Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies
Description
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 Modern biblical criticism, she reasons, derives much of its methodology and inspiration from an outdated notion of modern science.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.
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About the Author
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: Miriams Child, Sophias 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.
