To one who reads the fathers it
becomes evident to what extent the relation of man to woman figures in
these controversies.[16]
The Manicheanism which held in essence Persian Mithraism and which had
so profound an influence on the writings of St. Augustine gave body and
soul to two distinct worlds and finally identified woman with the body.
But probably as a result of the teachings of Gnosticism with its
Neo-Platonic philosophy which never entirely rejected feminine
influence, some of this influence survived in the restatement of
religion for the folk. When the restatement was completed and was
spreading throughout Europe in the form which held for the next
millennium, it was found that the early goddesses had been accepted
among the saints, the priestesses and prophetesses were rejected as
witches, while the needs of men later raised the Blessed Virgin to a
place beside her son.
Modern psychology has given us an explanation of the difficulty of
eradicating the worship of such a goddess as the Great Mother of Asia
Minor from the religion of even martial peoples who fear the
contamination of woman's weakness; or from a religion obsessed with
hatred of woman as unclean by men who made the suppression of bodily
passions the central notion of sanctity. The most persistent human
relationship, the one charged with a constant emotional value, is not
that of sex, which takes manifold forms, but that of the mother and
child.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165