Papers by Karen Strand Winslow
The egalitarian interpretation of Scripture is based on the view that Scripture does not limit wo... more The egalitarian interpretation of Scripture is based on the view that Scripture does not limit women’s roles and contributions in any arena, including the Church. Although egalitarians recognize that Scripture represents patriarchal interests, their interpretations highlight the positive depictions of women in the Bible. They claim that many women figures disrupt traditional interpretations of gender. This position contrasts to complementarian biblical interpretations that use the Bible to restrict women from ecclesial leadership, without attention to textual and historical contexts that mitigate universal application. Christian egalitarians also contribute to feminism’s concern about women’s global equality via social media campaigns, organizations, blogs, and scholarship. The essay discusses relevant examples to show that all of them focus on women’s experiences in church, biblical teaching, and Christian feminist identity.
Encyclopedia of the Bible Online, Jun 24, 2021
1997/03/03. The difference between the stories of the Bible and the traditions of interpretation ... more 1997/03/03. The difference between the stories of the Bible and the traditions of interpretation that surround them, specifically regarding women. Professor of Theology
There are references to Zipporah, the Midianite in "Exodus 4" and to Moses' Cushite... more There are references to Zipporah, the Midianite in "Exodus 4" and to Moses' Cushite wife in "Numbers 12". This book examines the original scriptural references themselves and then traces their interpretation in the extra-biblical literature of ancient Judaism and Christianity, demonstrating that these interpretations were colored by cultural understandings.
Lectio Difficilior, 2011
Zusammenfassung Moderne Wissenschaftler sind lange Zeit von der Annahme ausgegangen, dass es sich... more Zusammenfassung Moderne Wissenschaftler sind lange Zeit von der Annahme ausgegangen, dass es sich bei der Erwähnung der kuschitischen Frau um einen unwichtigen Einleitungsvers handelt; als zentral wurde in dieser Erzählung in Numeri 12 der Wunsch von Miriam und Aaron nach Gleichbehandlung mit Moses gesehen. Frühere Exegeten dieses Textes hingegen konnten einen Zusammenhang zwischen Moses' kuschitischer Frau und der Auseinandersetzung über die Prophetie aufgezeigt. Ich bin auch der Meinung, dass die Verse 1 und 2 im Kontext von Numeri 12 miteinander verbunden sind. Gott bestätigt sowohl den einzigartigen prophetischen Status von Mose, als auch seine Heirat mit einer fremden Frau in den drauffolgenden Versen von Numeri 12. So kann Numeri 12 mit anderen Texten der Tora und des jüdischen Schrifttums verglichen werden, die Esras und Nehemias Strategie "fremde Frauen" abzulehnen und Exogamie zu verbieten, ablehnen.
Festschrift for Frank Thompson (My name is Frank), 2015
This chapter examines how Bathsheba overturns her victim role to name her son, Solomon, to be ki... more This chapter examines how Bathsheba overturns her victim role to name her son, Solomon, to be king over all Israel. It indicates that she had long before gained influence over King David and exemplifies Hannah's song. Anyone concerned about the Former Prophets, the monarchy, and/or David will enjoy this paper written for a festschrift for Frank Thompson.
