Men's Roles

Men as Founders and Religious Professionals

In the historic religious traditions, men emerged as major founder figures and official leaders. In some agricultural and tribal societies, women had key leadership roles; in the rest, men have dominated. For example, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim male founders—Siddhartha Gautama, Zoroaster, Mahavira (Nataputta Vardhamana), Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, respectively.

Even in traditions with more nebulous beginnings, males have dominated. In the Hindu tradition, for example, although female sacred beings abound, males have dominated the professional priesthood, and the caste system based its religious [Page 777]ideals on male experience, with a woman's status tied to that of a man (her father and then her husband). In some cases, historians have posited that men intentionally suppressed texts and alternative approaches that gave greater status to women. For example, one theory advanced for the suppression of Gnosticism(s) in the early centuries of Christianity holds that the favorable views of women in Gnostic texts and religious practice, showing women with religious authority equal to that of men, led men to attempt to eradicate them as a male priesthood and church hierarchy evolved. This action also indicates that in most traditions, men have had primary responsibility for the preservation and transmission of sacred texts and, until well into the 20th century, provided the bulk of philosophical and theological reflection.

Orthodox Judaism illustrates men's roles well. Historically, 10 males were necessary to constitute a minyan, or quorum, for prayer; men went to the synagogue to study the Torah and thus could become rabbis; and men marked the transition into adulthood with the rite of passage known as the bar mitzvah. Yet the heart of Jewish practice remained in the home, increasingly the domain of women, where Sabbath celebration began when the wife/mother lit the Sabbath candles.

...