Search Results (24)

In recent decades, various communities and organizations have been working to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion and justify their equal rights. This task becomes more complex within religious communities that are based on traditional values that reject homosexuality. This historical-anthropological study presents “K’Afikim BaNegev”—a special manual that includes more than 347 pages and incorporates 73 diverse sources distributed in early 1994 in American Conservative Jewish congregations aimed at combating homophobia. I clarify how the documents reveal progressive qualitative methodologies for identifying and understanding barriers and mechanisms of community change. Textual analysis of personal letters, educational programs, workshops, and rabbinical sermons revealed two methods for creating this egalitarian change and constructing the Jewish community as a safe space for gay men and lesbian women and their family members: (1) using and promoting personal narrative (storytelling) as a channel to voice LGBTQ+ people’s stories and (2) adapting a text-centered approach that considers biblical sources as authoritative in recognizing LGBTQ+ identity. Thus, the acceptance of homosexuality was not conceptualized in terms of liberal human rights rhetoric but rather as a religious commandment. Thus, I define this novel initiative as an act of ‘queer Jewish activism,’ offering a new typology for community development and practice that advocates for LGBTQ+ individuals within contemporary religious communities. Full article

The Old Assyrian archive from Kanesh, dated to ca. 1950–1850 BCE, has yielded a letter that refers to the consultation of the spirits of the dead (eṭemmū), thus making it the world’s oldest actual attestation of necromancy. However, whereas the immediate context mentions the šā’ilātum, ‘the women dream interpreters’, and the bāriātum, ‘the women omen interpreters’, a necromantic professional is lacking in relation to the questioning of the eṭemmū. Earlier studies have explained this discrepancy by suggesting that necromancy was part of the skill set of the aforementioned female professionals, or that the communication with the spirits happened directly, without the immediate involvement of a skilled specialist. The present article rather argues that the term eṭemmu, ‘spirit of the dead’, had a wider semantic range than hitherto held. In rare cases, it could also designate a necromancer. This proposal is supported by an identical semantic phenomenon in another ancient Semitic language. The biblical Hebrew terms ʼōbôt and yidd^e‘ōnîm not only refer to the spirits of the dead but also to necromancers. The same might be argued for the apparent Hebrew cognate of Akkadian eṭemmū, the hapax legomenon ’iṭṭîm in Isaiah 19:3. On the strength of the findings presented in this study, it is concluded that the fleeting blending of the spirit with the necromancer lies at the heart of this semantic merger. Full article

Evangelical immigrants from the Global South have a high degree of confidence in their own ability to start a business in the UK, and they report a significant amount of entrepreneurial engagement within their communities. This article explores how these Christians developed their skills and dispositions, how they are launching businesses in the UK, and—most importantly—how the action of God can be perceived through their experiences. The author constructs a metanarrative which begins in the Global South. Through their encounter with evangelical faith, women and men are developing the ‘spiritual capital’ that has historically been proven to foster entrepreneurship. In many instances, however, this potential for success lies latent in a societal context that hampers and threatens entrepreneurial enterprise. The story then shifts to the UK. When these evangelicals immigrate, many find success in business as they choose to put their spiritual capital to work. It is here argued that the actions of God can be discerned within this story. In the same way that God acted in Biblical times to raise the helpless and to bless exiles in a foreign land, so he seen by his people to be working today. Full article

The Holy See is an absolute monarchy, both as a political and as a spiritual entity. The Second Vatican Council indicated, retrieving biblical terms and metaphors, a new way of giving value to the whole people of God, the laity (laos theou), constituted by baptism. Rather than a societas perfecta in a pyramidal system, the intention was to declericalise and in this sense democratise the church and its decision-making, not least seeking to secure its witness in an ever more secular world. Even if a sacramental and ontological difference is maintained, this indicates clergy are no longer a first class of believers against which the laity would be a second class; rather, they are rooted and stand with and within the whole people of God with their specific vocation and ordination. The notion of the royal and universal priesthood of believers, taken from 1 Peter 2:9 and emphasised by Luther and other reformers as they distributed power between ordained and not ordained leaders, was visible in the Second Vatican Council and finds new enactment in the synodality process which culminated in the Ordinary Synod in Rome, in October 2024. Based on his own theology of the people of God, developed during the dictatorship and economic oppression in Argentina, with strong cultural and religious connotations, Pope Francis seeks to further major involvement of the laity and especially of women in the church’s administration and transformation processes. Not surprisingly, this process has been receiving criticism both from those who find it is not going far enough and from those who believe the process has already gone far too far. Based on bibliographical and documental research, the intention of this article is to describe and analyse the notion of the people of God as proposed by Pope Francis and its forms of concretisation including its deficiencies, as well as, in dialogue with ongoing debates on populism, highlight the precariousness of any “people” as a concept and as a reality. A dynamic notion of “people” and a theological accountability of the people and the clergy towards each other, towards God and towards the world can do justice to both the ambiguities and the irreplaceability of the people as citizens of the church as well as the world. Full article