Women in Judaism a Multidisciplinary Journal, Jan 31, 2006
[1] In contrast to the book of Ezra, whose protagonists demand that Jews expel "foreign" wives, t... more [1] In contrast to the book of Ezra, whose protagonists demand that Jews expel "foreign" wives, the story of the Midianite Zipporah, Moses' wife, affirms that foreign women are beneficial to Israel. Zipporah's circumcision of her son in Exodus 4 is the climax of a pattern in which females thwart attacks on endangered males. Later, Zipporah's father confessed faith in Moses' God and ate a meal with Israel in the presence of God. Zipporah and her father represent a household that originated outside of Israel's ideological boundaries, but became positively allied to Israel through marriage, circumcision, confession, and sacrifice. This and similar stories suggest that, among those who selected and shaped the narratives of the Tanakh, there was considerable and persuasive dissent from what has often been assumed to be the dominant position in Second Temple Judaism. [2] Recently several scholars have applied modern theories of ethnicity to post-exilic Jewish history, connecting the formation of the Jewish Scriptures to the identity crises brought by exile and resettlement in the Babylonian and Persian periods. Some emphasize the concern exhibited in these texts with Israel's religious identity and the distinctions between Israel and other peoples. 1 Others seek to link certain biblical narratives to the economic and property issues resulting from exile resettlement and Persian policies and politics. 2 I am interested in the relevance of wife-taking traditions throughout the Hebrew Bible to the social tensions over identity formation and ethnicity construction among the Jews who processed these traditions and produced a set of scriptures. I maintain that diverse wife-taking stories found across the range of Torah, Prophets, and Writings are best explained, not by positing stages in the development of marriage customs over the range of Israel's history, but rather as representative of distinct perspectives on exogamy among the scribes who redacted them. 3 I am arguing that narratives and law codes in the Pentateuch reflect contrasting perspectives on exogamy that may be explained, at least in part, by the conflicts over suitable marriage alliances among the inhabitants of Persian Yehud. 4 [3] Some Torah narratives imply that to marry within certain defined groups is to preserve the community's religious vitality and ethnic identity-defined as mutually informing. Other texts, in contrast, demonstrate that sentiments and prohibitions against "foreigners" must be set aside because the new Israel is a religious community. These texts affirm that outsiders contributed to the establishment of Israel. The conspicuous presence of tensions concerning the provenance and ethnicity of wives for Israelite men in the Bible and subsequent Jewish
[email protected] 12/17/2020 22:15 a12/p12 The Hope of God: Open Theism and God’s Knowledge of t... more [email protected] 12/17/2020 22:15 a12/p12 The Hope of God: Open Theism and God’s Knowledge of the Future(What God Does, Might, or Cannot Know about the Future)AbstractGen 22, Exod 32-34, 1 Samuel 15.10-34, 1 Kings 21.20-29, and Jeremiah 18.1-12 and26.1-6, 12-13, passages from two of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible represent aworld view that assumes God does not know the future exhaustively, but rather hopes forcertain outcomes. These Scriptures show that God altered the election, blessing, or judgment that God had planned, or they announce that God will “change God’s mind” inresponse to human action. Thus, in the cases God’s plans depend on human response,they must be classified as God’s hopes. This in no way implies that God does not plan certain outcomes—and carry out them out, regardless of the actions of particular humans, because God is free to use
other
people if such plans require human cooperation. God’sfreedom is never restricted—even by God’s self. Although God is characterized as revealing the future in certain cases, usually these passages are conditional and always must be understood together with the many Scriptures that represent the hope of God in the people of God rather than God’s foreknowledge of the future as actual.
The Wesleyan Theological Journal, Vol. 45, Number 1, Spring, 2010, 213-225, 2010
The title of this article is an allusion to Jesus’ summation of his parables about the Kingdom of... more The title of this article is an allusion to Jesus’ summation of his parables about the Kingdom of Heaven: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matt. 13.52). Figuration is an approach to the entire Scriptural canon by scholars (scribes) thoroughly aware of the benefits of historical, form, and redaction criticism (old treasures), but who also recognize their limits—what these approaches do not admit methodologically: that Scripture is a living document for living faith communities. Figuration finds meanings to texts that the author could not have known (new treasures), but to which the shape of the canon points. Figuration uses Scripture to make sense of later events and movements and highlights the significance of Scripture’s own reuse of texts—its intertextuality—to make meaning for present and later recipients.
in Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect. Vol II;Recent Research in Biblical Studies in Honor of Feminist Biblical Scholars. Edited by Rachel Magdalene, Susanne Scholz, Alan J. Hauser. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press., 2014
American evangelicalism originally advanced liberating, revivalist, reforming, and feminist impul... more American evangelicalism originally advanced liberating, revivalist, reforming, and feminist impulses, but, beginning in the late twentieth century. a vocal segment of evangelical subculture began to endorse distinct gender roles in the church and condemn feminism and equality in ministry. This study remarks on the historical and theological developments of evangelicalism in the United States broadly and the role of women within these movements in order to discuss the relationship of evangelical feminists and feminist biblical scholarship. It also elaborates on how evangelical scholars integrate feminist biblical work into their teaching and research and concludes by evaluating the evangelical discussion on feminism, gender, and women.
