the Kingdom shall be preached over the whole world to testify to all nations, and then the end will come." The by Hattie V eurink opponent to the Trinity and the church has no interest in Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Ufe;" reclaiming the world from destruction and death. with and from this biblical concept feminists must look at life death. The most successful strategy the opponent could and its fulfillmenL use to obstruct the projection of the Gospel and bring disaarray in the fulfillment of evangelization would be It has been stated that "life is religion" and religion to attack God's image-bearers in sex and race. A priest is life." And if God is soverdgn, then His dominion must extend over all of life and cannot be shut up recently wrote in the Cmholic Blllletin "I wept bitterly at between the walls of a chmch or the circle of Christians. this display of patriarchy. I wept with my excluded The world QUtside bas not been abandonned to Satan, sisters and wept at my own chose place - ordained, . nor to fallen man nor to chance. vested and included. It In this context we remember the maMate of our As Biblical feminists we must prorsue the resources Lord, in reclaiming the world, (Mt. 28:18) "Go ye into of wholeness and become redeemed from the paradigms all the world and make disciples of all." In obedience we of domination and subordination. The search for exce1 do God's will through the process of sanctification, and lenec has becQ made through varioils disciplines of this obedience should become as natural as breathing. In historical Bible study, traditional criticism, archaeology, this mandate Jesus promises, "All power is given unto anthropology, linguistics, and henneunetics. Elizabeth SchUssler' Fiorenza writes in her book,/n me, go ye therefore ..... This power is given from the Memory ofHer, of the woman who anointed Jesus' Holy Spirit, and we become new creamres in Him. Having been set free of ourselves. this relinquished life head. Jesus declared ''1 tell you that wherever the to Him "... is to be ClDpQwered with sttength in the Gospel will be preached in the whole world, what this innerself by His Spirit" (Eph. 3:16). How are our tasks, woman has done will be told in her memory." If the anoninblg had only been of of the feet, it would not gifts, and callings directed toward a fnlfillment of life as feminists? What ate the needs of this worl~ in !e5pOnse be reniemben:d. Since the prophets of the Old Testa to the gifts and charisma and life in Quist? ment anointed the kings, this anointing of Jesus' head The Holy Spirit was PJured out for ministry; Jesus by a woman was understood as a prophetic recogni began after the eDdument on Him (Luke 4:1). Jesus tion of Jesus, the Anointed, the Messiah, the ChPist! Whereas the disciples did not understand the sutfer broke the last barrier of separation that had been im posed on women by tradition. The Holy Spirit baptized ing and Messiahship of Jesus, this woman did. The WOIDCn like men and for the exact same pmpose as men: true followers of Jesus were the women who under.. they were baptized tor semcc and ministry. stood: thafHis ~ was not a kingly glory but··· What was predieted·in Joel 2 and fulfilled in Acts ditlkonia (service). Let's follow the Resmrection story from the (]os.. 2:17-18 is often forgotten DOwadays. The church is a pels. In John 2():1 Mary goes to the tomb and then living active body, as proclained in Acts 1:8-14 where tells John and Peter that the body is gone. Both men and women were g8thered togethCl'. This ministry must be taken into the market place even as Jesus did hasten to the tome, but Jesus appeared not to them but "He saw the multitudes aDd said, "Come unto me, you to Mary aCta'they had gone. The belief of John and who are heavy laden BDd I will give you rest" As His Peter is stressed in vs. 9, "For as yet they did not followers we too must bring the Words of life. understand the ScriptuIc that He must rise again." In Asblte 01ristians have fequendy made comments Luke 