Everyday Obstacles
(Photo taken by me at Table Rock Dam)
We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary by visiting Branson in December last year. The weather was unseasonably warm, which worked in favor for our stay. One afternoon we drove to Table Rock Dam and sat on the edge, as good little tourists should. I sat mesmerized for nearly an hour watching several children and their fathers climb over the barrier – stooping down low or bopping over the boulders in the path down to the water. I held my breath – as any grandmother would – waiting for the inevitable: a tumble down the rocks, followed by a fall into the water, screams for help, and imagined a bloody rescue of a nearly drowning child. Alas, no one was hurt.
Navigating Obstacles in Biblical Interpretation
Sometimes when I study the scriptures I feel like I’m attempting to navigate a path filled with all kinds of obstacles, and one wrong step might result in injuries to my body and soul. And I’m a coward! I’m afraid to make the climb for fear of falling and misinterpreting, causing others to fall to their spiritual demise, so to speak. Biblical scholars, male and female alike, face many obstacles in the work of interpretation, and one is how to tackle the feminist and gender questions facing us today.
One of the obstacles a female reader (or teacher) must overcome when reading the book of Ruth (which I’m currently studying) is how the prevailing thought among feminist biblical scholars believe the text (as well as most of the Old Testament) dismisses and devalues women due to what might be a pejorative view of patriarchy.
It would be an error on our part to disregard the patriarchal nature that is prevalent in the text. Is it problematic and viewed as pejorative because we define patriarchy anachronistically? The jury is still out on this, so I need time to reflect on this before arriving at any satisfactory conclusion. My concern is less with the term patriarchy than with the term feminist.
The issue, in my mind today, is the visceral reaction of many when the term feminist is applied as an adjective to biblical scholar. What transpires then, in the mind of some men and women is that any female, for that matter, who attempts to teach and interpret Scripture is illegitimately lumped into the category of feminist, whether she herself identifies as a feminist or not.
Such is the case I experienced after graduating from Johnson University. One of my professors invited me to engage with an online class to share insights in Scripture from a female perspective that he thought the male students might overlook. No matter how many times I reminded the professor that I was simply a female studying the Word he continued to introduce me to the class as a feminist!
In Whispering the Word, J. E. Lapsley argues that the prevailing feminist biblical scholarship and it’s focus on patriarchy is indeed an obstacle for female scholars studying the Old Testament:
“The fundamental, and largely sacrosanct, assumption of much feminist biblical scholarship has functioned both to forge the identity of many feminist scholars of the bible and to obscure the possibilities of biblical interpretation that lie beyond consideration of the problems inherent in patriarchy.” 1
I’m reminded how often I bring my own “predispositions and social constructs” 2 as well as some of my rigidly held presuppositions and traditional views to the text by merely skimming over the story while barely listening to what the narrator is saying.
The obstacle female scholars find themselves compelled to respond to is this very thing: Does the biblical text value women or devalue women? The conclusions reached regarding this matter raise other important questions that must also be addressed if we hold to the belief that Scripture is God-breathed: Does the Creator of woman devalue women and privilege the male?
So, as I continue my research on the book of Ruth – reading commentaries and sources from a vast variety of perspectives – including those of feminists engaging with the text – must I respond to the question of patriarchy and feminist theology if those in the class are not even asking the question?
Or could we discuss together how political and religious systems throughout history have indeed degraded and devalued women due to misinterpretations that result in empowering one half of humanity at the expense of the other? I’ve no doubt many in the class have stories they could tell of this very thing.
Right now my take is this: Might we find in the book of Ruth how two women in the story – one an outsider, the other an insider – who by the story’s end find wholeness when fully placing themselves under the protective wings of the Almighty rather than under the umbrella of a husband?
We will see how the story plays out!
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