The Scriptures and Wesleyan trajectories that support women in ministry are explored here, includ... more The Scriptures and Wesleyan trajectories that support women in ministry are explored here, including Reason, Experience, Scripture, and Tradition
This paper contrasts the term qadosh with the term herem to show that separation to for and by Go... more This paper contrasts the term qadosh with the term herem to show that separation to for and by God (qadosh applied to Israel) results in welcoming others into the people of God. The result is social holiness described by John Wesley, living in community with all sorts of others, confessing, as Jean Zaru said, "Without truth telling there is no peacemaking."
Chapter Two in Mixed Marriage in Torah Narratives, 2013
Modern scholars have usually concluded that the mention of the Cushite wife is simply a pretext... more Modern scholars have usually concluded that the mention of the Cushite wife is simply a pretext, tangential to the real issue in Numbers 12, which was Miriam and Aaron’s desire for equal status with Moses. Early interpreters of this passage, however, saw the connection between Moses’ Cushite wife and the dispute about prophecy that follows. Ultimately, the LORD affirmed both Moses’ unique prophetic status and his exogamy. . Thus, Numbers 12 joins other passages in the Torah and throughout the Jewish Scriptures that counter Ezra and Nehemiah’s strategy to expel “foreign wives” and prohibit exogamy.
Not found in Exodus, Numbers, or any place else in the Jewish Scriptures is the claim that Moses ... more Not found in Exodus, Numbers, or any place else in the Jewish Scriptures is the claim that Moses either decided or was ordered by God to withdraw from his wife after he received a prophetic vocation. However, early Jewish and Christian interpreters of the Roman period supplement their rewrites of Moses’ story with Moses’ sexual renunciation and the claim that God confirmed his decision. This motif is found in writings from Jewish communities in Egypt, Palestine, and Babylon. The writings of Aphrahat, Ephrem, Jerome, and other Christian sages of late antiquity demonstrate that influential Christians inherited the view that contact with God precluded sexual contact with humans. Jews insisted that Moses’ abstinence was for him alone, whereas early Christian interpreters appealed to this tradition to urge all Christians, but especially clergy, to avoid sex, even if they were married, in order to be always prepared for prayer and priestly duties.
Abstract
Ephrem the Syrian was well known as a teacher and hymnist of the fourth century Syriac-s... more Abstract
Ephrem the Syrian was well known as a teacher and hymnist of the fourth century Syriac-speaking church. He produced hymns and commentaries on the Bible and numerous other topics, many of which have survived and demonstrate exegetical acquaintance with Jewish traditions. For example, throughout his commentaries he uses qal vehomer (a fortiori) arguments, his treatment of Genesis appeals to Jewish traditions about Paradise, and he identifies Sarah with Iscah, her name in the Midrash: Sifre to Numbers. Aggadic traditions from the Targumim and Midrashim also abound in Ephrem’s Commentary of Exodus, which he calls a tûrgāmâ, an “explanation.” Motifs developed in the Mekilta and Sifre to Numbers (both redacted 250-300 C.E.) and in the Targumim appear in Ephrem’s interpretation of Exodus.
Although difficult to ascertain whether these are the result of encounters with Jewish teachers and/or Jewish texts, or if they emerged from comparable modes of interpretation between Jews and Christians of Syria, it is clear that Ephrem deliberately adopted Jewish traditions that were useful to his agendas. Ephrem also innovates, presenting exegetical elements in his Commentary on Exodus not represented in Jewish Midrashim or Targumim. For example, when “Sephora” circumcised her son, she claimed that the commandment of circumcision should be sufficient reason for Moses’ release. An appeal to the power of the commandment of circumcision is similar to the emphasis of the Mekilta and Palestinian Targumim. When Ephrem’s Moses could speak, he defended his practice of sexual continence to Zipporah—he must “sanctify” himself for God who is visible to him all the time. Finding Moses’ sexual renunciation in Exod 4.24-6 and basing it on the visibility of God is Ephrem’s innovation.
