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Medieval Catholic Church’s View of Women
vs.
Martin Luther’s Teachings Regarding Women
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During the Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were conflicting
views and teachings on the education of women, their place in society, and in the church. The
Reformation began as a moral reform and eventually became a religious movement that asserted
a biblical basis for the church and family.1 Prior to the reformation, women had three options in
regards to their vocation; they could marry, join a convent, or work in a brothel.2 For women who
craved independence the last two options were the most popular. Martin Luther, however, taught
that God had ordained marriage as the first estate of life and everyone who was able to should
marry.3 While the teachings of Martin Luther and the views of the medieval Catholic Church
were very different, they both stressed the importance of women as wives and mothers; to them it
was the most honorable and God glorifying role that women could have; a belief that still
permeates societies today.
During this time period, Catholics believed that the only appropriate place for the woman
was either in the domestic home or in the confines of a convent.4 Being part of a convent was the
only plausible way for a woman to have a role in the church or any form of religiosity, and it was
the only honorable alternative to marriage.5 Pre-Reformation women in the convent were able to
act as religious leaders and teachers in the church and were looked up to for being so.6 They had
11. Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day (Peabody, MA:
Prince Press, 1999), 6-7.
22. Kirsi,Stjerna, Women and the Reformation (Hoboken: Wiley- Blackwell, 2008), 219-221.
33. Susan C. Karant-Nunn, trans., Luther on Women: A Sourcebook, ed. Merry Wiesner-Hanks (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2003), 88-89.
44. Stjema, 217.
55. Barbra J. Harris, “A New Look at the Reformation: Aristocratic Women and Nunneries, 14-50-1540,” Journal of
British Studies 32, no. 2 (April 1993): 90. Accessed November 14, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/175770.
66. Stjema, 12.
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the liberty of individual expression and independence, as well as the ability to learn, and study
the scriptures on their own.7 Catholic women who did not enter convents were wives and
mothers. They worked as helpmates to their husbands, acted as keepers of the home, but were
regarded as subordinate to men.8
Martin Luther taught a Pauline view of women: they were to be silent in church, subject
to their husbands, and dependent on them for theological and biblical clarification.9 They were
excluded from the ministry of the church; women were not to preach, teach or participate in
theological discussions with the exception of teaching their children and exhorting other
women.10 Luther taught that, as was evidenced by Eve’s action in the Garden of Eden, women
were of a weaker nature than men, but Luther also highlighted the honorable and central role that
women play as wives and mothers, as well as the important roles of women in both the Old and
New Testaments.11 Throughout Luther’s life he always held a high regard for women starting
with his mother, who was influential in his early life, as well as his wife who he considered
strong and wise.12
The education of women pre- Reformation was primarily executed in convents where the
they learned Latin reading and writing, religion, manners, morals, and various forms of
77. Ibid, 26-27.
88. Lyndal Roper, The Holy Household: Women and Morals in Reformation Augsburg (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998), 27-33.
99. 1 Cor. 14:34-35.
1010. Stjerna, 219.
1111. Susan C. Karant-Nunn, 7-8.
1212. Albrecht Classen, and Tanya Amber Settle, “Women in Martin Luther’s Life and Theology,” German
Studies Review 14, no. 2 (May 1991): 242, 244, accessed November 23, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1430561.
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handiwork.13 The Reformation era continued that line of learning; Luther was personally
interested in making sure that everyone, including women, learned how to read the Bible, so girls
where taught similar things to what a convent would have taught, but there was an emphasis on
submissiveness and other “womanly virtues.”14
Lowell Green made this observation about women’s education during this era, “The value
of educating women was not considered to be in developing the mind of the individual but rather
in ensuring the moral character of future mothers and wives.”15 He then later when on to point
out that,
Women’s education had always taken place, even in times when it was available
only for a select few and given by private tutors to daughters of the nobility and
the wealthy. After the Reformation, however, schooling for girls became more and
more widely diffused, until at length it was placed within the grasp of most
females in the west. In the transition which took place, one may detect a gradual
evolution in concepts regarding the role of women in society and the education or
training appropriate to their social position.16
In conclusion, Martin Luther and the medieval Catholic Church put a great deal of
emphases on the women’s role as a wife and mother, because they believed that it was in this
capacity that she brought the most glory to God. Today that belief is still the standard for the
roles of women in all major religions in the world. The medieval Catholic Church only allowed
for education and independence of women via participation in a convent, whereas Martin
1313. Shirley Kersey, “Medieval Education of Girls and Women,” Educational Horizons 58, no. 4
(Summer 1980):188, accessed December 7, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42924397.
1414. Stjerna, 220.
1515. Lowell Green, “The Education of Women in the Reformation,” History of Education Quarterly 19, no. 1
(Spring 1979): 80, accessed December 7, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/367811.
1616. Ibid, 101.
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Luther’s teachings limited women to the home and other domestic duties, with women’s
education only being to further their knowledge and understanding of God and His word.
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Bibliography
Classen, Albrecht, and Tanya Amber Settle. “Women in Marin Luther’s Life and Theology.”
German Studies Review 14, No. 2 (May, 1991):231-260.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1430561 (accessed November 23, 2015).
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day. Peabody:
Prince Press, 1999.
Green, Lowell. “The Education of Women in the Reformation.” History of Education Quarterly
19, No.1 (Spring 1979): 93 -116. http://www.jstor.org/stable/367811 (accessed December
7, 2015).
Harris, Barbara J. “A New Look at the Reformation: Aristocratic Women and Nunneries, 1450-
1540.” Journal of British Studies 32, No. 2 (April, 1993): 89-113.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/175770 (accessed November 14, 2015).
Karant-Nunn, Susan C., trans. Luther on Women: A Sourcebook. Edited by Merry Wiesner-
Hanks. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Kersey, Shieley. “Medieval Education of Girls and Women.” Educational Horizons 58, No. 4
(Summer 1980): 188-192. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42924397 (accessed December 7,
2015).
Roper, Lyndal. The Holy Household: Women and Morals in Reformation Augsburg. New York:
Oxford University Press (1989).
Stjerna, Kirsi. Women and the Reformation. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
