Gender, Tradition, and Romans Shared Ground, Uncertain Borders

by Grenholm, Cristina; Patte, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780567029119
• ISBN10: 0567029115
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-02
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

From a gender perspective, Romans differs from many biblical texts. It contains few explicit mentions of gender, no household code, and it has been understood as promoting universalism. However, this volume joins several feminist commentators in showing how crucial Romans is for understanding Paul's view of gender. The approach of the "Romans through History and Cultures" project, scriptural criticism, constitutes a special challenge for gender studies of Romans. By affirming the legitimacy and plausibility of diverse interpretations of Romans from a gender perspective, this volume asks: How can the commitment to raising women's issues be combined with openness towards divergent interpretations? Struggling with this twofold commitment, the authors of this volume show that in relation to Romans as shared ground one finds traditions either promoting or challenging gender injustice. While Romans remains shared ground, its borders and the borders of the community it envisions become uncertain. Who is included or excluded can be negotiated in different contexts, including those of our time. The volume is thus divided into three parts: mapping traditions in Romans; challenging gendered traditions in Romans; and gender and the authority of Romans. The concluding essays once again ask: Does scriptural criticism really do justice to feminist concerns?

Table of Contents

Introduction Gender, Tradition and Romans: Shared Ground, Uncertain Borders	1	(20)
Cristina Grenholm and Daniel Patte
Part I: Mapping Traditions in Romans
1. Feminists and Paul in Romans 8:18-23: Toward a Theology of Creation	21	(18)
Sheila E. McGinn
2. Judging and Community in Romans: An Action within the Boundaries	39	(24)
Yak -hwee Tan
3. Cross-Tradition and Cross-Gender Hermeneutics: A Confucian Reading of Romans and a Critical Reading of Confucian Ethics	63	(18)
Teo Khiok-khng
4. Feminism and the Ambiguities of Texts and Reality: A Response to Sheila McGinn and Yak-hwee Tan	81	(20)
Cristina Grenholm
Part II: Challenging Gendered Traditions in Romans and Its Interpretations
5. A Remedy for Having Been Born of Woman: Jesus, Gentiles, and Genealogy in Romans	101	(42)
Pamela Eisenbaum
6. The Gendered Sinner in Romans 1-7	143	(24)
Teresa J. Hornsby
7. Gender and Ideology Critique in the Study of Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Response to Pamela Eisenbaum and Teresa J. Hornsby	167	(14)
Elizabeth A. Castelli
Part III: Gender and the Authority of Romans
8. Choices of Interpretations Regarding Gender and the Authority of Romans	181	(14)
Cristina Grenholm and Daniel Patte
9. History, Theology, and Context: The Analysis of Romans in Bernadette Brooten's Love Between Women and Francis Watson's Agape, Eros, Gender	195	(14)
Elizabeth A. Clark
10. Patriarchy and Heterosexual Eroticism: The Question in Romans and Corinthians	209	(18)
David W. Odell-Scott
11. New Perspectives on Paul: No New Perspectives on Romans in Feminist Theology?	227	(32)
Kathy Ehrensperger
Part IV: Conclusions
12. Scriptural Criticism and Feminist Interpretation of Romans	259	(12)
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge
13. Scriptural Criticism and Religious Perception	271	(14)
Sarah Heaner Lancaster
Contributors	285	(4)
Index of Scriptural References	289	(6)
Index of Authors	295