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1 Interpreting Patriarchal Traditions The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures originated in a patriarchal society and perpetuated the androcentric (male-centered) traditions of their culture. Today, feminist analyses have uncovered the detrimental effects of these traditions on women’s self-understanding and role in society and in the churches. Christians, both women and men, consequently face a grave dilemma. On the one hand they seek to remain faithful to the life-giving truth of the biblical revelation and on the other hand they seek to free themselves from all patriarchal traditions and sexist concepts that hinder their human and Christian liberation. The interpretation and understanding of the androcentric traditions of the Bible are therefore major theological tasks for all Christians today. This task cannot be accomplished by putting down the feminist critique as “unscholarly,” “somewhat uninformed,” or “excessive,” but only by taking seriously the fact that the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures share in the concepts and ideologies of their patriarchal culture and age. In order to accomplish this task we have to take into account the methods of historical-critical scholarship, the results of the discussion of methods of interpretation, and the insights of feminist analysis. Historical-critical scholarship has taught us that it is necessary to understand the historical setting, the cultural environment, the literary forms, and the specific language of a text if we interpret and teach or preach the Bible. Discussion of interpretation has underlined that a value-free, objectivistic historiography is a scholarly fiction. All interpretation of texts depends upon the presuppositions, intellectual interests, politics, or prejudices of the interpreter, historian, or theologian. Scholars are always committed, whether they realize it or not. Feminist analyses have, therefore, pointed out that the biblical texts were not only recorded from an androcentric point of view but were also consciously or unconsciously interpreted by exegetes and preachers from a perspective of cultural male dominance. Several biblical texts that were throughout the centuries quoted to support women’s inferiority and submission do not have in their original intent and context a misogynist slant. The study of androcentric traditions in the Bible has thus to observe not only the original intention of the texts but also their androcentric history of interpretation. Biblical history, just 25 26 Changing Horizons like history on the whole, has become “his story” recorded and interpreted from an androcentric point of view. This chapter discusses a sampling of patriarchal texts and androcentric interpretations of the Bible in order to demonstrate how a reading of the Bible from a feminist perspective could contribute to a better and deeper understanding of the biblical message. Insofar as this discussion singles out for interpretation androcentric and patriarchal scriptural texts, it might appear at first glance one-sided and overly critical. Insofar as it uncovers sexist presuppositions and biases of modern exegetes and preachers, it will provoke emotional reaction and controversy. Yet such a study might also recover in some seemingly androcentric texts a tacit criticism and transcendence of patriarchal and androcentric values. Moreover, a feminist interpretation can show that some texts, even though recorded from an androcentric perspective, refer to a historical situation in which women had more authority and influence than is usually attributed to them. Androcentric Traditions of the Old Testament Although some texts of the Old Testament might reflect a matriarchal or matrilineal society, the patriarchal character of Hebrew culture is undisputed. Spanning nearly a millennium and embracing a variety of religio-cultural contexts, the Hebrew Scriptures clearly espouse male priority and superiority in the national as well as in the religious community. Patriarchal Texts: Israel as a nation and as a religious community was constituted by male-dominated families, and full membership in it was reserved to the adult male. It is true that Israel had this patriarchal fabric in common with all the surrounding Near Eastern cultures and religions. Yet the legal and social position of women was often lower in Israel than in the neighboring countries. In Hebrew patriarchal society, women were totally dependent on their fathers and husbands. Numbers :-, for example, demonstrates the complete dependency and subordination of a daughter or a wife, not only in familialcultural affairs but also in religious matters. The vows of a daughter or a wife were not considered valid if the father or the husband vetoed them. But when her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning her...

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