Before: Christianity as we know it today was heavily influenced by the cultural norms of first century Judaism and the pervasive teachings of the Ancient Near East. Included in that influence is the androcentric and patriarchal nature of that society: the perception that men were the greater sex, intended to head the household and be dominant over their wives and families. There was a clearly established hierarchy within the household, with the women generally being at the bottom of the totem pole. Society was structured around these hierarchies, and subsequently many of the writings of the Christian Scriptures fell right in line with those of the Hebrew Bible when it came to discussions of gender. This bled into Christianity and remained a part of its identity as it transitioned from being a small group of believers meeting in homes to an institutionalized religion practiced in the Roman Empire and later other world powers. Now even in modern Christian traditions, gender is still understood as being distinct and ranked.
After: Everything we believe has been influenced by the generations that have come before us. We are influenced by our parents, our teachers, our politicians, our founding fathers, and even our long removed Mesopotamian relatives. I grew up believing that Earth was round, and that gravity caused things in the air to plummet back down to the ground. Being raised in America, I believe that cars are supposed to be driven on the right side of the road and that I am supposed to put on my seatbelt any time I get into a moving vehicle. I measure things in inches and yards, rather than centimeters and meters. All of this is because people have gone before me, established that there was a more correct way of doing things, and then established that as a societal norm that in turn impacts my everyday life. Similarly, Christianity as we know it today was heavily influenced by the cultural norms of first century Judaism and the pervasive teachings of the Ancient Near East. Included in that influence is the androcentric and patriarchal nature of that society: the perception that men were the greater sex, intended to head the household and be dominant over their wives and families. There was a clearly established hierarchy within the household, with the women generally being at the bottom of the totem pole. Society was structured around these hierarchies, and subsequently many of the writings of the Christian Scriptures fell right in line with those of the Hebrew Bible when it came to discussions of gender. This bled into Christianity and remained a part of its identity as it transitioned from being a small group of believers meeting in homes to an institutionalized religion practiced in the Roman Empire and later other world powers. Now even in modern Christian traditions, gender is still understood as being distinct and ranked.I did not really have a hook beforehand; my intro was definitely just copied and pasted from my original proposal for this research topic. I think this new intro will establish commonality between myself and the reader, and provides tangible examples that the audience can grasp in this discussion of previous cultures influence modern cultures. Also, hit me up with more things we all believe/were taught! Trying to just avoid religion, because that's really what my paper is about.