Joshua and Judges

4. Inside, Outside, or in Between: Feminist/Womanist Hermeneutical Challenges for Joshua and Judges

4 Inside, Outside, or in Between Feminist/Womanist Hermeneutical Challenges for Joshua and Judges Cheryl Kirk-Duggan Introduction When I think of biblical texts for empowering, inspiring, or comforting people, Joshua and Judges do not come to mind. Rarely have I heard sermons or lectures on these texts. I hear the occasional reference to Joshua and the battle of Jericho during African American history month, as it provides the language for one of the historical African American spirituals, “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.” I have heard sermons on or references to Josh. 24:18, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Characters from Judges, particularly Samson, are popular textual resources for Sunday school literature and vacation Bible school narratives. I have not heard any sermonic or philosophical critique of Jephthah regarding poor parenting or regarding the Levite as an abusing, homicidal maniac. Never have I heard any sermons or Christian education lessons of any sort on Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11) or the secondary wife of the Levite (Judges 19). These two females are rarely the subjects of conversation regarding women in the Bible. However, with the emergence of feminist and womanist biblical hermeneutics since the 1970s, these characters have increasingly become focus of scholarship and discussion. Rahab (Josh. 2:1-24; 6:22-23) sometimes gets a nod because she is in the lineage of Jesus (Matt. 1:5). Neither Joshua nor Judges receives heavy subscription in lectionaries. Invited to write a commentary on Joshua and Judges for preachers, I began to read these books carefully, chapter by chapter, to let the received texts tell me how to structure the commentary beyond the publishing houses’ particular requirements. With page upon page of terror, blood and guts, theft and abuse, 69 I could not, reading from my twenty-first-century lens, find good news. I did not want to superimpose questions on these stories; rather, I wanted to let the texts tell me what I needed to do regarding hermeneutical strategies. As I read these texts, questions focused on the story line, emerging themes and ideas, and what issues were problematic for me; that is, what was intriguing, confusing, or just seemed odd. As a womanist/feminist scholar, one who uses an interdisciplinary exegetical lens to expose any systems of oppression and misuse of power—including class, gender, sexual orientation, race, age, and ability—and who seeks justice remedies in community, I also had conversations with others, female and male, about these texts and new horizons where research and scholarship need to focus to provide meaningful and timely discourse. In the conversations, I heard sentiments that corroborated my discoveries, and some new thoughts that were in concert with my thinking. Conversation partners include scholars in Bible, sociology of religion, and theology: Wil Gafney, Kim Russaw, James Ashmore, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, and Joellyn Stokes. My essay examines selected issues around women’s experience in Joshua and Judges, taking seriously feminist/womanist epistemology, philosophy, exegesis, biblical commentary, and activism/praxis. After providing an overview of my own contextual space of reading and the particular lens I look through, this essay (1) explores challenges around violence in the text; (2) examines questions raised by the function and characterization of God, war, and humanity; (3) analyzes challenges for woman characters and woman readers; and (4) suggests areas of proposed new scholarship. “My mama told me when I was young”: Personal Context and Methodology Godfather of soul, the late James Brown, popularized a classic R&B song, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” that makes one wonder about the battles of the sexes: “This is a man’s world / This is a man’s world / But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing / Without a woman or a girl.”1 I grew up believing this was a world for women and men, equally. My awakening to sexism and gender disparities occurred during my graduate education in seminary and religious studies. Initially puzzled by the desire to create a women’s group, I had an accelerated education about male bias, about women not being the sons their dads wanted, about verbal, mental, physical, emotional abuse at home, school, and work. While privilege based on dominant culture membership was a bygone conclusion due to racism, I had to heighten my awareness of gender and class oppression. Privilege in the classroom often translated into dominant70 | Joshua and Judges culture students...