Furthermore, a study of Ephrem on this passage and the parallels with Jewish texts shows that Judaism included ascetic elements, some of which were explicitly based on the passages in the Jewish Scriptures that imply that sex and manifestations of God are incompatible (Exod 19.15 and 1 Sam 21.4). These Jewish texts and the cultures they represent may help explain the Syrian equation of sexual continence with purity, preparation, and consecration, i.e., holiness. Certain Qumran texts, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Philo, rabbinic Midrashim, and writings of eastern Christians further demonstrate that early Christian celibacy was grounded in Jewish traditions. The Neo-Platonic dualism that became popular among western Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries cannot be considered the source for influencing later Christianity with the celibate ideal.
The textual expressions of male circumcision in the biblical story indicate inclusion and exclusi... more The textual expressions of male circumcision in the biblical story indicate inclusion and exclusion of males associated with Israel. Although other nations practiced circumcision, in Israel's story, circumcision became the sign of the covenant between Abraham and his descendants, according to God’s directive to Abraham in Genesis 17: 9-27). Even male infants born to Israelites were not sons of the covenant until they were circumcised on the eighth day. Like sacrifice (of which it is a type), circumcision was a primary way Israelite/Jewish males legalized their bonds to one another and to God. The status of Israelite/Jewish females in relation to Israel is not addressed in the Bible. Females could never be sons of the covenant; they were part of Israel because they were attached to circumcised males. Females were excluded from other insider-creating and confirming rituals such as offering sacrifices, another blood-letting, communal, kinship-creating rite (see Ex. 18; 24:9-11). Surprisingly, a female, Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporah, performed a circumcision that saved Moses life from the Lord’s attempt to take it (Ex. 4:24-6). This act made her legal kin to Moses (hatan damin, in-law relation of blood), a relation that was otherwise the sole province of males. She thus became bound to Moses, whereas her marriage had united Moses to her father, Exod 2:21, 18:1-7).
Zipporah and the redactor claimed that she was doubly related to Moses, the second time through blood (which was a means to establish legal relations).
Early Jewish and Christian interpreters do not notice or underscore the text’s repeated interpretation of the incident: that Zipporah—an outsider woman—had thereby become in-law kin to Moses through her salvific (for Moses) bloodletting of her son. None of them saw in Ex. 4:24-6 a biblical precedent for inclusion and embrace of Others, which, I argue is the point for the biblical redactor.
“Ethnicity, Exogamy, and Zipporah.” Women in Judaism: Multidisciplinary Journal., 2003
See the longer treatment in Early Jewish and Christian Memories of Moses' Wives: Exogamist Marria... more See the longer treatment in Early Jewish and Christian Memories of Moses' Wives: Exogamist Marriage and Ethnic Identity (Mellen, 2005).
In contrast to the book of Ezra, whose protagonists demand that Jews expel “foreign” wives, the story of the Midianite Zipporah, Moses’ wife, affirms that foreign women are beneficial to Israel. Zipporah’s circumcision of her son in Exodus 4 is the climax of a pattern in which females thwart attacks on endangered males. Later, Zipporah’s Midianite father confessed faith in Moses’ God and ate a meal with Israel in the presence of God. Zipporah and her father represent a household that originated outside of Israel’s ideological boundaries, but became positively allied to Israel through marriage, circumcision, confession, and sacrifice. This and similar stories suggest that, among those who selected and shaped the narratives of the Tanakh, there was considerable and persuasive dissent from what has often been assumed to be the dominant position in Second Temple Judaism. This paper is a precursor to a book that explores the origins of circumcision, celibacy and textual ethnicity construction, as well as Jewish and Christian interpretations of Moses’ exogamy.
The Scriptures show Israel overcoming Others and Israel blessing Others, which represents the can... more The Scriptures show Israel overcoming Others and Israel blessing Others, which represents the canon’s tension regarding insiders and outsiders. Biblical “Others” show Israel how anyone, anywhere can walk with God in faithfulness; Others model how Israel should live before God. They shame Israel by their faithfulness, determination, wits, and awe of God. A passage that governs this discussion of mostly Hebrew Bible/Old Testament texts is Luke 4:16-30. It depicts, in an inaugural moment, Jesus referencing stories about Elijah and Elisha helping Others. He did not tell a story about Israel triumphing enemies. This proved controversial. Had Jesus referenced Scriptural traditions about captive Israel outsmarting oppressors, his neighbors would have continued to laud him. Instead they attempted to rush him over a cliff.
