A Messianic Religion... With A Female Messiah?

ninebucks

Banned
What would be the effects of a major Messianic religion having a female Messiah? How, where and when would this religion arise? And how successful would it be at proselytising? My opinion is that such a religion could actually be quite successful, much of Europe's pre-Christian religion was based on the worship of a Mother Goddess, which, in OTL, was rehabilitated into the Cult of Mary - a female Messiah could possibly fill that gap more easily?

Thoughts?
 

ninebucks

Banned
Well it would get rid of sexist people and there would surely be more women preachers. That's all I know.

Well that doesn't follow at all. There were and are plenty of religions that have female divinities and that had and have women preachers, but that doesn't mean their societies were sexually egalitarian. In Ancient Rome, the priestesses of certain cults were held in very high regard in high society, but that regard didn't trickle down to any greater respect for women in general.
 
What would be the effects of a major Messianic religion having a female Messiah? How, where and when would this religion arise? And how successful would it be at proselytising? My opinion is that such a religion could actually be quite successful, much of Europe's pre-Christian religion was based on the worship of a Mother Goddess, which, in OTL, was rehabilitated into the Cult of Mary - a female Messiah could possibly fill that gap more easily?

Thoughts?

I would say such a religion couldn't come from the jewish religion because the jewish socity of that time was strictly dominated by man. If you look into the religous history of the jewish belief you will the that all important persons, beginning with god ending with the prophets are male.
 
She won't be born into Jewish culture or society. The jews were too patriarchal to accept a female messiah. Jesus Christ was born a man into Jewish society and the jews or their leaders rejected him as the prophesied messiah, no way will they accept a woman. Had jesus been born a girl and tried preaching as a woman in Jewish society of 2000 years ago they would have married her off to some old man and stieffeled her to the kitchen.

Most cultures in that part of the world were and still are strongly patriarchal as were The Romans.

A female messiah is probably going to have to be born in an area where there is a strong mother-goddess culture and one that had both significant contact and conflict with Rome.

It would also be helpful to know more about the philosophy she preaches, the beliefs and belief system, also more about her followers and what they are like.

Since she porbably won't be born into Jewish society, in TTL Judaism porbably does not grow into the worldwide religion it is today.
 
Messianic religions seemed to be the most successful in the Roman empire, personality cults that end up being accepted.

She would have to be a miracle worker, or at least convince thousands of people she has commited miracles.

She would likely need to claim to be the avatar of a pre-existing goddess. Perhaps Isis or Athena.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
I thought we had this? Individual Heterosexual Male Virginity, where you're awaiting the right girl to come along and teach you, lead you and of course, marry you (and therefore save you from sexual diseases if you remain 'faithful').

For a collective organized religion though?

I'd pick Mary Shelly, the woman who wrote Frankenstein.
 

Keenir

Banned
I would say such a religion couldn't come from the jewish religion because the jewish socity of that time was strictly dominated by man. If you look into the religous history of the jewish belief you will the that all important persons, beginning with god ending with the prophets are male.

Deborah was a Prophet/war leader, wasn't she?

and Ruth was important enough to get her own book.
 
Probably not. Historically, worship of female deities almost never translated into female equality.
True, true. OTOH, Athena was not your run-of-the-mill goddess. I can't think off hand of any other goddesses that had a Warrior aspect the way she did...

(of course, even if it was only guys fighting, a brainy war goddess instead of doofus Ares might have made for more intelligent tactics.)
 
Deborah was a Prophet/war leader, wasn't she?

and Ruth was important enough to get her own book.
Oh, really? But in the major parts of the bible women aren't really high valued. So you've got two exceptions from the rule but these exception are totally antithetic to the normal status of a femal in the jewish society of that time. The same goes for the female priestess in rome. They may be valued but the normal status of a female in the roman society wasn't that high.
 
Just look at objectivism if you want proof female messianic figure doesn't translate in women being treated as equal :D
 
Just look at objectivism if you want proof female messianic figure doesn't translate in women being treated as equal :D

Sometimes I think the universe is structured in such a way that everything leads to objectivism being wrong. :D

With enough work, Dinosaurs being feathered can turn into an argument against objectivism.
 
Why does the Messiah have to be Western?

Perhaps, some long long time ago, one of the Boddhisattvas (a female) wrote a sutra pertaining to the idea of an avatar bringing the world into harmony. It isn't really read that seriously at the time, but after Confucius, Mencius, and Lao Tzu get their hands on philosophy, paired with the teachings of Harmony and Taoism, this particular sutra makes more sense. It spreads like wildfire, and sometime in between dynasties (because Chinese history is so BORING....dynasty after dynasty after dynasty with civil war in between) and she is a student of this school of thought. She raises the bar a notch, people get their shit together, the civil war ends, and later she is deified with the message that she is the promised avatar to bring the world back into balance.

In the short term, they see this as Jung Gue coming into balance (which happens during her life), but later on, they see it as a promise of future peace, much like the evolution of Christianity went through.

Boom. Chinese Messiah. And she's female.
 
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