Feminism and Christianity
Last week we have learned that because of colonialism, the western Christian mindset spread over the colonized world. This then implemented the view of gender binaries. Drawing on this information we begin to explore this idea in more detail. Specifically, the representation of women in religious texts and environments. Because westernized Christian societies tend to see everything through patriarchal lenses, pointing out what exactly can be wrong with those views is an important part of connecting Christianity and feminism. Jennifer Knust explores the pericope adulterae, a depiction of a woman caught in adultery in John 7:53–8:11. What is significant here is that Jesus defends this woman which results in this being accepted by feminists. “Jesus’s defence of the adulteress has served as a useful rebuke of a male-dominated Christian church determined to marginalize, undermine, exploit, and otherwise abuse women, irrespective of their (alleged) sins” [1] However, this has commonly been misinterpreted by male figures in the Christian church. Most importantly, no matter any of the representations of women in the Bible, Knust states that they usually depict them as having to submit to men or heteronormativity in general, which creates a problem for Knust. Specifically, the interpretation is that the woman remains an object that is used to further improve the image of Jesus.[2] Personally, I see Knust’s point even to this day women can be present in a story just to somewhat affect how the man is viewed by the audience. It is clear that this issue can be resolved to a certain extent in the contemporary world by depicting the woman as an autonomous being. However, I am not certain if the same can be said about stories that retain a historical value – I do not think it is possible to know all the details and circumstances of the stories of Biblical women and therefore we cannot be certain if not accepting Jesus’ defence and standing her own ground would not be even more harmful to her. What critical religion has taught me is that we have to consider all historical details to be able to make a judgement about a certain situation, and if we cannot then we are merely speculating. Challenging the stories in the Bible is important for the present but we cannot make statements about what could have been done differently in the past.
[1] Knust, Jennifer. Can an Adulteress Save Jesus? The Pericope Adulterae, Feminist Interpretation, and the Limits of Narrative Agency. Oxford Scholarship Online. Oxford University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198722618.003.0024. pp. 406
[2] Ibid.