Acts chapter 16 contains a story of an unnamed slave-girl who was following Paul and Silas. When read with a feminist interpretation, the seemingly minor text revealed unique and problematic power differentials between the girl and the other characters. Every character in the story used the girl for a purpose, which illustrated the power differentials. The spirit of divination that possessed her used her to speak through, the apostle Paul used her by casting out her spirit, the owners used and owned her fortunetelling abilities, and Luke, the author of the text, used her to progress the story and eliminated her voice.
Rather than referring to the slave-girl as “the slave-girl,” she has been named Nia, which means, “purpose” in Swahili. She was specifically named Nia to reflect that she was used for the purposes of the other characters in …show more content…
Paul, out of annoyance and frustration, commanded the spirit from her. He did not ask Nia if she wanted the spirit to come out of her. The text does not state that she desired, internally or verbally, that the spirit leave her. It is possible that Nia valued the spirit of divination and Paul’s actions caused her grief. He just commanded the spirit to leave her for his own needs; he appeased his annoyance without considering what Nia wanted.
One question that needs to be asked is why did Paul cast the spirit from Nia? The text said that Paul made the demand out of annoyance, however a feminist interpretation of the text revealed a deeper reason. Nia’s proclamation was not incorrect; rather, it was the truth; Paul and Silas did serve God and the two men did proclaim a way to salvation. She exposed the true identities of Paul and Silas. The men wanted people to hear about the way to salvation, but not from Nia. She could not be the
Rather than referring to the slave-girl as “the slave-girl,” she has been named Nia, which means, “purpose” in Swahili. She was specifically named Nia to reflect that she was used for the purposes of the other characters in …show more content…
Paul, out of annoyance and frustration, commanded the spirit from her. He did not ask Nia if she wanted the spirit to come out of her. The text does not state that she desired, internally or verbally, that the spirit leave her. It is possible that Nia valued the spirit of divination and Paul’s actions caused her grief. He just commanded the spirit to leave her for his own needs; he appeased his annoyance without considering what Nia wanted.
One question that needs to be asked is why did Paul cast the spirit from Nia? The text said that Paul made the demand out of annoyance, however a feminist interpretation of the text revealed a deeper reason. Nia’s proclamation was not incorrect; rather, it was the truth; Paul and Silas did serve God and the two men did proclaim a way to salvation. She exposed the true identities of Paul and Silas. The men wanted people to hear about the way to salvation, but not from Nia. She could not be the