Genesis narratives and genealogies show that Israel and Others have their origins in common, but, as the story moves forward, Israel is separated from these Others (Gen 10-12). By defining Others through traditions about origins, Israel defined itself. Yet we also see that shared experiences, faith in Israel’s god, and/or a desire to join Israel brought Others into Israel and coalesced people who were not descended from Abraham (Gen 38; 41:45, 48; Exod 2-4; 12:38; Josh 2; 8; 24; Num 10, Ezra 6; Ruth, and etc.). From the Torah, we hear how God encountered Others (Gen 16, 21; Exod 2-4; 18; Num 10; and passim). We learn God’s thoughts concerning Others in the Prophets and Psalms (Amos 5:8-9; Isa 55:5; Ps 87:4). We watch how Jesus treated Others in the New Testament (e.g. Mk 7:24-30). From these Scriptures, we learn how to weigh and interpret the portions of Scripture that depict some Others as a threat to be avoided or ruined (Deut 7:2-4). And we learn the purpose for Israel’s distinctiveness, the meaning of Israel’s holiness. This essay explores the implications of Israel’s identity and purpose.
The textual expressions of male circumcision in the biblical story and its actual practice in the... more The textual expressions of male circumcision in the biblical story and its actual practice in the social world of Israel indicate inclusion and exclusion of males born into Israel and those born outside of Israel. Although we know that other nations practiced circumcision, for Israel, circumcision turned male outsiders into insiders and demonstrated those who were outsiders to Israel. Circumcision became the sign of the covenant between Abraham and his descendants according to God’s directive to Abraham in Genesis 17: 9-14. All males of the household were to be circumcised, regardless of their geographic or genetic origins, lest they be “cut off” from their people (Gen. 17:23-27). Even male infants born to Israelites were not sons of the covenant until they were circumcised on the eighth day. Like sacrifice (of which it is a type), circumcision was a primary way Israelite/Jewish males legalized their bonds to one another and to God. Females were attached to circumcised males, but could never be sons of the covenant. This paper shows how the church fathers interpreted circumcision as a foreshadowing of baptism and how women fared with a new ritual system of initiation into the new covenant.S
In Creation Made Free, 2011
This paper shows how the terms for earth (land), heaven (sky) and the story of the flood in the B... more This paper shows how the terms for earth (land), heaven (sky) and the story of the flood in the Bible demonstrate that the Bible cannot be used as a science book. Earth always means land or region in the Bible--never a planet. Heavens usually refers to seen and unseen skies, sky. The Bible was produced long before the discoveries of modern science began to influence human worldviews and understandings of cosmology and life sciences. The Bible cannot address issues about which the writers knew little or nothing. Our current worldviews are the result of technology not available to biblical scribes who were interested in theology, Israel's story, and identity, and encounters with the divine.
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Papers by Karen Strand Winslow
other
people if such plans require human cooperation. God’sfreedom is never restricted—even by God’s self. Although God is characterized as revealing the future in certain cases, usually these passages are conditional and always must be understood together with the many Scriptures that represent the hope of God in the people of God rather than God’s foreknowledge of the future as actual.
Ephrem the Syrian was well known as a teacher and hymnist of the fourth century Syriac-speaking church. He produced hymns and commentaries on the Bible and numerous other topics, many of which have survived and demonstrate exegetical acquaintance with Jewish traditions. For example, throughout his commentaries he uses qal vehomer (a fortiori) arguments, his treatment of Genesis appeals to Jewish traditions about Paradise, and he identifies Sarah with Iscah, her name in the Midrash: Sifre to Numbers. Aggadic traditions from the Targumim and Midrashim also abound in Ephrem’s Commentary of Exodus, which he calls a tûrgāmâ, an “explanation.” Motifs developed in the Mekilta and Sifre to Numbers (both redacted 250-300 C.E.) and in the Targumim appear in Ephrem’s interpretation of Exodus.
