It’s the universally despised “P-word.” The root of all women’s oppression. The source of women’s inequality in every era and culture. Patriarchy, meaning “father-rule,” is usually accompanied by calls for social change: ““Smash the patriarchy!” “Not today, patriarchy!” “Down with the patriarchy!”
The cultural and moral revolution of the 1960s was dominated by the desire to rid society of patriarchy and its influence, to dismantle gender hierarchy and male privilege, and to revise or reconstruct everything that might support patriarchy’s continued existence—including the Bible. Some interpreters claimed they wanted to “liberate the Bible” from its “hopelessly patriarchal” context.
But before we give the Scriptures the side-eye, we need to understand how its original culture actually functioned—and, even more, we need to set aside our own assumptions.
Is the Bible patriarchal?
And, if so, what did that mean for people who lived at that time?
Within a patriarchy, the father or eldest male served as the head of the household. We can see men in the Bible had authority over the women in their families as well as everyone else part who was part of their household, including servants and travelers (Ex. 22:16-17; Num. 30; 36; Deut. 22:13-21).
But the patriarch’s role in the household was less about having the “right to rule” and more about being a responsible representative. A patriarch was responsible for everyone under his care; he represented those under his care. Along with having responsibility for his family, the patriarch also represented the household before the social and religious community. Within the family, the patriarch, the male head, had charge over the household’s property. He represented the family in court. And he maintained the family’s credibility within the community. As his household’s representative, his actions applied to them. As the person responsible for his household, he bore some degree of responsibility for their moral choices as well as everything that occurred under his care.
Within the Bible’s original culture, the patriarch functioned like a local government. As the head of the household, he provided order, ensured safety, and provided for the poor. Failure to fulfill his responsibility to care for those in his household would have brought shame on the patriarch.
Because of our cultural context, we can easily believe this meant women were mistreated, perhaps even regarded as property. But that’s usually because we’re reading our culture into the Bible’s culture. We can’t necessarily say that because a patriarch represented and was responsible for his family that women suffered discrimination, exclusion, or oppression.
Old Testament theologian, Daniel Block, explains it this way:
[T]o view women in ancient Israel as chattel of their husbands and fathers is to commit a fundamental fallacy: the failure to distinguish between authority and ownership, legal dependence and servitude, functional subordination and possession. The consistent and unequivocally patricentric worldview of biblical authors cannot be denied, but this does not mean that those under the authority of males were deemed their property. On the contrary, in keeping with the radical biblical ideal of servant leadership as a whole, husbands and fathers were to exercise authority with the well-being of their households in mind.1
We can’t look at a social structure and judge whether it’s moral or immoral in itself. Think about it this way: You and I live in a very different culture. We can vote. We can own a business. We can run for elected office. But are women in our culture still mistreated? Sadly, they are.
Whatever a society’s structure, the problem is always deeper than structure alone. Just because the Bible is written in a patriarchal culture doesn’t necessarily mean that all women in that culture were oppressed. Whether or not women in the biblical era were mistreated under patriarchy depends upon whether or not men mistreated them. Whether or not patriarchy oppressed women depended upon whether the patriarch himself was oppressive.
Interpreting the ancient culture of the Bible is always a challenge. As we consider Scripture’s context, we have to set aside our own assumptions before we can understand and apply it to our lives.
Lifeway Women Academy
To learn more from Katie J. McCoy, check out these Lifeway Women Academy courses: The World of the Bible: Historical and Cultural Context 101 and Old Testament Survey.
If you’re interested in learning how to study and teach the Bible and how you can use your interests and gifts in the church and the kingdom, Lifeway Women Academy is where you begin.
ABOUT KATIE J. MCCOY
Katie McCoy serves as director of women’s ministry at Texas Baptists. She holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from Southwestern Seminary (Texas), where she served on faculty for five years. Katie’s research includes the patterns of justice for women in Old Testament laws as well as the intersection of theology, gender, and women’s studies. She is a frequent speaker and writer on women’s and gender issues. She is the author of To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond. Katie loves to bake (or just make a mess in the kitchen) and the Container Store is her “happy place.”
Work Cited
- Daniel Block, “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” Marriage and Family in the Biblical World, ed. Ken M. Campbell (IVP Academic, 2003): 64–65.