“Renaissance Woman” is a colloquial expression for someone who excels above and beyond normal in a wide variety of tasks, and Rev. Dr. Muriel Spurgeon Carder (1922–2023) deserves that title, for she was an ordained Canadian Baptist missionary who worked in churches, schools, and hospitals in India and Canada, as well as served as a professor, New Testament scholar, Bible translator (into Telegu), and hospital chaplain. She also published academic articles on textual issues related to New Testament manuscripts, on a biblical theology of sin, as well as on issues surrounding physical and mental challenges. Her personal accomplishments are striking among Baptists in India but also her Canadian denomination, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec (BCOQ). Carder recently passed away at the age of 100, and this research is an introduction to her life and legacy. There is much more to be explored regarding Carder, and my hope is that this brief article provides some impetus for more detailed and comprehensive research on such an iconic figure in the BCOQ. That said, this article does more than merely provide a summary of her life and legacy. It also aims at using the experience of Carder to explore some common assumptions about Canadian women in ministry, identifying when she reinforces some and undermines others. In other words, the example of Carder complexifies what can be assumed about the experience of women in the church and warns against universal generalizations surrounding their experience. In 2008, the denomination changed its name to Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ), and for the sake of simplicity and clarity, CBOQ will be used throughout this article. Full article

Genesis 3:16 is arguably the most troubling biblical verse for issues of gender relations and women’s roles. It figures prominently in later Jewish and especially Christian sources, and discussions in those texts have influenced subsequent understandings of the verse and of the Eden narrative in which it is embedded. This article engages in a careful reading of the biblical text in order to elucidate its meaning apart from later traditions. Recognizing the poetic character of the four lines of this verse is an important part of the analytical process, as is situating it within the Eden tale. Also, because no text arises in a vacuum, considering the Iron Age context—the world of the Israelite populace, that is, the world behind the text, a world vastly different from our own—provides the requisite socio-historical sensitivity. An awareness of that ancient context means openness to a suggestion about what Gen 3:16 may have meant to its ancient audience. Full article

This article presents a new hypothesis regarding the social and ideological functions of the otherwise unknown festival to commemorate Jephthah’s daughter and the meaning of its symbols and occasions. A unique event in the biblical world, this festival is the only time known to us in which Israelite women were expected to appear together in public assembly. Jud 11:39–40 enjoin “the daughters of Israel” to celebrate it annually. The story of Jephthah’s daughter, summarized in Jud 11:34–39, evokes and develops many themes that intersect with the depiction of and the prescriptions for observing two well-known festivals that share a season: the holiday of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread, Maṣṣot. A synthesis of the correlations among the holidays will suggest that the festival dedicated to honoring Jephthah’s daughter was an early, long-lasting folk version of Maṣṣot in which the daughter represented the festival’s ritual staple, unleavened bread. Full article

Based on the examples of Judge Deborah from the Old Testament and Pastor/Teacher Priscilla from the New Testament, this paper contends that women have a biblical responsibility to lead in any vocation for which God has called and anointed them, and the Christian church has a biblical responsibility to accept and encourage them. Women leaders offer valuable leadership qualities, as illustrated by Deborah, the prophetic judicial/governmental/military leader of a nation, and Priscilla, the theologian, educator, missionary, and pastor in the nascent church. This paper further argues that leadership structures are not complete or fully effective without feminine inclusion and participation. The church and the world have historically deprived themselves of rich resources by curtailing women’s leadership roles. The need for rediscovering and recovering women’s leadership gifts and styles has never been more urgent or appropriate in the current cultural atmosphere requiring an emphasis on collaboration and cooperation (relationality), emotional intelligence that seeks transformation rather than transaction, and servant leadership, as manifested in Deborah and Priscilla as leaders. The church would be wise to embrace the Deborahs and Priscillas, as well as other types of women leaders whomGod has placed in her midst, thus creating strong, responsive, and nurturing communities that reflect Jesus to the world. Full article

