Jorunn Økland

Constructing Terminology and Defining Concepts for Gender Studies in Norway and Sweden

This position paper is written by four key researchers from two projects (one in Norway and one in Sweden) aiming to define and discuss terms and concepts in Gender Studies. It is inspired by the c ...

Feminist readings of the Bible

This chapter explores some distinctive characteristics and interests of Bibles reception history. It discusses the relationship between reception history and Wirkungsgeschichte. Reception history focuses on the reader or interpreter, how they receive the text in their particular historical and cultural setting. It is possible to distinguish between reception historians who conduct their work within particular theological and ecclesial traditions, those who treat the study of a books reception as a means to a better understanding of its original meaning, and others who want to keep the parameters and potential for meanings as broad as possible. Theological openness to the key exegetical traditions of Judaism and Christianity and their classic exegetes, represents one major strand within reception history. The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture, edited by John Sawyer, is indicative of the wide potential of another strand in reception history. A visit to a Gothic cathedral can be an exercise in reception history.

Facilitating Speech and Discourse: Biblical Interpretation and the Emergence of a Concept of Gender Equality

Abstract The article is a case study demonstrating that the Bible at the end of the 19th century could still function as a common rhetorical tool, a frame of reference, and a common court of appeal in important public debates. The case in question is the Anglophone debate over women’s rights, voice, and vote on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean around 1890. The article analyzes three different lay positions represented by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Christina Rossetti, and Heber Hart. They represent three different directions that reception of the Bible with regard to gender equality and women’s authorial voice could take in this period. The article also argues that a concept of gender equality goes several centuries further back than what is often thought, and that the early development of the concept in a pre-secularized intellectual environment needs much further scholarly attention.

Translations in Religion and Politics: State Feminist Biblical Interpretation

A political system is based on a set of values used to evaluate which explanations and observations are considered plausible, which arguments are valid, which topics are worthy of discussion. The system forms a frame of reference which in a theory of science context can be called ”context of legitimation.” Currently the position of the Bible is questioned within European contexts of legitimation. The article considers the Norwegian case where the political system is often labeled ”state feminist”. In this system equality and justice are the highest ranked values, which leaves the Bible in a slightly awkward position. A consequence is that in a Norwegian context, feminist liberation theology is non-existing, since the Bible is not seen as a liberating document when measured against the values and standards of the political system at large. Feminist biblical studies in this context then, is not liberation theology based on the Bible, but apology for the relevance of biblical scholarship within a context of legitimation where the Bible has lost its legitimacy. The paper thus puts in relief how translation from one context to another can help us bring both the original and the target context of legitimation more into relief.

Book Review: Christianity at Corinth: The Quest for the Pauline Church

local text-types and recension theories raised a number of points which need to be heard by all textual critics. Obviously, linking text-types to specific geographical locations no longer appears sustainable, especially as various assumed types have been found in the same geographical locations. However, such text-types may reflect different scribal habits rather than separate geographical locations. The fact that such questions are still percolating in the minds of participants is ample testimony to the stimulation provided in all the sessions, as well as reflecting the generosity of both Professor Strutwolf and Dr Wachtel in freely sharing the latest insights from their textual research.