brief History. New York: Longman Group UK Limited, 1992.

Kraemer, Ross Shepard, and Mary Rose D'Angelo. Women and Christian Origins. New York: oxford University press Inc., 1999.