Although difficult to ascertain whether these are the result of encounters with Jewish teachers and/or Jewish texts, or if they emerged from comparable modes of interpretation between Jews and Christians of Syria, it is clear that Ephrem deliberately adopted Jewish traditions that were useful to his agendas. Ephrem also innovates, presenting exegetical elements in his Commentary on Exodus not represented in Jewish Midrashim or Targumim. For example, when “Sephora” circumcised her son, she claimed that the commandment of circumcision should be sufficient reason for Moses’ release. An appeal to the power of the commandment of circumcision is similar to the emphasis of the Mekilta and Palestinian Targumim. When Ephrem’s Moses could speak, he defended his practice of sexual continence to Zipporah—he must “sanctify” himself for God who is visible to him all the time. Finding Moses’ sexual renunciation in Exod 4.24-6 and basing it on the visibility of God is Ephrem’s innovation.
Furthermore, a study of Ephrem on this passage and the parallels with Jewish texts shows that Judaism included ascetic elements, some of which were explicitly based on the passages in the Jewish Scriptures that imply that sex and manifestations of God are incompatible (Exod 19.15 and 1 Sam 21.4). These Jewish texts and the cultures they represent may help explain the Syrian equation of sexual continence with purity, preparation, and consecration, i.e., holiness. Certain Qumran texts, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Philo, rabbinic Midrashim, and writings of eastern Christians further demonstrate that early Christian celibacy was grounded in Jewish traditions. The Neo-Platonic dualism that became popular among western Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries cannot be considered the source for influencing later Christianity with the celibate ideal.
Zipporah and the redactor claimed that she was doubly related to Moses, the second time through blood (which was a means to establish legal relations).
Early Jewish and Christian interpreters do not notice or underscore the text’s repeated interpretation of the incident: that Zipporah—an outsider woman—had thereby become in-law kin to Moses through her salvific (for Moses) bloodletting of her son. None of them saw in Ex. 4:24-6 a biblical precedent for inclusion and embrace of Others, which, I argue is the point for the biblical redactor.
In contrast to the book of Ezra, whose protagonists demand that Jews expel “foreign” wives, the story of the Midianite Zipporah, Moses’ wife, affirms that foreign women are beneficial to Israel. Zipporah’s circumcision of her son in Exodus 4 is the climax of a pattern in which females thwart attacks on endangered males. Later, Zipporah’s Midianite father confessed faith in Moses’ God and ate a meal with Israel in the presence of God. Zipporah and her father represent a household that originated outside of Israel’s ideological boundaries, but became positively allied to Israel through marriage, circumcision, confession, and sacrifice. This and similar stories suggest that, among those who selected and shaped the narratives of the Tanakh, there was considerable and persuasive dissent from what has often been assumed to be the dominant position in Second Temple Judaism. This paper is a precursor to a book that explores the origins of circumcision, celibacy and textual ethnicity construction, as well as Jewish and Christian interpretations of Moses’ exogamy.
Genesis narratives and genealogies show that Israel and Others have their origins in common, but, as the story moves forward, Israel is separated from these Others (Gen 10-12). By defining Others through traditions about origins, Israel defined itself. Yet we also see that shared experiences, faith in Israel’s god, and/or a desire to join Israel brought Others into Israel and coalesced people who were not descended from Abraham (Gen 38; 41:45, 48; Exod 2-4; 12:38; Josh 2; 8; 24; Num 10, Ezra 6; Ruth, and etc.). From the Torah, we hear how God encountered Others (Gen 16, 21; Exod 2-4; 18; Num 10; and passim). We learn God’s thoughts concerning Others in the Prophets and Psalms (Amos 5:8-9; Isa 55:5; Ps 87:4). We watch how Jesus treated Others in the New Testament (e.g. Mk 7:24-30). From these Scriptures, we learn how to weigh and interpret the portions of Scripture that depict some Others as a threat to be avoided or ruined (Deut 7:2-4). And we learn the purpose for Israel’s distinctiveness, the meaning of Israel’s holiness. This essay explores the implications of Israel’s identity and purpose.
other
people if such plans require human cooperation. God’sfreedom is never restricted—even by God’s self. Although God is characterized as revealing the future in certain cases, usually these passages are conditional and always must be understood together with the many Scriptures that represent the hope of God in the people of God rather than God’s foreknowledge of the future as actual.
