in memory of her, a feminist theological reconstruction of
TRANSCRIPT
Leaven Leaven
Volume 4 Issue 2 Women and Ministry Article 17
1-1-1996
In Memory of Her, A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of In Memory of Her, A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of
Christian Origins, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza Christian Origins, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza
Christy Atler
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Atler, Christy (2012) "In Memory of Her, A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza," Leaven: Vol. 4 : Iss. 2 , Article 17. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol4/iss2/17
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].
Women and Ministry 55
Book ReviewsMarkus McDowell,Editor
Carol A Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, editors, TheWomen's Bible Commentary (London: SPCKWestminster/John Knox Press, 1992), reviewed byRonald L. Tyler.
Carol Newsom, Old Testament professor atCandler School of Theology at Emory University andSharon Ringe, New Testament professor at WesleyTheological Seminary, have edited the first scholarlycommentary written by female Biblical scholars.Recent years have seen an incredible growth infeminist biblical studies. This 396-page commen-tary, written by forty-one women, is a product of thatmovement. To read the list of contributors is to beintroduced to some of the world's leading womeninterpreters drawn from Catholic, Protestant, andJewish traditions.
The editors admit being inspired by a two-volume work done in 1895-1898 by Elizabeth CadyStanton (The Woman's Bible), but recall that it didnot have academically trained women willing towrite for it. They have followed Stanton's model ofcommenting mainly on those passages relating towomen.
In addition to covering each book of the Oldand New Testaments and the Apocrypha (the Apoc-rypha in one chapter), the commentary includessome brief essays: the editors' Introduction, SharonRinge, "When Women Interpret the Bible", CarolMeyers, "Everyday Life: Women in the Period oftheHebrew Bible", Amy Wordelman, "Everyday Life:Women in the Period of the New Testament", andDeirdre Good, "Extracanonical Writings." Theseessays consider the lives of women in the biblicalperiod, women in early Christian writings outsidethe canon, and modern feminist readings of theBible. I urge you to read the Introduction and "When
Women Interpret the Bible" as an orientation beforeusing this commentary.
Each book is briefly introduced with a discus-sion of contemporary critical issues and a summaryof its content. The introduction is followed by briefcomments on those portions relevant to, or about,women, including the presence (or absence) ofwomen,marriage customs, family contexts, rights of womenat that time, and various relationships of womenwith men and their culture. Here information isoften found which is not in other commentaries.After reading another commentary, check the treat-ment ofthe book in this volume, and you will be in forsome surprises-some intimidating and some excit-ing. Cited on the dustjacketis a reviewer's commentfrom the Library Journal: "This commentary willraise eyebrows, and it will raise consciousness aswell." Select bibliographies are included for eachbook. These bibliographies, naturally, stress women'scontributions.
Amy-Jill Levine's contribution on Ruth isone of the best treatments of Ruth available. Shegives a solid overview of the book and does nothesitate to interpret chapter 3 as a "seduction" withRuth uncovering, not Boaz's "feet" but his "genitals."Her study properly rescues Ruth from being labeled"A Love Story," and then misread and misused.
Gail O'Day's study of the fourth gospel re-veals the important role that women play in theJesus story. Especially interesting is her treatmentof the role of women in the resurrection of Jesus.Correctly observing that all the gospels underscorethat it was women who came early Sunday morningto the tomb, she stresses Mary Magdalene in thestory. I first became aware of the importance ofwomen in the Johannine resurrection story readingB. F. Westcott's, The Revelation of the Risen
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Atler: In Memory of Her, A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christ
Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2012
56 Leaven, Spring, 1996
Lord, 1902, wherein he showed the revelation was tolove. O'Day develops this in a different, but informa-tive, direction.
O'Day also did the study of Acts, which willbe of special interest to Leaven readers. A mentionof her topics will give you some flavor of what toexpect: women believers in the early church, asidesabout women, women and ministry in the earlychurch, Ananias and Sapphira, the raising ofTabitha,Rhoda .at the gate, the women at Philippi, Priscillaand Aquila, Acts and women's experience, women'sroles, and women's futures.
Jouette M. Bassler's study of 1 Corinthianswill also be of special interest to readers of Leaven.Regarding 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, which she labels"silence," you will find a clear statement of the prob-lem these verses represent, followed by a listing ofthe major interpretations given. She opts for theirbeing a marginal gloss.
Any student-male or female-interested inan overview of a given book of the Bible or Apocryphaand/or those portions wherein women are centralshould have access to this volume. You will notalways agree with what you read but you will alwaysbe stimulated and you will learn. And what more canyou ask from a one-volume commentary!
Ronald L. Tyler teaches New Testament studies atPepperdine University, Malibu, California.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, AFeminist Theological Reconstruction of Chris-tian Origins (New York: The Crossroad PublishingCompany, 1983) 357 pp. $17.95, reviewed by ChristyAtler.
The quest for identity predominates the his-tory of the restorationist tradition, many Sundaymorning lessons, and even the strand of feminismthreaded through churches across the country today.For many individuals, the church represents a meansfor discovering their identity. For many womenespecially, the desire to unveil and rediscover therole of women in the early church expresses anurgent need to embrace a female identity.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza in 1983 pub-lished In Memory of Her, A Feminist Theologi-cal Reconstruction of Christian Origins, whichvoices her criticisms concerning the exclusion ofwomen's history and her re-examination of earlychurch history. Schussler Fiorenza states that thevoid of women in church history is manifested by thetreatment of the story of the woman who anointedJesus' head with oil, a story which has little represen-
tation in the modern-day re-enactment of the LastSupper. Jesus' proclamation in Mark 14:9 that"wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world,what she has done will be told in memory of her" isforgotten along with her name and remembrance ofher faithfulness. For Schussler Fiorenza, women'shistory in the early church is a lost and forgottenhistory resulting from androcentrism (a male bias inreading and interpreting the text). In Memory ofHer seeks to revive the place of women otherwiseoverlooked and/or down-played in the early church.It also endeavors to rediscover women in the patriar-chal world of the Bible to "not only restore earlyChristian history to women but also [to) lead to aricher and more accurate perception of early Chris-tian beginnings."
Recognizing that the New Testament textwas written according to androcentric presupposi-tions, Schussler Fiorenza approaches the context ofthe biblical text affirming the theological principle ofinclusiveness within the early church. Inclusivenessin Christianity allows for a greater acceptance ofwomen and an expansion of their roles. Though thetext may be silent on the whereabouts of women andtheir specific roles within the church, SchusslerFiorenza casts New Testament women in a funda-mentally new light. She not only focuses on theconcrete biblical details about women, but she oftencontemplates some creative possibilities. These pos-sibilities do not always have comprehensive evidenceto support them, which may discourage the reader.Nevertheless, through reading In Memory of Her,we are challenged to remember the phenomenalwomen who labored, preached, housed Christians,and held significant leadership roles within the earlychurch.
In Memory of Her is written for a specificaudience, namely those who seek to challenge theirperceptions of women in Christianity. Restoringwomen's history to the hands of Christian women isa challenge for the modern-day church and not astruggle for women alone. In Memory of Her helpsto revive the place of women in Christian history andforces us to look at the texts in newfound ways.
Christy Atler, a religion major, graduated fromSeaver College, Pepperdine University in April. Shebegins graduate study this fall at Harvard DivinitySchool.
(Editor's Note): A tenth anniversary edition of InMemory of Her was published in 1993. This reviewof her earlier work underscores the importance ofSchussler Fiorenza's place in New Testament stud-ies as well as the debate surrounding this crucial butdebatable study.
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