Feminist Biblical Studies: Resident Alien Seeking Citizen

Just as both Dora Mbuwayesango and Susanne Scholz are "resident aliens" in the United States, their current place of residence and employment, so am I, a Singaporean living in Hong Kong. Even though I am an ethnic Chinese, nevertheless, my mother tongue is not Cantonese, and I inherit a different culture and tradition from Hong Kongers. Awkwardness is always a part of me—and the technical term hybridity seems to have become an academic qualifying word with which I feel at home. Given this background, I shall now concentrate on issues related to gender and biblical studies within my hybrid culture.

The paper with which Dora and Susanne initiated our panel discussion at the 2008 Society of Biblical Literature meeting is profound because it lays out so many issues that contain deeply embedded gendered implications, which challenge those of us situated within extant power structures to re-vision both society, in general, and theological education, in particular. I appreciate the categories Dora and Susanne formulated because they make this difficult topic more manageable while also indicating how so much more could be explored than these categories can accommodate. Of the categories they delineate, I would like to hone in on "curricular 'constraints' " and add a brief note on "the material conditions of our work environments" (94).

Since the 1980s, women in both Singapore and Hong Kong have participated in and hosted events related to promoting female voices in theological arenas within Southeast Asia.¹ Indeed, scholars in these two countries know how to do theology from an Asian woman's perspective. However, more than two decades later, there are no courses fully dedicated to or bold enough to earn the title Feminist Theology in the Bible schools and seminaries either in Singapore or in Hong Kong.² Nonetheless, one finds Women in Ministry or Women, Ministry, and Church as course titles offered in a couple schools in both Singapore and Hong Kong, but the word feminist cannot be found in their course descriptions.³ As for Feminist Interpretations of the Bible, only the department in which I now teach offers a class by this title.⁴

I would like to make three observations: first, I think we need to evaluate the effects the conferences and seminars that have been occurring since the 1980s have had on the theological arena and local churches; second, I think we should address the hesitation of theological institutions to be forthright in addressing feminist interests; and third, I think it is clear that doing theology for women and reading the Bible with feminist interest are two different enterprises altogether. These three points are interrelated and more or less reflect the general Christian attitude toward feminism. Beginning with the third point allows these issues to be illustrated further. While courses such as Women in Ministry speak about and negotiate possibilities for women in ministry, Feminist Interpretations of the Bible is generally perceived by Christians as an assault on the Bible—a task to be exorcised, especially when the Bible is esteemed as the infallible word of God. So, although I get really excited about a feminist curriculum as suggested by Dora and Susanne, the bitter reality for most of our graduates when they enter the workforce is that they are under tremendous pressure to abandon feminist interests or lose their jobs.⁵ The most recent example is the forthcoming local publication of a collection of essays that includes feminist and homosexual perspectives but some of the contributors, for fear of losing their jobs, resort to pseudonyms.⁶ The predominant conservative and fundamentalist view on reading the Bible continues to exert a strong hold on the faith of the Christian communities. Students in my Feminist Interpretations of the Bible class gave me the same feedback. Although they had become convinced of the need to read and even teach the texts within such perspectives, fear of church response remains the primary reason to hold back. Some students chose only to audit or did not dare attend class for fear of the reaction from their sponsoring churches.

To say I feel...