Re-Reading of the Bible and Feminist Hermeneutics

What does it mean?

“The word ‘Hermeneutics’ comes from the Greek word ‘Hermes’, which means the messenger of the ancient Greek gods.”[1] It also means the art of interpreting, and feminist hermeneutics refers to the interpretation of the biblical and ancient texts, in the silent yet so loud, the voice of women in these texts in the perspective of the suffering and the victimised women. In present days the hermeneutical theory presumes that new ideas and focal points emerge from the text, but also from the reader. This is possible only when the reader encounters with the text even more deeply and reads it from the feminist perspective.

Once the reader is deeply into the text, it takes the reader to a different level. And this deep engagement with the text not only gives us new thoughts but also helps us in an all new process of re-reading the text with a new eye, yet so dominant in the perspective of the feminine as they are the victims in the biblical almost every time. This re-reading must help us to understand the text and interpret the ‘Her perspective’ which indeed is the voice that is being absorbed and buried and termed as the divine act of God, in the light of patriarchy’s dominion in the society at the time when these documents were written. This re-reading should help in the up-bringing and the liberation of women from the bondage and unravelling their stand amidst patriarchal powers.

How and Why???

            To uncover the truth that is being buried under these biblical texts, it is very important for us to know the context at which these documents were written. It goes without a saying that these documents were written during a time when the patriarchal power was way too much for the society to bear, the atrocities of the males diminishing the respect and the human-hood of women. In this way we get to know that the bible was written in a male dominant society that never let women get up from the fall which was created by the men. The entire bible was written by the masculine gender (still debated) with their social lens of male dominion over the feminine, where patriarchy was deemed as the legal authorities even in the scriptures and the women were not human beings but mere living creatures to be trampled upon, treated ruthlessly and abused inhumanely.

According to Prasanna Kumari “patriarchy has shaped the cultural symbolism of classical societies and their religious expressions; in the Christian tradition for example, God is seen as the all-sovereign patriarchal male ruling his over his household.”[2] This goes well with the knowledge of us knowing that in the old testament of the bible, we read of great stories of faith, bravery, obedience etc, all that of  male icons (patriarchs) and in the new testament we read of the Jesus who was the Nazarene male on whom the gospels roll around and also his disciples and their works, and not about any women in the picture, and even if at all they were to be mentioned about, it would by jus little and most of the times their names would never pop out. This is what leads us to the first step of our re-reading of the bible to actually suspect the text and raises question, what really were the matriarchs’ doing? Were there no women who professed faith? Were the women not faithful at all? Was God being patriarchal? Was God deaf to the cry of women? Was God partial? Well then, with our experience with God, the faith expression of the women, and also the ever abiding love of God to all humankind, we get to know that God cannot be partial; whereas these were documents portray a partial God. And the reason of this could be that these were written by mere human being whose eyes were blurred with patriarchy. So these expressions of faith and experience form the base for our critiquing of the text.

Once we critique the text, it drives us to correct the text with the lenses of faith, experience and historical context and from the perspective of the victimised women. The ethnicity surely paves way, to give us the knowledge of the setting and helps us understand what could have really happened. This is what is called reading in between the lines of the text. This kind of a reading helps us interpret better the situation and the problem of the victimised women. Therefore all what we do in feminist hermeneutics, must and should be done in the perspective of the victimised women. This critiquing, drives the interpreter into the next level of feminist hermeneutics, to correct the given passage or text, by uplifting the women perspectives and paves way for the re-construction the same.

Now that we have critiqued and corrected the text, we have to now re-construct the de-constructed and now construct and re-construct the same with the notion of placing God, who is partial in the text, as a God of justice, love and compassion. This way of hermeneutical perspective breaks the barrier or the hurdle of patriarchy, in which we are so embedded with, and bring forth a new vantage point of seeing God not just in the scriptures but seeing God beyond the scriptures and reveal the true and divine God-self. However we cannot just authenticate our re-construction, but the sources apart from the biblical sources, or also called the non-canonical texts, help us establish our interpretation of the text.

Conclusion

These could be one method of re-reading of the bible in the perspective of the women and interpreting the same in their perspective. We do have a lot to criticize and reflect upon patriarchy but if not for patriarchy we would not have really experienced the pain of women and stand in solidarity with them, for their vulnerability and degradation. According to Kathy Ferguson, “patriarchy is most important to feminism, not for what it is, but for what it is not; it signifies the systematic conditions of female subordination that feminism opposes. It also makes possible the conditions through which feminism arises as a movement for a social change”[3]

Bibliography

• Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist theology, Orbis Books, Mary knoll, New York.
• Edited by:- Kumari, Prasanna. Feminist Theology: Perspectives and praxis. Gurukul Summer Institute 1998
• Collins, Adela. Y. Feminist perspectives and Biblical scholarship. Scholar Press, Chico. California-1985
• Hellwig, Monika. K. Christian women in a troubled world. St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame-1985
• Kumari, Prasanna. Feminist theology: Perspectives and Praxis. Gurukul Summer Institute-1998
• Martin, Francis. The feminist question. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Michigan-1994
• Ralte Lalrinawmi; Rajkumar, Evangeline; Feminist Hermeneutics: IWIT/ISPCK-2002
• Ralte Lalrinawmi; Robinson, Florence; Scott, Cornie; Vasanthkumar, Nirmala: Envisioning new heaven and a new earth. NCCI/ISPCK-1998
• Schumacher, Michele. M. Women in Christ. . B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Michigan-2004
• Edited by: Tierney, Helen. Women’s study Encyclopaedia, greenwood press, west port, Connecticut, 1999

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[1] Anne M Clifford. Introducing Feminist theology, Orbis Books, Mary knoll, New York, pg 57

[2] Edited by: Prasanna Kumari. Feminist Theology: Perspectives and praxis. Gurukul Summer Institute 1998, pg-210

[3] Edited by: Helen Tierney. Women’s study Encyclopaedia, greenwood press, west port, Connecticut, 1999, pg-1048