Just want to throw it out for discussion. I am NOT trying to piss people off but am really interested in opinions on this:
St. Paul brought some baggage with him.
I just think that no matter how saintly he was, that he could not help but bring part of his past/culture along with him. And that past impacted the way he interpreted things and what he considered correct. St. Paul was a Jewish zealot and I think I recall reading somewhere that he may of been a Rabbi. If not a Rabbi, then he was certainly a learned scholar/teacher before he set out to persecute Christians.
I think that he brought with him his view of woman and how they should be treated and act from Judiasm. And truthfully, back then it was not much different from the Muslim view of woman now. I can't find any other disciple/apostle from the original group who wrote about women the way St. Paul did. Personally, I don't think he liked women!
I find it interesting that in all the dealings that the savior had with woman in the Gospels, he treats them as equals. He never makes any comments about them having to "stay in their place". That they should not be included in the group. That they are a bunch of gosssips and should not speak.
Some of the statements that St. Paul made in his epistles about the way women should be treated/act were inconsistent with the way Jesus treated women in the Gospels. Don't you think that if this was such an important issue that the LORD would have said something about it?
In the same vein, St. Augustine got his hangups with sex being dirty from his background. It was part of the baggage he brought with him.
Just because someone is saintly does not make them always right.