Ephrem the Syrian was well known as a teacher and hymnist of the fourth century Syriac-speaking church. He produced hymns and commentaries on the Bible and numerous other topics, many of which have survived and demonstrate exegetical acquaintance with Jewish traditions. For example, throughout his commentaries he uses qal vehomer (a fortiori) arguments, his treatment of Genesis appeals to Jewish traditions about Paradise, and he identifies Sarah with Iscah, her name in the Midrash: Sifre to Numbers. Aggadic traditions from the Targumim and Midrashim also abound in Ephrem’s Commentary of Exodus, which he calls a tûrgāmâ, an “explanation.” Motifs developed in the Mekilta and Sifre to Numbers (both redacted 250-300 C.E.) and in the Targumim appear in Ephrem’s interpretation of Exodus.
Although difficult to ascertain whether these are the result of encounters with Jewish teachers and/or Jewish texts, or if they emerged from comparable modes of interpretation between Jews and Christians of Syria, it is clear that Ephrem deliberately adopted Jewish traditions that were useful to his agendas. Ephrem also innovates, presenting exegetical elements in his Commentary on Exodus not represented in Jewish Midrashim or Targumim. For example, when “Sephora” circumcised her son, she claimed that the commandment of circumcision should be sufficient reason for Moses’ release. An appeal to the power of the commandment of circumcision is similar to the emphasis of the Mekilta and Palestinian Targumim. When Ephrem’s Moses could speak, he defended his practice of sexual continence to Zipporah—he must “sanctify” himself for God who is visible to him all the time. Finding Moses’ sexual renunciation in Exod 4.24-6 and basing it on the visibility of God is Ephrem’s innovation.
Furthermore, a study of Ephrem on this passage and the parallels with Jewish texts shows that Judaism included ascetic elements, some of which were explicitly based on the passages in the Jewish Scriptures that imply that sex and manifestations of God are incompatible (Exod 19.15 and 1 Sam 21.4). These Jewish texts and the cultures they represent may help explain the Syrian equation of sexual continence with purity, preparation, and consecration, i.e., holiness. Certain Qumran texts, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Philo, rabbinic Midrashim, and writings of eastern Christians further demonstrate that early Christian celibacy was grounded in Jewish traditions. The Neo-Platonic dualism that became popular among western Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries cannot be considered the source for influencing later Christianity with the celibate ideal.
Zipporah and the redactor claimed that she was doubly related to Moses, the second time through blood (which was a means to establish legal relations).
Early Jewish and Christian interpreters do not notice or underscore the text’s repeated interpretation of the incident: that Zipporah—an outsider woman—had thereby become in-law kin to Moses through her salvific (for Moses) bloodletting of her son. None of them saw in Ex. 4:24-6 a biblical precedent for inclusion and embrace of Others, which, I argue is the point for the biblical redactor.
In contrast to the book of Ezra, whose protagonists demand that Jews expel “foreign” wives, the story of the Midianite Zipporah, Moses’ wife, affirms that foreign women are beneficial to Israel. Zipporah’s circumcision of her son in Exodus 4 is the climax of a pattern in which females thwart attacks on endangered males. Later, Zipporah’s Midianite father confessed faith in Moses’ God and ate a meal with Israel in the presence of God. Zipporah and her father represent a household that originated outside of Israel’s ideological boundaries, but became positively allied to Israel through marriage, circumcision, confession, and sacrifice. This and similar stories suggest that, among those who selected and shaped the narratives of the Tanakh, there was considerable and persuasive dissent from what has often been assumed to be the dominant position in Second Temple Judaism. This paper is a precursor to a book that explores the origins of circumcision, celibacy and textual ethnicity construction, as well as Jewish and Christian interpretations of Moses’ exogamy.
