From
Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church In America
Volume 1, Number 5
Advent 1996
Women in the Church
Women and the Bible
Jan Wiersma
Halverson
Does it ever bother you that
the Bible was written by men?”
My parishioner disclaimed the title of feminist, yet she asked
the question. In the conversation that followed, I began to understand that
what bothered her was not first of all the Bible and its authorship but the
worship and practice of the church in general, and her sense that these had no
real purpose in her daily life. Her question simply unlocked the broader range
of her concern. There are many gates into the fields of grace. Feminist
questions about the Bible may open some of them.
Can feminist questions about the Bible open the gate to its
relevance?
For some in our flocks, the Bible is a living and life-giving Word: It
refreshes, comforts and inspires. But for others, it remains an arid desert,
confusing and unpalatable. Both women and men may be put off, not only by
sexist language, but also by bloody Old Testament sagas, gaps in
cultural/linguistic understanding, or dense passages of law or theology. Still
others, like sheep, avoid the rough terrain and are content to huddle in the
well-trodden green pastures of Psalm 23 and a few other familiar oases.
Yet what is the task of the shepherd if not to feed the
sheep with a wholesome and well-balanced diet of God’s Word? We face the same
dilemma every responsible parent faces at mealtime: Do I give my children what
they want or do I give them what I think is good for them? What good will it do
them if they won’t eat it anyway? How much do I bow to fashion or popular
demand?
Some argue that the popular demands of a secular feminist
agenda have trickled into women’s perceptions of God and church, threatening traditional
structures and interpretation. Some even claim that such infiltration has
hastened a decline of interest in the church and its teachings and tools. On
the other hand, those who work toward a church enlarged by many views may fear
that feminist, womanist, or liberationist scholars may be too parochial,
leading others into restricted canyons—narrowing vision instead of broadening
it.
I would suggest instead that feminist or womanist
interpretations may unlock the relevance of the Bible for Christians of either
gender. The writings of Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Phyllis Trible and Renita
Weems, for example, bring the Word of God to bear on current pressing issues of
women’s social invisibility, violence toward women, and the power of community.
They use the tools of scholarship to bring the Word of God powerfully home to
challenge and engage the reader. They reveal the relevance that is present but
veiled.
Can feminist questions about the Bible open the gate to its
authority?
Assuming the hungry soul has tasted the relevance of the text, on what grounds
may she accept it as authoritative? Lutherans have steadfastly maintained that
the individual believer can discern the saving truth in the Bible without
benefit of specially trained intermediaries. However, the Church also has the
responsibility to preach the Gospel in its purity (Augsburg Confession, Article
VII). One might hope there would be no contradiction between the soul food of
the individual and the doctrinally balanced meal laid out by the Church. Still,
interpretations vary. Bible interpretations traditionally propounded as “pure
Gospel” may feel oppressive to the individual.
A feminist approach, relying on experience and internal
validation of truth, may free the individual to make her own interpretation
while opening her to new sources of insight. For example, while my mother and
grandmother prized Esther as a “lovely, loyal and obedient wife,” I value her
as courageous, resourceful and intelligent enough to outwit a very powerful man.
Theologian Letty Russell’s Feminist Interpretations of
the Bible makes the case for a “shared authority” by which readers may act
as partners in the task of interpretation, weighing what is received with what
rings true to one’s own knowledge of the world. In such a yoking, authority
loses its power to oppress. From such partnership, all can grow.
Can feminist questions about the Bible open the gate
to its power? People inside and outside our churches are hungry for
meaning that gives life. We believe that such food is available in the Bible.
But no food can nourish unless it is eaten. The Word cannot move in people’s
lives unless it is heard and read. And unless it is perceived as relevant and
authoritative, that will not happen. As my parishioner’s question about
biblical authorship unlocked her real concern about her religious practice,
feminist questions can unleash the power of God to save.
But there is more. In a sense, what is best in these “new” interpretations is what has always been with us. For centuries, faithful men and women have come together in groups, asking the Holy Spirit for guidance as they feed on the Word of God and find in it the satisfying of their hunger and the quenching of their thirst. The power of God is released in community. Feminist scholarship simply reminds us of this old and simple truth. God comes to us to feed us, but instructs us also to feed one another. As we join in this endeavor we are transformed by the Word.
Lives are transformed as the reader meets, in familiar or
far-flung fields, the power of the living God. By carefully considering the
insights encountered by God’s people looking to the Word for nourishment, we
can share in the ongoing renewal of our faith. And we can trust that God will
lead us in the paths of righteousness¾not just those that are safe and
familiar, but also those that lead toward new vistas of understanding, hope,
and strength.
Pastor Jan Wiersma-Halverson
Pastor, Our Savior’s,
Arlington Heights