In 1776 a German scholar J.J. Griesbach published a copy of the first three gospels as a synopsis = “seen together”. Usually they are interpreted as a ‘fruit-salad’ of almost identical writings. Do you think, after 248 years, Christians can now cope with that different view of them?
Also in the 18th century a scholar named Jean Astruc alerted interpreters to the fact that varying oral traditions lay behind (and before) the scriptural writings. This is called Source Study.
In 1919 Martin Dibelius published a study examining the Form of the biblical documents and their contents. It is known as Form Criticism. Parables, genealogies, poems, Babylonian stories, legends, (revised) histories, pronouncement stories, etc were various forms that were closely studied.
Then in the 1960’s Redaction study (especially of the gospels) focussed on the evangelists as creative theologians recording, editing and changing the oral and written sources they used.
To give you a brief sample of both Source Study and Redaction Study note the following:
Source study generally presumes that Matthew redacted Mark’s account.
From the 1970s through to the 1990s a number of approaches to biblical interpretation gained momentum. Two that are related are Sociological Study and Feminist Study of the scriptures.
Sociological Study and Feminist Scholarly Study
The former examined the sociological context of the biblical writings. To note just one important aspect, whether in the centuries preceding CE (‘common era’) or the first century CE, it is generally agreed that all the writings were written by males. Therefore across the Bible writings, no woman wrote from the life experiences of women in those historical periods.
To give a statistical reading of that context of persons actually named in the Bible, around 90% are men and 10% women. “The Hebrew Bible mentions a total of 1,426 names of which 1,315 are those of men. Thus only 111 women’s names appear, about 9% of the total. [1] Another study meticulously counted the number of words of actual speech in the bible. The result: Women-speak accounts for around 1.1% of the total spoken words in the Christian Bible. Other statistics:
* In John’s Gospel out of 27 people named, only 4 women are named.
* In Luke’s Gospel,no women are named in the genealogy of Jesus. Not even his mother!
There is a famous biblical passage that contains a feminine theme reaching even into the Godhead. The passage is found in John 3:
3. Jesus answered [Nicodemus] ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4. Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5. Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Nicodemus’ response shows that he knows how birth occurs – at least human birth. He replies: “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus corrects Nicodemus’ misunderstanding. But Nicodemus is not incorrect as regards his reference to obstetrics. No. It is not the fact of birthing that is in dispute, but the sphere of birthing that Nicodemus misunderstands.
We can put the matter in the form of questions in a Christian catechism.
Q. Who gave birth to you physically? A. My mother gave birth to me physically.
Q. Who gave birth to you spiritually A. God gave birth to me spiritually.
Every time a Christian declares that they are “born again” they are testifying to the motherhood of God. This theology has been present in John’s gospel available to Christians for almost 2,000 years! It is not new theology. But can Christians cope with this theology.
The same theology was there at the very beginning of Genesis. Consider the pithy (and dare I use the gendered word) pregnant and striking sentence found in Genesis 1:27
So God created humankind in [God’s] image, in the image of God [God] created them; male and female [God] created the them.
In other words, using anthropomorphic language, i.e. language drawn from human parallels, God is ‘androgynous’. The word “androgynous” comes from the two Greek words – andra = “man” and “gune” = “woman”. So according to Genesis 1:27 femininity and masculinity are encompassed in God – not just one, but both. But in the Bible translations only the male pronouns “he” and “him” are used to refer to God; never the female pronouns “she” and “her”.
Pronouncement Story + Reader/Hearer Response:
13 Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15 Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.” 16 And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose image [eikwn] is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him. – Mark 12:13-17.
Varied responses: a. Simon of Galilee b. Richard Wurmbrand c. German Foreign Minister
d. Pious Christianity (John 18:36) e. Church & State f. Divine right of Kings g. Romans 13:1-7
1. Carol l. Meyers, “EVERYDAY LIFE – Women in the Period of the Hebrew Bible”, in The Women’s Bible Commentary, Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe eds, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992, p.245
Dr Ray Barraclough 4 August, 2024
Current biblical scholarship is being carried out internationally by a wider range of female scholars. It is called womanist hermeneutics. Womanist is a term used by African, Asian and Afro-American women scholars to distinguish their approach from narrower white Western middle-class feminist perspectives. Besides gender issues, they include class, race, cultural and economic issues in their interpretation of the Bible.
Another picture of that gender imbalance:
Rev’d Lindsay Freeman carefully went through the Bible and counted all of the words spoken by women in the Bible. So she and three other women in her church community got to work with highlighters, sticky notes, and spreadsheets to find out just how many women have speaking roles in the bestselling book of all time. It turns out the Bible contains 93 women who speak, 49 of whom are named. Collectively they say a total of 14,056 words, which accounts for roughly 1.1 percent of the total spoken words in the Christian Bible. Freeman and her team found that in Genesis, only 11 women speak compared to 50 men.
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