24:1 ff two angels remind the women of Jesus' that Christendom is deprived of the gifts of I1lOIe than forniec ~~ (Luke 8:1 ff.) ~t ~ death and half of. its membvcrsbip because people believe that the resurrection. They become the enussanes of the Bible teaehC$ dominance of ~ male. One speaker made Resurrection doctrine. The response of the males disciples is disCouraging: ."These repom seemed a point of comparison that GOc;l's animals understand nonsense to them; they did not believe the women." gifts better than the human species. None ~f us has seen a flock of female bUds walking and groamng, "The In Mark 16: 1 fl. the women are also commis males don't allow us ~ Oy: we may only walk." No, sioned as evangelists, channels of Godis message. when we approach a flock of birds picking wonns or This 1esus did; "and He chided [the male disciples1 grain from the ground, they all take off and use the 000 unbelief and hard-heartedness because they did not given wings u giftS to fly. believe those who had seen Him risen." There &Ie, of course. those who feel that the Bible is In Acts 8:3. the groUp of deeply commited men and women "turned the world upside down" and in consc hopelessly patriarchal, but the Scripture I'CCOId ii for the biblical feminists. lbcologies of Hebrew Scriptures quence were przsccuted and dragged to prison. If women had been doing oly household wort.. would Saul have been characteriZed by feminists as being androcen have emprisonc:d them tao? 1be unfinished WOIk of the tric, masculinist and patriarchal. ~ are signs thar Book ofActs stateJ us in the face aft« almost two God has numbered the days of this perspective. It has thousand yem. 604 of the world's languages still need been found wanting and weighed in the balance of Bible tr8JlSIltion, and 300 million people still have not unbelief. By rendering women subordinate, invisible heard the Word of Life. and inferior, it has made nonnativewhat Scripture deems Why then has the Gospel outreach been so hampeml an aberration. A non-patriarchal theology begins with when we remember Jesus words, "And this Gospel of 7 fresh reading of the creation and irs texlS.
The Feminine Response to Lifie
the rediscovery of me values freedom expresses. tJ2 Women should throw off their alienation. thus offering society the possibility of ~oPL" In the early chUlCh. women were DOt treated as inferiors. EllUl believes. Furthermore repression of women took place not because of Pauline Of other . biblical texts. but because Ouistianity became wealthy and powerful. At that point it naturally attempted to eliminate the threat women posed as those who repre scnt values opposed to glory and success. Subsequently, biblical passages were U$Cd to justify this action. In tbcmidst of society's gross immorality, the church found a scapegoat inwomen, whose place was lowered from the freedom they ~tcd to the status of teIDptres$cs and~qQ,·witb60t frec40m Or.t\le right to express tb~vcs. "!be VlFgin Mary was· elevated both to provide-men with a good conscience for what they had done, and to furnish an 'ideal woman' they could" use to mproach women as they fellsbort. 14
men's (in spite of the occasional suggestion That men must partiCipate in housewotk). By trying ~ imitate· men, women merely incorporate masculine ideology, showing they believe men to be superior. Female auton omy must take a differenttaek.20
H this sounds like Something feminists might subscribe to, tb:c.conCICte suggestions Ellul makes are hardly designed to flatter: why are cooking and cbild rearing so despised these days, he wonders?2' Work that produces salary is a curse in Ellul's view, so why should women prefer it to work done only for love? By entering the workplace, women merely turn themselves into slaves, depending on an employer rather than their husbands for money.22 Ellul gOes solar as to say that the liberation of women 'has already been achieved. It has led to a Worse situ~OD·in which:thcre is no Christian freedom nor any poSSiliility oNt. ,~ Birth control, said to