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10 To Set the Record Straight Biblical Women’s Studies In the early s, women’s studies emerged as an independent discipline. In all areas of scientific knowledge, courses and research projects were developed to expand our knowledge of women’s cultural-scientific contributions as well as to challenge androcentric texts, scholarly frameworks, and scientific reconstructions that overlooked or marginalized wo/men. Women’s studies in religion participate in these intellectual and educational goals of the Women’s Studies movement, while feminist theology and feminist studies in religion share in the liberative goals of the feminist movement in society and church. In the context of this two-pronged movement, feminist biblical studies have moved from the concentration on what men have said about women in the Bible and from the apologetic-thematic focus on women in the Bible to a new critical reading of biblical texts in a feminist perspective. In this process we have moved from discussing statements about wo/men by Paul or the “Fathers” and Rabbis to the rediscovery of biblical wo/men’s leadership and oppression as crucial for the revelatory process of God’s liberation reflected in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. In the past decade or so, I have regularly taught an undergraduate course on “wo/men in the Bible” at Notre Dame that seeks to integrate historicalcritical biblical scholarship, the intellectual Women’s Studies approach, and feminist-theological concerns. Over the years, this course has evolved into three basic sections that could easily be taught as separate courses or be integrated as a whole or in part into other biblical studies, religious studies, or women’s studies courses. The course presupposes that students have had an introductory course in the*logy and that both wo/men and men are enrolled in the class. Although the title announces that the course will discuss the whole Bible, I have come to realize that this is an impossible undertaking within the context of a single course, especially if students have no skills in historicalcritical analysis and lack basic historical knowledge about biblical times and situations. 171 172 Changing Horizons Since my own area of specialization is New Testament studies, I tend to discuss Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and “patristic” texts only selectively and to concentrate on New Testament texts. However, I suggest that my methodological approach can be employed equally well in the discussion of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible texts and early church writings. It is obviously impossible to give even a detailed course syllabus and description in such a limited space. What I will try to do, therefore, is sketch the main sections of the course, make some suggestions for student learning processes and assignments, and mention some books that I have found helpful in teaching the course. Since I cannot develop here fully the theological rationale and exegetical content of each section, I refer those interested in a fuller theoretical development to my book In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, ). Helpful general introductions are also Letty Russell, editor, The Liberating World (Philadelphia: Westminster, ) and the papers of the  Society of Biblical Literature panel on The Effects of Women’s Studies on Biblical Studies, which were edited by Phyllis Trible and appeared in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament  (): –. The bibliography suggested is neither comprehensive nor paradigmatic. I simply mention the books and collections of essays that I have found helpful in preparing and teaching the course. The past decade has produced numerous articles and popular books on “Woman in the Bible,” but the available literature is very uneven in its scholarly quality and feminist the*logical outlook. For a comprehensive bibliographical review essay, see Ross Kraemer, “Women in the Religions of the Greco-Roman World,” which appeared in Religious Studies Review in . Issues in Biblical Interpretation Despite having taken introductory level courses, students often have not acquired sufficient skills to read the Bible historically, nor have they learned to articulate feminist the*logical-critical questions with respect to biblical texts. They usually approach Scripture with a literalist understanding of inspiration and with very little knowledge of the historical world of the Bible or the literary forms and traditions found in it. It is necessary, therefore, to discuss general introductory questions of biblical interpretation as well as to explore general feminist the*logical perspectives before it is possible to introduce specific historical and the*logical issues. This section of...

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