It is clear that both Scripture and Tradition come to us expressed through particular historical and cultural contexts. The human authors and teachers through whom God chose to communicate His eternal and unchanging truth were themselves shaped by the assumptions, language and social structures of their time.
Accordingly, the ways in which believers think about God and articulate their faith are influenced by the cultural norms of the societies in which they live. It is therefore unsurprising that in biblical and New Testament times women did not occupy recognised positions of leadership in the synagogue, the Temple or the early Christian communities, although there is some evidence of women exercising significant and in certain cases possibly leading roles. This evidence will be considered later in relation to the question of the diaconate.




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