Christian Origins, Egalitarianism, and Utopia

Abstract

In recent years, several scholars have challenged the widely held hypothesis that the historical Jesus and the kingdom of God movement were egalitarian, but that as early as the time of Paul the early church began conforming to the nonegalitarian norms of the ancient Mediterranean world. In particular, "feminist myths of Christian origins" have been criticized for anachronistically projecting contemporary gender egalitarian ideals back into the first century. Beavis critiques this argument, especially as presented by John Elliott, and suggests that opposition to the "egalitarian theory," much like Cynthia Eller's The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, sets up a biased and incomplete account of feminist reconstructions of Christian origins, and then proceeds to refute it. As such, appealing to "feminist myths" of proto-Christian egalitarianism may be used, much like Eller's book, to discredit feminist scholarship and spirituality. Beavis shows that the basileia movement expresses egalitarian ideals—including gender egalitarianism—similar to those of other ancient utopian writings and movements.

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