In this major study, leading feminist biblical critic Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza focuses on Paul and his interpreters. She questions the apolitical ethos of biblical scholarship and argues for an alternative rooted in a critical understanding of language as a form of power. Modern biblical criticism, she reasons, derives much of its methodology and inspiration from an outdated notion of modern science. It professes value-neutrality and detachment from the world of politics and history. Yet, Schussler Fiorenza maintains, this posture belies an objectivity that fails to engage the sociopolitical context of both the text and today's reader. It also does not recognize the rhetorical character of biblical texts and readings. If language is understood in the sense of ancient rhetorics as a form of power that constitutes reality, then an ethics of interpretation is called for. The task of biblical studies is to identify and assess the ethical resources and moral visions of biblical religions. "Only then," Schussler Fiorenza contends, "will bibical studies be a significant partner in the global struggles seeking justice and well-being for all."
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza is Krister Stendahl Professor at Harvard Divinity School, a founding co-editor of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, past president of the Society of Biblical Literature, and author of many important and influential works, among them In Memory of Her (1984), Bread Not Stone (1985), Jesus: Miriam"s Child, Sophia"s Prophet (1995), Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies (1999), The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire (2007), and Democratizing Biblical Studies: Toward an Emancipatory Educational Space (2009). Empowering Memory and Movement is the third volume in her collected essays from Fortress Press, including Transforming Vision: Explorations in Feminist The*logy (2011) and Changing Horizons: Explorations in Feminist Interpretation (2013). She is editor of Searching the Scriptures (two volumes, 1993, 1994), a feminist introduction and commentary.
Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: For a Biblical (Wo/man) Scholar to Speak in the Ekklesia Feminist Struggles against Silencing The Politics of Biblical Studies Part One: Theoretical Explorations1. The Ethics of Biblical Interpreation: Decentering Biblical Scholarship Social Location and Biblical Criticism The Rhetoric of Biblical Scholarship The Ethos of Biblical Scholarship: Critical Rhetoric and Ethics 2. Changing the Paradigms:The Ethos of Biblical Studies The Intellectual-Cultural Contexts of Biblical Studies Competing Paradigms in Biblical Studies Emancipation and Interpretation 3. Shifting the Focus: The Politics of Biblical StudiesCritical Turns and Turnings in the Ethos of Biblical Scholarship A (Feminist) Ethic of Inquiry Conclusion 4. Challenging the Rhetorical Half-Turn:Feminist and Rhetorical Biblical Criticism A Rhetoric of Inquiry A Feminist Rhetoric The Feminine Coding of Rhetoric and Religion Critical Engagement Part Two: Rhetorical Practices 5. Rhetorical Situation and Historical Reconstruction in 1 Corinthians Contemporary Interpretations The Rhetorical Arrangement of 1 Corinthians Rhetorical Situation and Genre Historical Reconstruction and Theological Assesment A Critical Rhetorical Model of Analysis 6. The Rhetoricity of Historical Knowledge:Pauline Discourse and Its Contextualizations Scientific Objectivist Frameworks Kyriocentric Rhetoricity and Historical Reality "Religious Propaganda" in a "Doubled" Process of Interpretation 7. Ideology, Power, and Interpretaion: Galatians 3:28Ideology, Power, and Interpretation Galatians 3:28 as a Focal Point of Feminist Debate 8. Pauline Theology and the Politics of MeaningBiblical Theology as a Theological Rhetoric of Inquiry Biblical Theology as a Politics of Meaning The Hegemonic Politics of Meaning Biblical Theology as the Rhetoric of Ekklesia In place of a Conclusion AppendicesThe Ethics of Interpretation: Thirteen Theses The Rhetorics of Interpretation: Analytic CompassSelected Bibliography