offer freedom to WOIDCIlt constitutes another blind alley, a.cconting to EllUl. thopBlmctdy 'fiecs' women to behave like men, Womeu In the BibJ~ and sub$titute$'$OUalogical delenninism fofbiological In a detailed exegetical seCtion otThe Subversion of dctcnDiniSm.'at Although conttaception provides. a· Christil;u&ity EllUl ~ biblical passages 'riften used certain scxualfrcedom. it mainly increases autonomy, to 'keep women m·mm plq' (the creation and f ll1l . promiscuityand;disease.2S On the other ~ women accounts, I Cor. 11 and 14. I Tun. 2, etc), and finds that need to have chilcJmnin mdcr to ·find fulfilment ·an(l"to influence society•. the texts in·oo ~y ~htheinfcriority of women. Transmitting and-caring for life enable wolDen to ~ther, ttieB~b~p,~women 'in"the cente1" of.Ood's WlllJor IllJlDaJiity .15 Furthermore, far from teaching·the taketheix.distaqce from ~e ~minant ideo~~~eir inferiority of wOIDCn in general. the Genesis accOiJIlt of cullUIeo36:mtuhc.cepts abortion under Certa1ll~ stances, but opposes its thoughtless· generalizatibD~ . the fall demonstrates IDCn are incapable of 'direCting' maintaioing:t~t 'the refusal of a woman is give birth is their wives.16 Ellul finds the ICvclation of the resurrection to the negation- of what is deepest in her.' He tealiZcs that c women first especially significant, since it fulfils the he will bccalled Ie8Ctionary' for such sta~.%7 promise to Eve that her seed will crush the serpent, and In a~c.ompendiumof conttibutions. tel:. shows Jesus' high view of women: he entnlsts the task colloq.:OD'~ family and soci~;Bl1l16nds that _ _ p1'eSeDsly &Cling out the philosOphy of a . of evangelism to them. Ellul emphasizes the dc~ of rcsponsbility WOmdD had in the early church.'" . ~tury &la., when Ihe family was taken for a secondary, In gcnem4 Ellul Cxplains: 'problem passages' ~p~-Today we know the itnJ1qr.... tanee offaJ,Qily,telationships and the detenninati\'e sociologically: miiliCieDt cultures, women needed protection; subordinatiQll seemed cnormal' to the h~ in~ ofWOQllD~s place in'the famlly.2I Weshould nRbicany mitldedaDcients. JewiSh repression of Sec do all We can tQ help ~ety's practice catch up with oDd Century B,C.· womeDreprescou:d a reaction to the cmren~ ~,.according to Ellul As he has done so often on other areas, Ellul man mota1 deCay Of tbetitne. PaUlSecD to avoid the ~ tices of cults. in ·whiCh ~ p!tSided over orgIcs; hair ages to offend just about everyone when he talks about women. The evidence apcatS is ICspon5CS tosclections cuttina. a c1iltuta1 ~, shOUld ~ be elevated to the statuS of a commatrelbmt. When men use the Bible to from The SlIInpsion o/ChristitJnity in The 0theF Side relegate WOIDCDtn lUI ;inferior status, they repeat the (Septelnber, 1987). Doug-Kittredge -finds Ellul too earlier cnw of pndenUllmora1ity to revelation. lI fcminist.since he appears to oppose the husband's authority over the wife and to approve of similar roles lDdusI"e 'language _ for men and women inchurcb. and family.2P But well Ellul recognizes semt hiDgUagC as a weapon used known evangelical feminist Nancy Hardesty calls to pcrpctuateiD8le domination, 8Jld favors its eJimjna~ Ellul's efforts 'garbage', since he writes 'out of unexam tion. C'.oDc:tctely. ~ the use ofb genetic.~ ined patriarolWassumptions' iInd. a~ to believe 'man' and1ht ~~ ~oflDllSCuline forms from men sbouJl;ibc: the 'hcad' oftlie faD#1y. which the forms are cJaiVed.l. Unfortunately, ·Sbc I&QJaula him for DOtmeDtioning male and EllulbimselfCODtim'ierto write u··if SUCh RfOrm has female equality increatioo. _~ th~ i~.&e QfQ04- a gap never been tboagbtof~ibui'lJi~ priCIice is sometimes c$ly fiJltdtij.furtbcrteadiD.g~l!U~;o~ transformed in·tIansJadMs. ..•.. . ~findS"Ellulniabs women so·diffetcntud supc Although Bllul elDphaSiRS women's equality (as in Gal. nor that wholeness and equality seem unattainable. 3:28), he insists their role should be different from We should Dot be surprised that some feminists, at
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