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We Re-read the Bible

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Reading the Bible from a Woman's Perspective

Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes

Learning Task: The Door Exercise

(from "Training for Transformation")

Ask two people to sit facing each other, with one person facing the door (if there is more than one door, choose an object in the room of which there is only one, for example, the blackboard or the window or the table). This is important. Ask the second person to sit with his/her back to the door. The third person comes to the two of them, from one side, and asks, "Where is the door?" They both respond immediately: the one facing the door says, "in front;" the one with his/her back to the door says, "behind." The third person asks again, "Where?" and the responses are, "In front," "Behind" – each out-shouting the other. The play then ends.

Discussion Questions:

1. Who was correct? Was anyone correct for the third person (because the door was at his/her side, not behind or in front)?

2. What does this short play tell us?

3. What parallel has it to real life?

4. What are the factors that affect our different views of reality? Culture, class, education, sex, age, etc.?

5. What significance can this have for the way we work together as a group?

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I. Before Reading the Bible

1. Establish the perception that we re-read the Bible not to search for proofs to support a male versus female superiority polemic. We re-read the Bible in order to illumine or give enlightenment to our struggle for a better life, as women.

2. Bear in mind that the Bible is a historical product of a patriarchal society. The authors who were all men, even if they did not deliberately set out to condemn women, were profoundly influenced by their culture so their language and categories were pro-male, not necessarily anti-women (e.g. Joseph and his pregnant fiancée.)

3. In the Bible, there are doublets (two versions of a same event or account). Agreement of details can hardly be expected. It is unnecessary to delve into determining which one really happened or which one is true. Hence, be reminded that doublets offer opportunities for understanding God, human

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beings, and the relationship between them. Therefore, there is no cause to fear a re-reading of the Bible.

4. Interpretation of scripture (anything, for that matter) is human-made. There is no absolute nor sacred way of understanding the Bible. The sacredness of the Bible stems from its expansiveness and relevance today.

5. Even as writing is set within a particular context, interpreting scripture is profoundly influenced by the interpreter's reality and perception. Therefore, there can be no one absolute and only way of interpreting the scripture. The interpretation of the church is open to question and re-interpretation.

6. It is helpful to do some kind of biblical research on the text under study (word study, cultural milieu at the time the text was written, background of characters, etc.). Unfortunately, not all of us have access to literature nor do we have the skill to delve into complicated biblical treatises which, more often than not, are too highly academic, to start with.

7. The re-interpretation of scripture is not an end to itself. It is a tool to help create a whole new woman-consciousness which pushes women to act as catalysts for radical change in a male-dominated culture.

II. While Reading the Bible, Be Guided by the Feminist Perspective

1. Wholistic – for the full humanity

a) more integrating as opposed to compartmentalised

b) questions dualisms in theological tradition: body-spirit, darkness-light, weak-strong, etc.

c) believes in mutuality and equality

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2. Views things from the underside – it is the perspective of the poor and the oppressed

a) begins with one's experience – What am I experiencing? -- and goes on to ask where God is in the experience

b) assumes that God is biased for the oppressed

3. Assumes the relatedness/connectedness of creation – we were born to share

4. Non-Hierarchical

a) rejects the domination of one over the other

b) always views power as shared; real power is not something that one owns and wields for himself/herself

c) it is communal or collective

5. Creative

a) not fixated but always looks for new ways of doing and thinking

6. Liberational

a) works against structures that perpetuate abject acceptance of exploitation

b) it is a struggle for justice where there are no exceptions: if something is due, it is due.

III. Questions a Biblical Text Must Evoke

1. What are the dualisms, if any, inherent in the text?

2. How are the personages in the passage affected by the dualisms?

3. Who are the poor and the oppressed in the passage?

4. What does the oppressor do? What are the effects of the oppressor's actions upon the oppressed? (Bear in mind that the oppressor always perpetuates himself/herself in power.)

5. What does the oppressed do on account of the oppression? Is there any glimpse that the oppressed is trying to overcome the oppression?

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6. How does the liberating action of the oppressed affect the oppressor?

7. What is the effect of the liberating action of the oppressed on himself/herself?

8. Who are the personages/institutions today who/that epitomize the oppressors in the passage? the oppressed?

9. Is the passage supportive of the women's struggle for emancipation? Why? Why not?

10. What message does the passage have for the women's struggle for emancipation?

Workshop:

1. Divide into small groups.

2. Each group looks at a passage.

3. Analyze the passage on the basis of Part III guidelines.

4. Passages to be studied (one passage per group):

Proverbs 31:10-30

John 4:5-24

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Ephesians 2:14-16

1 Thessalonians 3:18-24

John 20:11-18

5. Put together your reflections in a short presentation: a song, a skit, a pantomime, a living poster, etc.