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Abortion and the Dialogue of the Savior

Abortion and the Dialogue of the Savior

Monday, July 25, 2022
8:00 – 9:00 pm Eastern Time

In light of the intense national discussion about abortion and all its ramifications, a larger perspective from antiquity may expand our views on the subject and aid in constructive conversation. In Biblical times, the general attitude toward women around the Mediterranean basin was extremely negative. Women were not considered fully human, and they were always subservient to men. Jesus and his earliest followers pushed back against this attitude, and many of the subsequent writings in the first two centuries attest to this woman-affirming thinking. Although the mainstream church ultimately returned to its male-dominant hierarchical structure, numerous writings that inspired women’s self-governing autonomy and leadership roles circulated throughout the area.

In the Dialogue of the Savior, Mary, the disciple of Jesus “spoke as a woman who understood everything” (138:12). But Matthew, another disciple, says, “Pray in the place where there is no woman,” which means, destroy the works of the female, not because there is another form of birth but because they should stop giving birth.” Needless to say, that raises lots of questions! In our discussion of it, we hope to find a deeper understanding of antiquity, and hopefully of the modern world as well.

Text for the session: Second half of the text, Dialogue of the Savior

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/dialog.html (by Stephen Emmel)
This text is easier to find.

Nag Hammadi Scriptures, ed. Marvin Meyer, pp. 308-311
This text is easier to read.