Female Disciples in Early Christianity: Non-Hierarchical Christianity at St Paul’s, London

On Tuesday 30 October 2018, at St Paul’s Cathedral (London), Professor Helen Bond (University of Edinburgh) and Professor Joan Taylor (King’s College, London) discussed the roles of women in early Christianity, beginning with Jesus’s female disciples: “My Soul Glorifies the Lord: Jesus’ female disciples”.

“The traditional story of the birth of Christianity is dominated by men. It is often thought that Jesus only chose men to be his disciples and apostles, but evidence suggests that this is really only half the story. Were female disciples in fact crucial to the Jesus movement? Profoundly scandalous at the time, the idea remains highly controversial 2,000 years later. Two distinguished early church historians will present research that shows as many as half of Jesus’ disciples were women. They say the evidence shows that women were integral to his mission and only if we see men and women working together do we see the whole story, revealing the early church as far more radical than we thought.”

0:05 Andrew Carwood, chair

7:10 Helen Bond – opening address

23:10 Joan Taylor – opening address

35:55 Helen Bond – second address

52:35 Joan Taylor – second address

1:03:25 Helen Bond, Joan Taylor, and Andrew Carwood – Panel Q&A

 

 

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