‘Stabat Mater’: Christianity and the Virgin Mother

Abstract

The Christian view of women is for many feminists best represented by the apparent misogyny of St Paul referred to in Chapter 1. His pronouncements have been used as the basis for the continued suspicion and denigration of women by the Church fathers, and to remind women that they remain ‘daughters of Eve’, unworthy of an active role in the church. Yet the most influential female figure provided by the New Testament would seem to present a very positive image of womanhood. The Virgin Mary is, after all, an object of veneration for Christians, and particularly Catholics. Is it possible to reconcile these apparently conflicting views of women? Or could it be that the image of the Virgin Mother has itself been used to underline women’s sense of inferiority, and to deny them any power within the church or nublic life?