Evolving Culture

One of the evidences that mankind is more than animal is found in the factors of self-consciousness.  It appears in the earliest writings of humanoids that language was not highly discriminatory.  Many early writings appeared showing body parts to discriminate between men and women – when discrimination seemed important to authors.  As cultures developed, language, a vital factor in human culture, also advanced in sophistication.  Pictographs gave way to written language for serious communication.  Pictographs fell largely to graffiti and comic strips.  As discoveries of nature became more widespread and refinement became necessary for continuing progress, the word man emerged as indication of the human race.  As the human races gravitated toward type consolidation they were named by skin color and other factors like hair texture, even nostril size.  The refinements may have contributed to segregation.  But we found imposed patterns among the same peoples as the untouchables in India from other castes, but all in the same race.  Slavery was not founded in racial differences.  Each of the separated races held slaves of their own identity – illustrated well in Israel’s wanderings and laws.  All races report slave cultures.

A relatively recent movement in history emerged to accent gender identity as well as racial and attach the matter to the concepts of equality and freedom.  As these and other factors sought truth, other factors, like role assignments also changed in whole or in part as persons reached out for identity, equality, status, experience in the world.  The roles of mother and father are being adjusted.  The role of father as protector of family and society has given way to changes for both male and female relating to jobs including those presumed to be masculine such as military, fire protection and police.  At this writing the jury is still out on the effect these changes will have on marriage and dependent children.  Culture is changing, offering some mystery about outcomes.  It may not work well in an atmosphere of competition, beliefs and attitudes related to races, genders, and other influences including age, wealth, and whatever detail that may be taken in ways made divisive.  It is clear that human beings were created to serve each other.  The emphasis on the individual adult can divide rather than unite us.  Necessary humility in our affirmations may be lost.

Near the community where I live a group of women made a long and arduous study of the women of the Bible.  They determined to take on the meaning of the words spoken by the women, and the meaning of the context in which the words appeared.  They used the New Revised Standard Version for their study that included the Apocrypha.  Of the 1.1 million quoted words of persons in the Bible, the researchers found that 14,000 were uttered by women.  The most quoted came from Judith (2,689 words) – found in the book of Judith (which book does not appear in Protestant Canon and would not appear in the RSV.  With the drop of words that includes the Shulamite woman (1425 words) in the Song of Solomon, and Esther’s words (1207), we are already under ten thousand words.  The best known women (the high profile) uttered few recorded words: Mary (191), Magdalen (61), and Sarah (141).  In the longest conversation of Jesus with a female, the Samaritan used 151 words. There is more to the story of the project, all interesting, and the group believes the study shows how women of the Bible handled issues like poverty, faith, infertility, marriage, prayer, rape and warfare.  There was more related to personal life such as the maturity shown in Abigail pacifying David on his way to kill her husband, the churlish Nabal.  (1 Samuel 25)  If I were to accent the influence of women in the Scripture account I would want to avoid presenting only one of the evidences of their influence, good or ill, large or small, in both the human and spiritual contexts.  If we could not project the influence of Philip, the evangelist, whose four daughters were prophesying, we have no need of the information.  We learn more of Philip’s children than the children of the Apostles.  I have learned much about how God works in the silences of Mary, in the utter practicality of several women, like Samson’s mother.  Because literary style appears to us as unduly masculine in emphasis, we may miss the equality assumed in old styles.  All mankind is covered.  We accept inspired Scripture to cover for history.