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Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures/History to Allow a Purely Patriarchal Order in The Church

Archbishop Thomas Twose (center) Flanked by Provincial Bishop Charlene Bradley (left) and Archbishop Philip Bradley right). Clergy Positions, Including the Episcopate are Properly Determined by the Promptings of the Spirit Including Congregational Election, Service and Background, not by Gender nor Orientation.

The concept of women being "removed" or "voided" from scriptures refers to both the physical exclusion of female narratives in historical texts and the patriarchal interpretation or translation of texts that diminished their roles, authority, or presence. Scholars note that while women were central to early Christianity and temple history, many of their roles were suppressed, ignored, or actively edited out of later versions of the texts.

Examples of Specific Women "Removed" or Silenced in Scripture

Junia (Romans 16:7): Identified by Paul as "outstanding among the apostles," Junia was frequently misidentified in later translations as a man named Junias to obscure that a woman held the highest level of leadership in the early church.
The Asherah/Divine Feminine: Even archaeological evidence, such as small female figurines (nursing mothers) found in the First Temple period, suggests a widespread reverence for a female deity (Asherah). The systematic smashing of these, along with the editing of biblical texts, suggests a deliberate attempt to remove the divine feminine from Hebrew scripture.
Phoebe (Romans 16:1): While named a "deacon" (or minister) of the church in Cenchreae, some interpretations have sought to diminish this role to a less official "servant" to avoid recognizing her as a female church leader.
Mary Magdalene: While prominent in the Gospels as the first to witness the Resurrection, later traditions often obscured her role as the "Apostle to the Apostles" by incorrectly associating her with the unnamed "sinful woman" (prostitute) in Luke.
Female Prophets and Leaders: Figures like Deborah (Judges 4-5) or Huldah (2 Kings 22) are frequently overshadowed in study compared to male counterparts.

Methods of "Voiding" or Silencing

Translation Bias: Translators have historically used masculine language to describe roles that were originally gender-neutral or feminine in the Greek, such as changing "deacon" to "servant" or making female names male.
Redaction/Editing: Early scribes and editors are accused of altering texts to restrict women’s roles, such as the interpolation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (commanding women to be silent).
Patriarchal Genealogies: Old Testament genealogies often list only men, rendering wives and mothers (who constituted half the population) nameless and invisible.
Misogynistic Context: Verses that treat women as property (Numbers 31:17-18, Deuteronomy 22:28-29) were used to validate the suppression of women's voices and leadership in subsequent religious history.
Neglect in Interpretation: Even when mentioned, women like Martha (Luke 10:38-42) are often unfairly reduced to domestic, subservient roles (the "hostess"), ignoring their roles as disciples.

Cultural and Historical Context

The removal of women from the narrative is largely tied to the patriarchal societies in which the scriptures were produced and finalized. In these societies, men held exclusive power, leading to the recording of history that was heavily male-centric. Many of these restrictive passages were responses to specific crises or local customs rather than universal, timeless truths.

Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures -Pope Gregory 1, "The Great", Blended the Mary's of the Scriptures

Provincial Bishop Charlene Bradley (left) and Archbishop Philip Bradley (right) - Husband and Wife Episcopate - We View Each other as Equal Before God and Man and are Delighted to Work Together in His Service.

Yes, Pope Gregory I ("The Great") is widely credited with blending, or conflating, at least three different women in the New Testament into the single composite figure of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute.

In a sermon delivered in Rome on September 14, 591 A.D. (Homily 33), Gregory combined the following figures:

Mary Magdalene: The woman from whom seven devils were cast out (Luke 8:2).
Mary of Bethany: The sister of Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus’ feet (John 11:1-2).
The Unnamed "Sinful Woman": A woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36–50.

