By Orlando Broomfield (NCU Religion Student)
Copyright © 2013
Androcentricity,
as defined by the Dictionary of Human Geography is “the structuring of all life
and narrative around the experiences of men.”[1] The
term Christocentrism is defined by P. c. Lai as, “an approach towards the
doctrine of revelation in which the person and work of Christ plays a
determining or central role.”[2] In
the Pauline corpus, Jesus is the essence of Christian theology and practice,
but today when the rights of the individual is championed, there is a legitimate
probe into the level of applicability of the Pauline concept of women for our
time. Although the life and death of Christ was normative and authoritative in
Pauline theology, Christocentricity was applied predominantly in androcentric
ways in the primary context.
The
male-dominant culture certainly influenced Pauline theology. This Pauline
theology was not uniquely Paul’s, but the continuous product of the reciprocity
of the impact between the Jesus tradition and a believing community. Professor of contextual theology, Marcella
Althaus-Reid, supports this view, expounding that the Christological process is
at best one aimed at constructing the Christ through “a process that depends on
the interrelationality between a man called Jesus and a community of women, men
and children.”[3]
The point to bear in mind is their world was enwrapped in male-dominance, and the
primary audience would understand in both a Christocentric and an androcentric
way, any Pauline point.
The Bible on a
whole is expressed through the natural and real androcentric manner over its
years of production and transmission. This is not to say that females were
never featured as key characters of heroism, prophecy, leadership, and
philanthropy; but those incidences were not a characteristic feature of the
Bible. The Pauline concept of women would be of no exception, as the sitz im
leben remained essentially the same. The treatment of women in the Pauline
corpus or the gospels, also points out that neither Paul nor Jesus was hostile
to women. Of this, M. Rosario Barbosa stands in agreement, appealing that
Paul’s respect of women in his letters “is definitely not the profile of a man
who is guilty of misogyny.”[4] At
the same time, the practice resulting from his theology did not bring about
equality for women in the many subsequent years.
Therefore, the
conceivableness of egalitarianism in Pauline epistles would be equivalent to an
anomaly. Paul as a first century Christian author from an unquestionably
androcentric cultural setting would only unnaturally transcend that context to
be fair-minded. A broader picture is even painted by Isherwood and McPhillips
by their summation, that though it was hopeful for the male Messiah of the
patriarchal God to show respect to women, “this is swiftly smothered by
macho-Paul.”[5]
Thomas W. Ogletree does not even give Paul a point for his all-inclusiveness in
salvation for both genders in Galatians 3:28, arguing that, “On this matter at
least he (Paul) may not have fully comprehended the radical logic of his own
position.”[6] WM.O. Walker Jr.[7],
takes this side as well, suggesting that Paul was unwilling, uninterested, or
unable to challenge his political, economical, or social norms, or to apply his
own theological worldview with complete consistently. Androcentricity sums up
the Pauline concept of women.
References
Barbosa,
M. Rosario. “Women According to Saint Paul.” 2007
http://pmrb.net/essays/st_paul_women.html (accessed March 11, 2013).
Elwell,
Walter A. Evangelical Dictionary of
Theology. Ada, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.
Lai,
P. c. Towards a Trinitarian Theology of
Religions: A Study of Paul Tillich's Thought. Walpole, MA: Peeters
Publishers, 1994.
Isherwood,
Lisa. Introducing Feminist Christologies.
Lexington, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001.
Isherwood,
Lisa, and Kathleen McPhillips. Post-Christian
Feminisms: A Critical Approach. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Ltd,
2008.
Ogletree,
Thomas W. The Use of the Bible in
Christian Ethics. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.
Walker
Jr., WM.O. "1 Corinthians 11: 2-16 and Paul’s Views Regarding Women."
Journal Of Biblical Literature 94,
no. 1 (March 1975): 94. Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed
March 11, 2013).
[1] Walter A. Elwell. Evangelical
Dictionary of Theology. (Ada, MI: Baker Academic, 2001) 446
[2] P. c. Lai. Towards a
Trinitarian Theology of Religions: A Study of Paul Tillich's Thought. (Walpole,
MA: Peeters Publishers, 1994) 37
[3] Lisa Isherwood. Introducing
Feminist Christologies (Lexington, NY: Continuum International Publishing
Group, 2001) 68
[4] M. Rosario Barbosa. “Women According to Saint Paul.” 2007
http://pmrb.net/essays/st_paul_women.html (accessed March 11, 2013)
[5] Lisa Isherwood and Kathleen McPhillips. Post-Christian Feminisms: A Critical Approach (Burlington, VT:
Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2008) 75
[6] Thomas W. Ogletree. The Use
of the Bible in Christian Ethics. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2003) 168
[7] WM.O. Walker Jr. "1 Corinthians 11: 2-16 and Paul’s Views Regarding
Women." Journal Of Biblical
Literature 94, no. 1 (March 1975): 94. Religion and Philosophy Collection,
EBSCOhost (accessed March 11, 2013).
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