Biblical literature and the restriction of rights to women in the history of western law

Abstract

Contemporary Western law finds its origin intrinsically intertwined with divine law, which is based on the message conveyed by the Bible. Considered as a set of books, the Bible was not only the object of literary choices made by individuals who composed and edited it, as well as conveyed its authors’ intentions. Thus, rules of literary interpretation may be applied to the Bible, which enables a more accurate understanding of its message and of how it was shaped by the choices applied to it. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to analyze how the biblical literature was constituted and altered in order to understand how the female figure was represented. It also intends to analyze what are the consequences of its literary representation to women's rights. Furthermore, since religion was an important element in the definition Western law and morality, this work aims at observing the social reflections of the changes in biblical passages that discuss women's rights, considering the ideal of dignity and equality transmitted by Christian preachers and which guide the majority of Western legal systems today.