"The Rev Marcus Green had set himself the challenge of feministly reading a book, the Bible, in which almost none of the women have a name. There are a bunch called Mary, but so few other names that Mary was basically Bible-speak for Karen. There's one who is the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but even though she has actual lines and he has none, he still gets this cracking name, while you have to piece her identity together by triangulating other accounts, like an investigator at a crime scene."
"A Samaritan and the first female evangelist, she was the one with the five previous husbands whose relationship status, at the time of meeting Jesus, was with some guy who wasn't her husband. It crescendoed with the son of God telling her that she is loved, to which she inexplicably does not reply: Mate, I know that. Have you not seen how many husbands I've had?"
"As a feminist parable, it lacked something in the sense-making department, but, as a Christian message of the sheer contagiousness of love and acceptance, it was a useful interruption of the drum beat. It was not just commercialised business."
International Women's Day has transformed into a commercialized marketing event, with companies using it to promote products to women. The author reflects on attending an evensong sermon on Women's Day Eve, where Reverend Marcus Green offered a feminist reading of the Bible. The sermon highlighted how women in biblical texts are largely unnamed or identified only through their relationships to men. The central focus was the Samaritan woman at the well, who was the first female evangelist but remains unnamed in scripture. Despite her significant role and agency in spreading Jesus's message, she is primarily remembered through her marital history. The sermon conveyed a message of divine love and acceptance, contrasting sharply with the commercialized nature of modern Women's Day celebrations.
#international-womens-day #feminism-and-religion #biblical-women #commercialization #gender-and-identity
Read at www.theguardian.com
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