This article discusses the œuvre of Artemisia Gentileschi, a prominent Baroque painter who was rediscovered by art historian Roberto Longhi in the 1910s. Today, her art is interpreted through various lenses, including art theory, women’s studies, and psychoanalysis. Gentileschi’s paintings are often “read” in close reference to her painful biography, with a focus on the “chiaroscuro” of trauma and its overcoming. Significantly, such biography-oriented approaches seem to be predominant in scholarship on art created by women. The argument presented is that Gentileschi’s works require a thorough re-reading free of “compulsive biographism”, as postulated by Salomon. The focus should shift from an empathic Einfühlung (or empathic projection) towards an objective analysis based purely on art-historical or sociological criteria. This article also explores the presence of the socially mediated and mediatised figure of the artist in fine literature (novels by Banti, Lapierre and Vreeland), cinematic biographies (Artemisia, directed by Merlet, documentaries (Artemisia Gentileschi: Warrior Painter, directed by River), anime (a series titled Arte, directed by Takayuki Hamana), and graphic novels (Ferlut and Baudouin; Siciliano). In this artistic constellation Artemisia is labelled as an art/feminist “icon”, a female genius, and as in numerous scholarly texts dedicated to her, “a victim”. I propose that the discussed literary and visual texts related to Gentileschi be interpreted as symptomatic (in line with Panofsky’s concept of ‘iconology’) of the contemporary mentality, which is filtered through feminist and subaltern thought. Full article

This paper discusses the innovativeness of the Inheritance Ordinance introduced in Toledo during the 12th century and later reintroduced in Fez in Morocco following the expulsion of Jewish communities from Spain and Portugal. Community leaders in Toledo, and after the expulsion also in Fes, transformed the laws of succession established in biblical times by granting women equal rights on matters of inheritance by marriage. The ordinance also granted unmarried daughters the right to inherit alongside their brothers despite the fact that, according to biblical law, daughters do not inherit when there are sons. Inheritance ordinances had significant social, financial and gendered implications on Jewish lives in many communities. The study will show that leaders of Sephardi Jewish communities were nothing less than advanced in their innovative and unprecedented ordinances related to women’s inheritance. Their innovativeness followed a number of preliminary conditions which enabled it. First and foremost was the authority vested in these Jewish leaders by the monarchy in various parts of Spain and Portugal. The laws of the kingdom in these countries granted women equal rights in succession laws. So as to avoid significant differences and reduce legislative gaps, ordinances were issued to correspond with national realities. Spain had been the world’s center of Jewish Halacha following the period of the Geonim—the heads of the ancient Talmudic academies of Babylonia and its sages—, and the Sephardic sages felt that their position allowed them to make bold decisions. The most innovative Jewish ordinance issued in this regard back in the 12th century was the Tulitula ordinance, originating from the city of Toledo, home to one of the largest and most affluent Jewish communities of the time. The regulation granted wives rights over their husbands’ inheritance regarding property established during their joint lives, as well as property which she had brought with her to the marriage. Following the Expulsion of Jews from Spain, the expelled sages, arriving in Morocco, reinstated the Tulitula ordinance in the newly established community of the city of Fez, further improving women’s position beyond the provisions of the original regulation. The new circumstances following the expulsion resulted in many Jewish communities in Morocco adopting the new version of the regulation. As they had been forced to wander from place to place, the expelled communities encountered severe problems involving family law. The ordinances spread throughout nearly all Jewish communities in Morocco. In the 19th century, a number of changes were introduced to the Fez ordinances, which in practice diminished women’s inheritance rights. However, the essence of the original ordinance was ultimately assimilated into Rabbinical and Supreme Court rulings of the State of Israel, due to its suitability to Israel’s modern inheritance laws and to the legislation of the Women’s Equal Rights Law in 1951. The leadership of Spanish sages and community leaders in various countries and of rabbinical judges in Fez, Morocco, had been both charismatic and rational and included modern components for coping with social change and new realities under the Kingdoms of Spain as well as following the expulsion. Full article

There is an increasing demand for the ordination of women as priests within the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican’s primary argument against priestly ordination of women is biblical, appealing to certain historical events, specifically Jesus’ (alleged) choice of male apostles only. This article calls for a rethinking and rephrasing of such appeal to history. Due to the nature of our sources, the historically responsible question should not be whom Jesus appointed as apostles, but who were apostles in first-century Christianity. The article points out flaws in the Vatican’s reasoning in this respect and brings attention to evidence from earliest Christianity that does indeed speak in favor of women as priests, if an appeal is to be made to history in the first place. The evidence is Junia, a first-century female apostle, described as “prominent among the apostles” by the apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans. Full article

