N I C H O L A S K I N G WHISPERS OF LIBERATION Feminist Perspectives on the New Testament NICHOLAS KING PAULIST PRESS New York/ Mahwah, NJ. Scripture translations are made on the basis of the 27th edition of the Nestle-Aland Testamentum Graece, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, 2d printing, 1994. Cover design by]ames F. Brisson Book design by Theresa M. Sparacio Copyright© 1998 by Nicholas King All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data King, Nicholas. \Nhispers of liberation feminist perspectives on the New Testament / Nicholas King. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8091-3816-6 (alk. paper) 1. Bible. N.T.-Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible. N.T.-Feminist criticism. I. Title. BS2379.K55 1998 225.6'082-dc21 98-35682 CIP Published by Paulist Press 997 Macarthur Boulevard Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 www.paulistpress.com Printed and bound in the United States of Arnerica CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART I CHAPTER ONE Is the "Good News" Really "Bad News"? 11 CHAPTER TWO "The Child of Person"- Does Inclusive Language R eally Matter? 24 CHAPTER THREE Some Feminist Religious Thinkers 40 PART II CHAPTER FOUR Mark's Gospel-Women as Model Disciples 57 CHAPTER FIVE Matthew's Gospel-A Series of Shocks 78 CHAPTER SIX 1ne Women in the Fourth Gospel-A Study in Contrasts 96 CHAPTER SEVEN Luke-Acts-''An Extremely Dangerous Text" 123 CHAPTER EIGHT Was It All the Fault of Paul? 14 7 111 . lV • CONTENTS CHAPTER NINE The Household Codes 167 CONCLUSION Where and How Are the Women? 183 187 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING SOCIIS IN CHRISTO IESU INTRODUCTION I and increasingly since THE COURSE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, the 1960s, people have become aware of a whole host of issues con nected with the role of women in society and the ways in which they have been marginalized in male-dominated cultures. Virtually all the cultures that human history reveals to us are 1nale-dominated, and most of the history that we kno,v is ,vritten from the male point of view. It seems that we are being invited, as the present century draws to a close, to look again at the question of domination and subordination, not merely between the sexes, but also in all rela tionships among different groups and cultures in society. One example of this is the question of the role of women in the Christian churches and, more specifically, the way that religious lan guage can operate to keep women in an inferior position. At first sight this inferiority is an odd phenomenon in that although in n1ost religions throughout history women seem to have constituted the majority of practicing believers, it is generally the men who have played the organizational roles. Many feminists believe this occurs because religion is a source of power, and men have traditionally taken on and clung to power. This is not a problem peculiar to religious organizations, though. Most movements seem to have been do1ninated by men, at least on the organizational level. In saying that, I do not argue that it should be so; merely that it has been so. It may well be that the churches and non-Christian religious groups have been a step ahead of secular soci ety in allowing women a prominent role. Nevertheless, we are dealing here with something of a puzzle, and in the view of many people, both men and women, a considerable scandal, given that Christianity claims to promote a gospel of freedom and a "discipleship of equals." 1 2 • WHISPERS OF LIBERATION It cannot be denied that women have frequently been alienated and unchurched and that many ,-vornen feel a great anger at the church even though they may stay within its boundaries. Therefore, a ques tion poses itself with some urgency: What is the Spirit saying to the churches in the clan1or of men to be recognized? '\-Vo It occurred to me to ,-vrite this book for a number of reasons. First, as a middle-aged celibate priest ( of, I should judge, somewhat conservative disposition), I have become aware of the importance to me of the friendship of a number of women. At the same time, I have realized the extent to which I had been fearful of women-with out precisely identifying the nature of that fear-and to some extent I suspect that is also true of the institutional church to ,-vhich I belong. This in turn has given me an increasingly wider view of the 1ninistry of women in the church. Slowly, I have con1e to realize the force of the feminist charge that the church has been grudging in its acceptance of what women have to offer. Secondly, the gospels all attest that the women, including according to the fourth gospel-the mother ofJ esus, were at the cru cifixion ofJ esus. According to the synoptic gospels, the men had all disappeared in a panic. All the gospels agree that the wornen were the first to discover thatJesus' tomb was empty on Sunday morning and the first to be told thatjesus was risen. In Matthew andJohn, the first and fourth gospels, the women were the first to meet the risen Jesus. All agree that it was the women who were commis sioned to be "apostles to the apostles." Then, however, the women disappear rather abruptly from any kind of leading role in the infant church, and it seemed to me that it would be interesting to know why. Thirdly, while working in the troubled province of KwaZulu/ Natal in the years after the historic South African elections, I became painfully aware of the aggressive postures adopted by many of our politicians, who were 1nostly n1ale. Mainly in consequence of their persistently warlike utterances, each weekend alarming numbers of black i\fricans were killed under the pretext of a political struggle. In fact, politics was a cloak for n1any other interests: criminal activity, drug dealing, payment of old grudges and so on. Nevertheless, the