Editing Christendom (section)

===Women's roles===
{{Main|Women in Christianity}}

Attitudes and beliefs about the roles and responsibilities of [[women in Christianity]] vary considerably today as they have throughout the last two millennia—evolving along with or counter to the societies in which Christians have lived. The Bible and Christianity historically have been interpreted as excluding women from church leadership and placing them in submissive roles in marriage. Male leadership has been assumed in the church and within marriage, society and government.<ref name="Blevins">Blevins, Carolyn DeArmond, ''Women in Christian History: A Bibliography.'' Macon, Georgia: Mercer Univ Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-86554-493-X}}</ref>

Some contemporary writers describe the role of women in the life of the church as having been downplayed, overlooked, or denied throughout much of Christian history. [[Paradigm shift]]s in gender roles in society and also many churches has inspired reevaluation by many Christians of some long-held attitudes to the contrary. [[Christian egalitarianism|Christian egalitarians]] have increasingly argued for equal roles for men and women in [[Christian views of marriage|marriage]], as well as for the [[ordination of women]] to the [[clergy]]. Contemporary conservatives meanwhile have reasserted what has been termed a "[[Complementarianism|complementarian]]" position, promoting the traditional belief that the [[Bible]] ordains different roles and responsibilities for women and men in the Church and family.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piper |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/recoveringbiblic00pipe_587 |title=Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood |publisher=Crossway |year=1991 |isbn=9781856840453 |location=Wheaton, Illinois |pages=[https://archive.org/details/recoveringbiblic00pipe_587/page/n30 31]–59 |url-access=limited}}</ref>