Margaret Fell

I think that this excerpt from the writings of "Women Speaking Justified" fits in very well with previous discussions we have had in class about the different ways to read and interpret religious doctrines. In order to best suit a culture, society, time period, or in this case gender, the religious document is revisited and reinterpreted. This is a contributing factor in how religions have evolved over time. In the case of Margaret Fell's work with the Quaker religion back in the 1600's, she argues for the equality of women and how they should be viewed in the church. In this way, she is way ahead of her time. She argues that the Bible never states that women are inferior outright, and in fact there are many passages in which woman are glorified. The example that stood out to me was the reference to the Church of Christ being referred to as a "woman" in the scriptures. Fell points out that the "Church of Christ is represented as a woman; and those that speak against this Woman speaking, speak against the church of Christ, and the Seed of Woman, which is the seed of Christ". Now, this connection does seem a little far stretched to me. But just like in any attempt to interpret the Bible and it's scripture, certain passages are stretched to their breaking point and others are completley ignored. In reality, it depends on the way that you look at the conception of the Bible. If one were to think of it as a document written by a human being, specifically a male, it would make sense to interpret males as the dominant sex and females as the weaker one. Since the writing would be reflective of the times, and they were times where woman were looked down upon and seen as inferior, then it makes sense to interpret the actual text this way. But if a religious person were to assume that the words of the bible were the exact words of God, then it is more up to interpretation. Fell makes a good point that God would not have and doesn't seem to make a definitive statement in terms of the hierarchy of the sexes. There are passages that can be interpreted both ways in terms of the place of woman in society. In general, I do believe that Fell is correct in saying that woman should be able to have a place in the church according to scripture. According to the text, God wants anyone and everyone to follow in him and look to him for comfort, hope and faith. There is no section that restricts this active approach to religion to males only.