As biotechnologies emerge that halt or slow aging, what significance will these have for pregnancy? I argue in favor of life extension technologies based on their benefit for cis-gendered women who wish to become pregnant. After age 27, fertility decreases, and risks associated with pregnancies increase. At the same time, women’s twenties and thirties are often key years in their working life. If aging is stopped or slowed, women can delay pregnancy past those years. Though Martin Luther may seem an unlikely resource for theological reflection on this issue, his biblical commentaries on pregnancy lend support for these technologies. Luther emphasized how the pregnant Mary, though of lowly status, was essential to the embodiment of God and a testament to the blessings God may visit upon anyone. Luther also emphasized how Eve and other pregnant women help advance God’s promise to sustain God’s creation of humankind. I acknowledge that lengthening the window of fertility could exacerbate overpopulation on the Earth but show that solutions typically advanced, such as John K. Davis’ “Forced Choice” proposal, almost always rely on controlling women’s bodily autonomy and must be rejected. I also show that fears of a Malthusian crisis are likely not only overblown but incorrect given predicted declines in fertility rates. Full article

The question of women’s ordination to offices within churches, and in particular to the ministry of word and sacrament, gave rise to one of the major ecclesiological debates of the modern era. In common with other contested issues during this period, different approaches to biblical interpretation and the doing of theology were at stake, but while the precise chronology, arguments and outcomes differed in particular denominations and locations, comparison across a range of churches—certainly within Britain—indicates that these were related predominantly to wider social and cultural changes, more than to internal theological debates. In Scotland, extensive discursive attention was devoted to the place and role of women in the church for over a century before the Church of Scotland extended eligibility for ordination to women. Questions about the ministry and authority of women have particularly exercised ecclesiastical institutions during heightened periods of campaigning for reforms to women’s status and rights in society. The first wave of feminist activism culminated in their enfranchisement (1918 and 1928). Many Protestant churchwomen were deeply engaged in the struggle to become equal citizens. They believed that it was a profoundly Christian obligation to exercise their citizenship to build a better world. They also contended that women should not be prevented from exercising the ordained ministry of word and sacraments, as a matter of justice and as a gospel imperative. This article considers the progress of efforts to that end in some Scottish Protestant churches between 1918 and 1968, and their framing in the contemporary discourses of citizenship and equality, particularly during the interwar years. It discusses factors which impeded or facilitated that innovation, and the major societal changes from the 1950s which created a conducive context for the Church of Scotland decision. Full article

Hannah’s story in the Old Testament has been written about considerably by Jewish feminists, womanist theologians, and other biblical scholars. This paper strives to build upon these works in asking the reader to consider Hannah’s story from a liberatory theological theory of suffering by Sölle, as well as a postmodern and non-religious lens as discussed by Sandoval’s Theory of Oppositional Consciousness in Methodology of the Oppressed and Lorde’s “Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”. This paper asks if this narrative can serve as an example of taking back one’s power by confronting a complex system of power and oppression for Black women. Intercessory prayer aptly defines the personal as political, especially with the multiple minoritized identities of Hannah. I argue that Hannah’s story can serve as a complex narrative of differential consciousness and the reclamation of one’s own power, by using her voice. Her audacity to correct a prophet, fight for her valid desire of motherhood, and determine her own happiness is evidence of an empowerment ethic that is necessary for minoritized women in a post-modern era and political climate where the erasure of all forms of difference and consciousness is the priority. Full article

There are inconsistent findings on the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and religiosity or Biblical inerrancy. The Biblical text accepts divorce in cases of infidelity and desertion—but does not specify abuse or IPV as legitimate reasons. In this study, I interviewed twenty White Protestant women (ages 18–22) at a large southern university. In emerging adulthood, a critical period for young adults (ages 18–29), I examined their current levels of religious participation, beliefs in Biblical inerrancy, and their perceptions of IPV as a legitimate reason for divorce. During this process of identity formation as emerging adults, they may reevaluate their religious socialization and parents’ values as well as engage in various social relationships, including romantic ones. Emerging adult women are also at the highest risk for IPV. The findings suggest Protestant women in emerging adulthood reevaluated their religious socialization to formulate a more adaptive worldview. Their religious participation and belief in Biblical inerrancy declined during emerging adulthood and they all accepted divorce as acceptable in cases of IPV. It is an important finding because they are in a key period of potential IPV exposure in their life course. Full article