Janice Anderson Feminism

According to Janice Anderson, the definition of feminism is “the affirmation…of our right and ability to construct, and take responsibility for, our gendered identity, our politics, and our choices” (Anderson, 105). A feminist approach to biblical studies can help reconstruct women’s identities in the text and see how the identity of the reader is affected by the way women are portrayed. Analyzing the ways in which women are excluded from the text and identifying the construction of gender are two methods of conducting biblical studies from the feminist perspective. These methods of analysis allow readers to see the social implications from the way that biblical text is interpreted and work to reconstruct these images of characters in the text …show more content…
According to Anderson, “Biblical scholarship has been androcentric and patriarchal in its failure to explore the construction of male and female gender… and the early church [has] ignored or denied the roles of women” (Anderson, 107). This “failure” is referencing how the text mainly focuses on the male characters and their roles and how it fails to acknowledge the impact of the women during this time. Susan Thistlethwaite, a feminist biblical scholar, found that biblical “textual interpretation usually overlooks the woman’s situation” (Thistlethwaite, 102). Through the analysis of text that does not explicitly address women, such as their roles in the Jesus Movement, feminist readers can rework the text in an empowering manner. One aspect of the Jesus Movement that women are not mentioned is when discussing the twelve disciples. The disciples are “those who hear the Word of God and do it” (Thistlethwaite, 103). As women read this text, they can identify as people who have heard and acted upon the word based on their own experience which directly challenges traditional interpretation (Thistlethwaite, 104). This allows women to connect with aspects of the characters even though they are a different …show more content…
This aids in the ability of feminist women to recognize the text immasculating her and resist the gender ideology that is being constructed in the reading (Anderson, 111). Through the analysis of the “otherness” of the female characters in the text, a feminist can reconstruct the image in an empowering way that highlights these differences in a positive way. In the text, a women’s occupation is often presented as being a mother. As opposed to seeing this aspect as an oppressive image, women can reconstruct it as highlighting their caring and supportive tendencies which can be transferred to other aspects of their