Genesis narratives and genealogies show that Israel and Others have their origins in common, but, as the story moves forward, Israel is separated from these Others (Gen 10-12). By defining Others through traditions about origins, Israel defined itself. Yet we also see that shared experiences, faith in Israel’s god, and/or a desire to join Israel brought Others into Israel and coalesced people who were not descended from Abraham (Gen 38; 41:45, 48; Exod 2-4; 12:38; Josh 2; 8; 24; Num 10, Ezra 6; Ruth, and etc.). From the Torah, we hear how God encountered Others (Gen 16, 21; Exod 2-4; 18; Num 10; and passim). We learn God’s thoughts concerning Others in the Prophets and Psalms (Amos 5:8-9; Isa 55:5; Ps 87:4). We watch how Jesus treated Others in the New Testament (e.g. Mk 7:24-30). From these Scriptures, we learn how to weigh and interpret the portions of Scripture that depict some Others as a threat to be avoided or ruined (Deut 7:2-4). And we learn the purpose for Israel’s distinctiveness, the meaning of Israel’s holiness. This essay explores the implications of Israel’s identity and purpose.
Biblical narratives depict both insider (to Israel) and outsider women as preserving God’s people through unusual and aggressive means. For example, Tamar, a Canaanite, pretended to be a prostitute and thus preserved the line of Judah (Gen 38). Hebrews, Midianites, and Egyptians rescued Moses, the deliverer. We’ll be talking about the two named midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, Moses’ mother, sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter, all rescued Moses from infanticide (Exod. 1-2). Later, his wife, Zipporah, a Midianite, saved Moses’ life –from the LORD—when she circumcised their son (Exod. 4:24-26).
An Overview of the Contributions Christian Feminist Theologians Have Made to Our Understanding of God, Other Humans, and Nature
Introduction: Definitions and Emphases
I. FT and the Bible: Perspectives of Christian Feminists on Scripture
II. FT and Traditional Theology: critique of traditional theology and biblical interpretation
III. Feminist Revisioning of Theology
Revisioning involves reflecting on the character, activity, and presence of God; analyzing the effects of language about God; using a wider range of metaphors for God drawn from Scripture, nature, and women's experience; transforming traditional religious metaphors and including new images and symbols meaningful to more people to describe God
A. The Character of God
B. Language about God
IV. FT and the World:
Christian feminist theology focuses on the earth and the liberation and wholeness of all the people of the earth.
V. Conclusion: Trinity as Image of the community and immanence of God
Trinity and Immanuel are images that depict the ideals of Christian feminist theology
I. FT and the Bible: Perspectives of Christian Feminists on Scripture
II. FT and Traditional Theology: critique of traditional theology and biblical interpretation
III. Feminist Revisioning of Theology
A. The Character of God
B. Language about God
IV. FT and the World:
Christian feminist theology focuses on the earth and the liberation and wholeness of all the people of the earth.
V. Conclusion: Trinity as Image of the Community and immanence of God:
Trinity and Immanuel are images that depicts the goals and ideals of Christian feminist theology and practice.
In this paper, I show how the Garden story of Gen 3 and Cain’s story in Gen 4 illustrate a condition necessary for ethical behavior—the ability to choose based on an ability to anticipate consequences, make value judgments, and determine alternative courses of action. In addition, the halakic legislation of Deuteronomy assumes that people can choose to ignore or choose to adopt the covenant, which is the reason each generation must be careful to transmit the moral codes found Stherein. Thus Torah stories not only provide an example of cultural transmission of morality, but also emphasize original choice, not original sin.
Turning to the Scriptures, she shows that equality in ministry is scriptural, Wesleyan, and essential for women, children, and men throughout the world's communities. She further explains to Christians why feminist theology is needed for faith communities today. This book also provides an entry into discussions about the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and economic disparities among people groups around the world. Imagining Equity is based on essays and lectures prepared for Winslow’s Women in the Bible and Christian Tradition courses beginning in 1990, as well as other updated publications and presentations.
Why did Jewish scribes in the Second Temple period preserve or compose this traumatic—albeit cryptic— pericope in the Abraham cycle that has raised many challenges for later recipients of Scripture? I will argue that the Akedah served apologetic purposes for Persian period Jews. These scribes were establishing an identity for their community by producing a history from traditions and texts they received and composed. As the apology goes, Abraham, the father of all Jews, sacrificed his dearest possession—his beloved son—to God. However, from God’s side, it was only a test. YHWH, unlike other gods, did not desire Isaac’s blood or ashes, but the man selected to be the father of the Jews could be no less devoted to his god than the pious of surrounding cultures who sacrificed their children.