Context and Impact

Purpose: Officially we’re now told that Gregory's intention was likely to highlight the power of repentance and to offer a compelling model of a redeemed sinner, rather than to intentionally defame Mary Magdalene. Yet today’s scholars admit that he was likely very well aware of the distinctions between these three, but, as he attempted to unite the church in a very divided world, a female leader didn’t fit the patriarchal narrative. In the same way that Mary Magdalene’s final days (30 years) as an aesthetic in a cave in Provence France and dying peacefully, didn’t fit the narrative of apostles being martyrs for the faith.
"Prostitute" Label: While the Gospel of Luke describes the woman in chapter 7 as a "sinner," it does not identify her as a prostitute. Gregory interpreted the "seven devils" as all the vices and explicitly linked her to a life of forbidden sexual acts. In biblical days anyone with an unknown, especially ‘invisible’ illness such as we now know depression, PTSD, bi-polar, etc, was said to be possessed by a devil. This is something else which Gregory ought reasonably to have known, although there were then still no terms coined for these afflictions. In a mostly illiterate world who was to challenge his claims in his day? As he would also have known that, in Hebrew tradition the number seven was generally used to signify that the person was totally taken over by their illness/possession, not to speak of actual seven demons.
Western Tradition: This portrayal became firmly established in Western Christian tradition and art for over 1,000 years, though it was not adopted by the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Correction: The Catholic Church officially corrected this conflation in 1969, distinguishing Mary Magdalene from the sinful woman of Luke 7, yet not making any other efforts to elevate her to the status she so clearly deserved. So much for infallibility!
As a 'modern' example of this same rewriting of the narrative: St. Brigit of Ireland has been rewritten as anything from an abbess/abbottess rather than a female bishop to possibly never existing at all!

I suppose that in a world filled with patriarchal societies, of which the western churches surely qualify, this rewriting of the narrative and its disavowal of the leadership roles of females in history, especially church history should come as no surprise and even be expected. Yet time is the enemy of concocted, rewritten stories and outright lies.

The Eastern churches, while themselves quite patriarchal, did not amend their scriptures nor teachings to offer these same altered renditions. Even scriptures the Western churches ‘threw out’ have been retained in other Catholic, Christian rites.

Today’s investigative techniques can quickly unmask these discrepancies between the truth and the stories. Where the world once had to rely on ‘experts’ from within the church, we can now find independent experts to read history more truthfully. Devoid of the Papal agendas.

Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures - Moving Forward

Archbishop Philip Bradley (left) and Provincial Bishop Charlene Bradley Blessed to See Ourselves as Two Halves of One Whole in Our Home and Our Ministry

It matters not that these ‘errors’ are born of legitimate mistakes or deliberate falsehoods. They must and will, over time, be corrected. They stretch all the way back even to Genesis.

In the Western churches and society Eve was created/formed from the “rib” of Adam. Giving rise to male dominance claims and women being ‘mans helpers’. Yet the Hebrew word in the original texts is tsela or ṣēlāʿ and does not mean rib. It means side!

(Scholarly analysis indicates that tsela more accurately means "side," "side chamber," or "half". The proper Hebrew word for a rib bone is actually ala.)

That seems like a small discrepancy until it is examined in the light of its historical context. The phrase "God created man in His own image, male and female He created them" comes from Genesis 1:27 in the Bible. There is just one problem, easily overlooked but impossible to ever again ignore once seen. EVE didn’t exist yet! This was the creation of ADAM ONLY!

Male and female reflecting God’s own image??? In a single being!

So the original Adam had both male and feminine attributes or natures? Now when we see Eve being formed from the side, not just the rib of Adam we see an original being split into two distinct “sides”. One male and one female.

Now when Adam shouts the phrase "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" upon first seeing Eve in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 2:23), he is literally seeing the other side or half of himself. This was about harmony, not dominion!

While they lived together in Eden and true to God’s plan they were equal in all ways, even as they were different in their new form.

It wasn’t until the sin of the fall that they began to blame each other or the serpent for the things they did. The blame passing, dominion and other corruptions flowed from their sin not from God.

Even in the church this enmity continues to this day. This carnal, base nature of man is an enemy to God leaving mankind driven by carnal desires and the fallen state since Adam, Eve and the Serpent in the garden and is naturally opposed to God's will until transformed by Christ's atonement, becoming submissive and Christlike and returning to the harmony intended, preached and exemplified by Jesus Himself.

Too many times the church has acquiesced to the whims and wills of men. Not just individually have we failed but systemically, institutionally, in our theology and dogma, in wars and abuses and a deep history of cover-ups, we have failed for centuries to properly follow the teachings and example set by Our Saviour.

Let us pray we still have time to get it right. Let us strive every day until we do get it right to work to see, hear and follow the example set by Jesus Himself.

Harmony, not division. Love has no place for domination in any of its many guises. Surely we can start by having the men in our society uphold and honour the women in our lives as our absolute equals before God and each other.

Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures/History to Allow a Purely Patriarchal Order in The Church

Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures -Pope Gregory 1, "The Great", Blended the Mary's of the Scriptures

Women Being Removed or Voided from Scriptures - Moving Forward

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