Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Feminist Hermeneutics

A feminist reading of the Bile is a complex affair. We must deal, as women, with a very ancient text which reflects different cultures, customs, epochs, relations, languages, and grammars. Above all, we have to confront androcentric and patriarchal passages - and interpretations - that have accumulated over the centuries. A hermeneutics guided by a focus on gender social relations should, therefore, be daring and go beyond the traditional canons of exegetical science. We need a hermeneutics of suspicion which is operative in all areas: texts, interpretations, traditions, translations, and exegetical methods. Gender theories are analytical tools that allow us to deconstruct texts and reveal the structure of the relations on which they are based. We can then construct a new text that seeks to be liberating in nature, including with regard to gender relations. We believe that this is the wish of God who created men and women in God's own image and likeness.

Pereira, Nancy Cardoso, Revista de Interpretacion Biblica Latinoamericana (Journal of Latin American Biblical Interpretation) No.5, 1997

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