Forming Future Feminists: Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Conscientization, and the College Classroom

This article examines Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza's pedagogical theory as it is described in Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation. Schüssler Fiorenza believes feminist education is ultimately a process of conscientization, or consciousness-raising, which entails numerous steps. Miller examines five of the steps she sees students grappling with most often in her course "God and Human Sexuality": (1) learning not to take the Bible literally; (2) learning to question how we have been taught to read the Bible and other kyriarchal texts; (3) over-coming roadblocks to conscientization; (4) developing resistant readings/readers by reflecting on experience; and (5) developing liberating and emancipating theologies and actions. The author utilizes student writings to illustrate this process of conscientization as it unfolds during the course of a semester. The author argues that this process can be put to use in any feminist classroom, even if it does not examine the Bible per se.

Somehow denying a woman's voice is establishing the truth? Does that make sense?

—Allie Melancon

Today's reading reminded me of a 90s indie song by the band Wilco. The lyric states, "Theologians, they don't know nothing about my soul, no they don't know."

—Teresa Santos

The work of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza is well-known and far-reaching. While her work is usually located in the field of biblical studies, it has also been highly influential for feminist theology and the study of religion more generally. The analyses and theoretical challenges she poses are deep and broad in scope, impacting fundamental issues such as authority, power, and meaning. What I will attempt to do in this essay is to explain how I strive to integrate many of her insights into a college classroom.¹ The classroom in question is one of my own, in a course titled "God and Human Sexuality" that I teach at a Catholic university in Texas. The students who take this course reflect the student body as a whole: approximately two-thirds are wo/men, two-thirds are Hispanic, two-thirds are first-generation college students, and one-half are Catholic. Further, about half entered college needing remedial work in either math or English, or both. The average composite verbal and math SAT score for incoming students in 2007 was 941, and the average ACT score was 19.2. Most of my students are from the surrounding county, and most have never been outside of Texas. Students who have traveled outside the United States are rare, although a significant percentage have traveled to (or are originally from) Mexico. Moreover, this is not a course about the Bible but is a course on the history of Christian teachings on sexual theology and ethics.

While I find that I do not often utilize Schüssler Fiorenza's specific terminology in my teaching, I have definitely internalized much of her analytic framework, and I attempt to translate it to my students in ways that make it comprehensible and meaningful for them. This can be quite a challenge, as these students come to their required Religious Studies courses with varied amounts of skepticism, fear, excitement, and dread, and they often find that their expectations for a religion course are quite different from mine.² Some assume that religion courses will be like Sunday school, where they are taught church doctrine and dogma and are not allowed to question; these students often start the course in a defensive manner. Others believe it will be a "touchy-feely" course with few academic demands; this group of students begins the course unprepared to work. Some know of my reputation as a "feminist" and a stickler for grammar but take the course anyway, because of the subject matter or because it fits in their schedule. Finally, there are a few who take the course because of my reputation and a desire to learn and to grow. I try to do my best with all of them and to do what Schüssler Fiorenza suggests is key to all feminist education: "fostering [students'] critical knowledge...