Female figures in the gospel of John

Abstract

It is generally believed that in the Jewish world of the Old and New Testament, women were considered as being inferior to men and did not play an important role in society.

It was a male-dominated and male oriented society. In the Old Testament as a whole, the woman, after the Fall, is seen as secondary. Even though. Deuteronomy 29, 9-18 makes it clear that she is a full member of the covenant community who must assume full responsibility for playing her part in it, nevertheless she is placed low down the order of those who are described as entering the covenant. She is seen as a relative to a man, whether her husband or her father, and generally subject to him. However when one considers all that the Old Testament has to say about women, it is clear that women were considered as full members of the covenant community. They had a significant role to play in the life of the nation, not only in their social role as mothers and wives in the home, but also as individuals, and they were not barred from leadership when the circumstances required it. The Old Testament is concerned also with the personal relationship of women to God [...].