Taming "Wild Ass–Colts": An Analysis of Theology as a Kyriarchal Weapon of Spiritual and Physical Violence

This essay examines the strategies Jesuits used in seventeenth-century New France (Quebec) to apply Christian theology and biblical interpretation to the Montagnais people in their evangelization. The Jesuits' encounter with the Montagnais vividly demonstrates how the Bible may be used as a weapon of theological imperialism, particularly with regard to the role and status of wo/men and children. After applying Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza's critical feminist hermeneutic to the theology the Jesuits employed, Nienhuis speculates how the results of their encounter might have been different had they practiced Schüssler Fiorenza's critical feminist theology among the peoples of New France. Finally, by bringing a hermeneutics of suspicion to the Jesuits' written account, the author repudiates the hegemonic theological discourse prevalent in the text—particularly in how it fostered intimate-partner violence among the Montagnais. This harmful theology still functions today in theological responses to women who suffer intimate-partner violence.

As long as Christian faith and self-identity remain intertwined with the socio-cultural regime of subordination and its politics of meaning they cannot but reinscribe physical and ideological violence against women and the weak.

—Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, "Discipleship and Patriarchy"

Throughout her work, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza has been dedicated to nothing less than a complete transformation of unjust kyriarchal practices into a radical democracy, an "ekklesia of wo/men."¹ Recognizing the prevalence of systemic and interconnected oppressions, Schüssler Fiorenza analyzes how biblical texts and Christian theologies construct a world that privileges those with power and status to the detriment of those without. She calls for a critical feminist liberation theology that focuses instead on those wo/men most marginalized in society. Her theoretical work starts with current kyriarchal practices and looks back at how theology and biblical interpretation have played a key role in the development of modern patriarchal society.

In this essay, I move in the opposite direction. I begin by looking back at a particular period in time, specifically the seventeenth century, to show how Jesuit missionaries applied Christian theology and biblical interpretation to the Montagnais indigenous people of New France (Quebec) as they evangelized them. The Jesuits' encounter with the Montagnais vividly demonstrates the potential of the Bible and its interpretations "for legitimizing dehumanization and violence," particularly with regard to the role and status of wo/men and children.² The essay then uses Schüssler Fiorenza's critical feminist hermeneutic to analyze the theology employed by the Jesuits, whose work exemplifies the violent potential of uncritiqued and unfettered theological imperialism.³ I then speculate how the results of the Jesuits' encounter might have been different had they practiced Schüssler Fiorenza's critical feminist theology among the peoples of New France. It reimagines a different ending to the encounter.

Finally, by bringing a hermeneutics of suspicion to the Jesuits' account of their encounters with the peoples of New France, I hope to "interrupt hegemonic historical discourse" and repudiate the "commonsense" theological understandings prevalent in the texts—understandings that continue to plague us. In conclusion, I discuss how the theological imperialism so harmful to the people of New France still functions today in contemporary theological responses to women who suffer intimate-partner violence. Almost four centuries later, the theological imperialism employed by the Jesuits remains evident in the messages wo/men receive about violence in intimate relationships, demonstrating how far we are from understanding "the systemic interrelation of theological-religious knowledge with global oppression" and how, more than ever, we need the critical theoretical and theological tools Schüssler Fiorenza has spent a lifetime honing.⁴

Seventeenth-century New France

Insofar as the power of the Word, and the authority of scripture as "power over," are considered to be divinely sanctioned, divine revelation has been understood by analogy to imperial power, which is exercised by a few and demands submission and obedience from the many. Biblical interpretation, therefore, cannot but reinscribe the rhetoric of empire as divine rhetoric, if it understands scripture as the direct word of God.

—Elisabeth Schüssler...