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Summary Of Religions Of The Book: Women Serving Religion

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An Exploration into the Roles of Women in Judaism and Christianity The 1991 documentary “Religions of the Book: Women Serving Religion” explores the role of females in the three major monotheistic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism through the first hand lens of women rising through the ranks of their respective religions. It evaluates the evolution of power women have been allocated in their religious lives throughout history and the effects that feminism has had on this topic. Though the three aforementioned religions are very similar, this essay with focus of the accounts of the Jewish and Christian women as that it what most closely relates to course material. Thus, given the material presented both in class and in the documentary, …show more content…

In layman’s terms, this indicates that the members and leadership of Judaism and Christianity have been conditioned over time to be complaisant with men holding the powerful roles in their religions. In addition, the documentary explicitly states that, when it comes to the issue of women having power within Judaism and Christianity, it’s opposing force is “the traditional, rigid, hierarchical structure that has anchored religious institutions throughout the ages” (“Religions of the Book: Women Serving Religion,” 5:40 – 5:57). Aside from biblical or Talmudic proof behind this decision, tradition is undeniably a major proponent of this imbalance in power. Furthermore, in class, the notion of “historically, the roles of the Rabbi and Torah scholar [being] almost exclusively limited to Jewish men” was determined to not only be historic but also be carried through into modern times (Authority and …show more content…

As previously discussed, the sexism and patriarchy within Judaism and Christianity have been cemented throughout history, and history does not simply change itself; it took feminism being adopted by women not willing to give up their beliefs in religion nor their rights to equality to create change. Susannah Heschel says that “for some, the answer is to leave the religious traditions behind and do something completely new, forget about Christianity, forget about Judaism, and some women do that. For others, that’s not viable so we have to come up with a new understanding” (“Religions of the Book: Women Serving Religion,” 6:44 - 6:56). In other words, it is the duty of women to bring feminism into religions as many will not give up their religion but still yearn for equal opportunities within it. Furthermore, a nod to feminism is made at another point in the documentary when a pastoral associate says that “this is not the first time that women have moved, and it’s not just the church, you know we are dealing with this in terms of society,” hinting at the fact that society and religion are intertwined and should, therefore, evolve together (“Religions of the Book: Women Serving Religion,” 10:16 - 10:18). As it relates to the course, on of the readings entitled “The Catholic

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