Table Of ContentN 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
