The Bible and African Culture: Mapping Transactional Inroads

CHAPTER SEVEN - The Place of Women in this Transaction with Reference to John’s Gospel

The Place of Women CHAPTER SEVEN The Place of Women in this Transaction with Reference to John’s Gospel M uch has been said about the dramatic changes in thinking and practical ways of living today. A number of thinkers and writers are reflecting upon the new modes or paradigms that are emerging in almost every discipline from sociology and economics to theology and religion. One way of refer-ring to this change is to speak of a ‘paradigm shift’. The Gospel of John has recently been read in new ways such as narrative and ethical readings. Robert Karris (1990) has written a short book on the poor and marginal-ized in John’s Gospel. No other group within Jewish culture may have been so marginalized as women; small wonder that John finds it appropriate to narrate women’s stories at such great length (Jn 4:4-42; 11; 20:1-18). John portrays women as true ministers of the Kingdom, married or unmarried.1 This chapter is a dialogue and conversation that seeks to reflect upon and express the faith of the women represented in John’s gospel as well as that of women in African Christian communities, where they have, more often than not, been regarded as good only for marriage. ______________________________ 1 In order to pursue such a noble course, African women theologians need to be encouraged to establish groups of ordinary women Bible readers in order to participate in oral theology, music, song, story telling and Biblical interpretation within their context, and also in written theologies as a way of encouraging them to come out into the open and into self-realisation. A Transaction between the African Culture and the Bible Marriage was an important rite of passage in the Old Testament as well as in traditionalAfrican society. From the cultural perspective it was regarded as a communal concern. However, John does not show a major concern for the issues of marriage and ministry.2 Professional male theologians who are opposed to the ministry of women usually anchor their arguments concerning women in ministry in the Pauline epistles. For Okure (2001:46), the belief in man’s innate superiority and woman’s innate inferiority resulted in the exclusion and marginalisation of women in all walks of life. Some of these men hold Paul’s restrictions to be normative for today, while others feel that women’s relevance is limited because they have been conditioned by tradition and culture to fulfil certain roles.3 With respect to the Bible, a patriarchal reading restricts the public ministry of women by appealing to texts such as 1 Timothy 2:11-12, 14 and 1 Corinthians 14:34.Those who emphasise such readings forget other texts that do not restrict the ministry of women such as Galatians 3:28, Romans 16:1-3,6,12, and Philippians 4:2-3 all portraying women as active in ministry which includes the rearing of children, as demonstrated by the mother of Jesus, and Timothy’s grandmother and mother (2 Tim 1:5). Therefore, as there is so little consensus _________________________________________ 2 Cf. Kenyatta (1938:163) who makes a similar observation - that the most important purpose of marriage was not sexual enjoyment but procreation. Hence John’s concern was not for status but for participation in ministry. 3 Showing a concern for the marginalized in the South African social struggle, Albert Nolan’s book God in South Africa makes it clear that the time of conjecture is over, the issues are clear and to be a bystander is unacceptable because, as with our prophets’ warnings of the past, God has spoken. Now is the time for action. In this regard men can no longer sit and watch women struggle alone for their social liberation. 146 The Place of Women about women in the Pauline writings, the answer is to turn to the Gospels for guidance.4 The debate in this chapter will therefore focus on the Gospel of John to dis-cover Jesus’ concern with the ministry of women. It is clear that John is not directly concerned with the subject of women in ministry in his gospel. Nowhere within the Gospel does Jesus explicitly teach about the roles and nature of women (whether they should be married or not as a prerequisite to the ministry). Rather, we reread the Gospel with new eyes, noticing for the first time the contributions...