Sociogeographical and Hermeneutical Differences: Challenges and Opportunities in Contemporary Feminist Biblical Studies

I want to thank Susanne Scholz and Dora Mbuwayesango for the provocative challenge they presented to the participants in this roundtable when we first gathered at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting in 2008. I was delighted to be a part of this collegial conversation exploring opportunities in contemporary feminist biblical studies; I was also hopeful that we would create collaborative alliances that honored our particular hermeneutical differences and sociogeographical locations, while at the same time acknowledging the multiple and complex factors that might distract us from this goal. To that end, I made the following comments.

I currently teach New Testament courses in a white, liberal, Protestant, freestanding seminary in western New York. Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (CRCDS) identifies with the rich legacies of famous nineteenth-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the social gospel movement of the early twentieth century led by Walter Rauschenbusch. At one time CRCDS was one of the few seminaries in this country that opened its doors to African Americans to matriculate and pursue studies toward a theological degree. The school has produced leaders such as Howard Thurman, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr. Our Black Church Studies program, established in 1969, was the first of its kind in this country. Henry Mitchell, Gayraud Wilmore, and others created a context in which students could explore the intersection between, and the relevance of, contemporary theological studies and the Black Church.

My institution is also a place where women's and gender studies are considered an integral part of the curriculum. We are located less than two hours away from Seneca Falls, New York, known as the birthplace of the U.S. women's rights movement since the first women's rights convention took place there in 1848. The rich traditions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Barrett Montgomery, and other women's rights activists continue to influence the ethos and values of our institution. For nearly two decades, CRCDS has hosted an annual conference that features different aspects of feminist scholarship and highlights the contributions women have made to the church and the academy. This conference draws leading national and international scholars who address such topics as women in religious leadership, health and healing, and interfaith dialogue.

Because of the rich heritage and unique geographical and social locations of Colgate Divinity School, I consider myself fortunate to have had the freedom to develop courses that go beyond the traditional boundaries of New Testament interpretation. I am also able to discuss my research interests with colleagues who appear interested in hearing the voices and perspectives of "others"—even if only sometimes from the margins. At CRCDS, I teach the following courses: Paul and the Pauline Tradition(s), Jesus and the Gospels, African American Biblical Hermeneutics, Gender and Sexuality in Early Christian Literature, Ascetic Dimensions of the Black Church Tradition, and Early Christianity within the Nile Valley.

In my course Images of Ethnicity in Early Christian Literature, I introduce students to contemporary scholarship dealing with race and ethnicity in the Bible. Using works by scholars such as Denise Buell, Shawn Kelley, Caroline Johnson Hodge, and my own analysis of Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature, we analyze how ethnicity offers a hermeneutical lens for understanding the social, religious, and political dynamics among the early Christians.¹ We also examine how biblical scholars of different ethnic groups in the United States (for example, groups of African, Asian, Latino, and European descent) have interpreted ancient Christian writings from their sociopolitical and cultural locations.² Invariably, this course exposes the politics of interpretation and the risks associated with utilizing explicitly ethnoracial categories for reading biblical texts.

Critical to this course is an autobiographical ethnographic introduction that students share with their colleagues. For many of my students, this is the first time they have actually introduced themselves based on specific sociogeographical markers of ancestral heritage: Irish, Anglo-American, German, Scottish, and the like. One student with a variety of ethnic identities labeled herself—"Euro-Blend"—as a way of acknowledging her hybrid...