FEMINIST APPROACH

BY BR. IAN RENZ ZAFRA

ALLIANCE OF THE TWO HEARTS
 Lucy Liu
With my girl, Drew
Cameron D and Destiny
Charlie's Angels, come on
Uh, uh, uh
Question, tell me what you think about me
I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own
rings
Only ring your celly when I'm feelin' lonely
When it's all over please get up and leave
Question, tell me how you feel about this
Try to control me, boy, you get dismissed
Pay my own fun, oh, and I pay my own bills
Always fifty fifty in relationships…….
Feminist approach- like liberation
theology and other self-consciously
contextual theologies, feminist biblical
interpretation takes its point of departure
from lived experiences of the interpreters-
in this case WOMEN.
Working Definition- an approach to
biblical hermeneutics which
perspective focuses on women by
which aims to arrive at equal rights
and opportunities like men.
35,2,3, 0+2,4
35-birth of feminist hermeneutics after the rise of
feminism

2 common theme and goal

3 forms of biblical hermeneutics
0 change in methodology
+2 criterion in feminist historical critical method
4 good contributions in the biblical study
35,2,3,0+2,4 HISTORY

35 years after the brth of feminism is the

beginning of the feminist approach in biblical
hermeneutic.
had its origin in the United States toward the end
of the 19th century. In the socio-cultural context
of the struggle for the rights of women, the
editorial board of a committee charged with
the revision of the Bible produced "The Woman's
Bible" in two volumes (New York 1885, 1898).
35,2,3,0+2,4 OBJECTIVE
several forms of feminist biblical hermeneutics have to be
distinguished, for the approaches taken are very diverse.

2 common theme, or goal

1) the liberation of women and the acquisition on
their part of 2) rights equal to those enjoyed by
men.
35,2,3,0+2,4

3 principal forms of feminist biblical hermeneutics:

The radical form

The neo-orthodox form
The critical form
35,2,3,0+2,4 The “RADICAL” Form

DENIES ALL AUTHORITY TO THE BIBLE, maintaining

that it has been produced by men simply with a
view to confirming Man's Age-Old Domination Of
Woman (Androcentrism).

Ex.
35,2,3,0+2,4 The “NEO - ORTHODOX” Form

form accepts the Bible as prophetic and as

potentially of service, at least to the extent that it
takes sides on behalf of the oppressed and thus
also of women, this orientation is adopted as a
"canon within the canon" so as to highlight
whatever in the Bible favors the liberation of
women and the acquisition of their rights.

Ex. Person of Magdalene after conversion.

35,2,3,0+2,4 The “CRITICAL” Form
form, employing a subtle methodology, seeks to
rediscover the status and role of women disciples
within the life of Jesus and in the Pauline
churches.
 0
35,2,3,0+2,4

Feminist hermeneutic has not developed a

new methodology.

It employs the current methods of exegesis,

especially the HISTORICAL-CRITICAL METHOD.
35,2,3,0+2,4

+2 Criterion

1. HERMENEUTIC OF SUSPICION:
borrowed from the women's liberation
movement, in line with the more general
direction of liberation theology.
.

.
35,2,3,0+2,4

2. SOCIOLOGICAL;
it is based on the study of societies in the biblical
times, their social stratification and the position
they accorded to women

Ex. A COMMUNITY OF EQUALS." Galatians 3:28

35,2,3,0+2,4

4 Good Contribution
1. Women have played a more active part in exegetical
research.
2. They have succeeded, bringing out the significance and the
role of women in the Bible, in Christian origins and in the
church.
3. Feminine sensitivity helps to unmask and correct certain
commonly accepted interpretations which were tendentious
and sought to justify the male domination of women.
4. Their questions give rise to occasions new discoveries