New Bible Commentary by Women Theologians

Like so many things in the Bible, the role of women in the church and family was put in the Bible by men and taken out of the Bible and interpreted for application in the faith by men. Predictably there are challenges and disagreements about translations and interpretations of passages. Now a group of female scholars, both Protestant and Catholic, will publish a work that sheds new light on the role of women in the faith.

One prediction is easy to make. When there is a Bible passage about women, or, there is an interpretation done by men, a meaning will be passed down that puts men in the driver's seat and women as less important.

There is a passage in Luke that tell of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary. The male interpretation of the passage tells us Martha provided "service." The standard interpretation of this is that Martha served food. This fits nicely into male dominated Christian societies. The female scholars point out that the Greek word "diakonia" has other meanings also. It could mean she was a deacon. Deacons in some branches of the faith are clergy.

Then there is the controversy surrounding a commonly held belief that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. This, also, is a male invention. Those who wrote the Bible had the Mary Magdalene character playing a huge role in the Jesus story. The theory is this was intolerable to male clergy over the ages and she was recast as a prostitute. The women writing the Biblical critique are taking aim at this insertion of male dominated interpretations.

While all these women are of the faith, they are about to do some damage to its traditional tenets. 

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