Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza is a radical feminist thinker, even in comparison with other theologians and biblical scholarsof our time. She describes herself as a second wave or "women's lib" person. Thus, we don't agree on much. Even herhusband Francis writes about her whole method as something coming from way out there, although he does so in a ratherindirect way. But Pope Benedict (yes, a man, etc.) referred to her as an intelligent biblical student, and my president Fr. Bobwas classmates with Frank. Once you get used to the different writing style (woman is always rendered wo/man) the bookis quite readable, again in comparison with other Catholic feminists. The substitution of kyriarchy for patriarchy is, well,interesting. It is unfortunate to use the word "Lord" as the basis for a pejorative term-domination is bad but God's dominionor kingdom is not. But the emphasis on kyriarchy does shift the blame from fatherhood to domination in general, which isnot necessarily tied to fatherhood. The approach resembles Michel Foucault and the intersectionality approach to identitypolitics that is so prevalent today and was used later by Elizabeth Johnson in Quest for the Living God. I had recently readSandra Schneiders' "The Revelatory Word" and looked up Schussler in the index, but she was listed under Fiorenza! Just alittle something to laugh about. Yves Congar in True and False Reform in the Church said to be in communion with the wholeChurch. I'm trying! Congar did it very well, as he is cited favorably by everybody from Schneiders to Romanus Cessario in AShort History of Thomism.

Wisdom, Sophia the feminine aspect of God, was extremely important in the century leading up to Jesus, and is reflected in Jesus' teaching. Fiorenza's book explores Biblical Wisdom and femininity in todays world, and brings these together. She explores and analyses this many-faceted subject, writing in a very readable style. .

This book offers a comprehensive understanding of Schüssler Fiorenza’s mature thoughts, despite its repetitiveness. Readers may directly go to the last chapter after reading the introduction and they won’t miss anything essential.

I really appreciate the book. It's so nice.

I haven't finished this book yet, but so far it is really good. This book takes a lot of thought, and I've read some sections a couple of times. I think I will probably go back to parts of this book over and over. It's that great.