Towards a feminist hermeneutic of Mark 7: 24-30

Guttler, Michele

Towards a feminist hermeneutic of Mark 7: 24-30

Master Thesis

1988

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Religious Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Behind the overt sexism and racism exhibited in Mk7.24-30, lies a message of Liberation. This message of liberation is discerned through understanding the text as primarily reflecting its context of origin. This thesis argues that inherent in the bible is a message of liberation far all; and that this message has been lost through being written, redacted and interpreted, in a primarily androcentric environment. The task of this thesis is thus to discern whether this message of liberation is reflected in Mk7.24-30, and if so, to expose it and develop a feminist hermeneutic based on this understanding. Mark must be recognised as existing specifically as a text, and recognising its textual nature is crucial to understanding Mk7.24-30. This thesis holds that every text is shaped by the environment in which it in set and created, it is also shaped by the anticipated readers. In examining Mk7.24-3), the setting of the story is recognised as Palestine, and the audience for which it was written is seen to be the Roman Christians. Both Palestine and Rome are examined from a Historical Materialist perspective, in an attempt to discern ways in which the two environments contributed toward the shaping of the text. Once the text is recognised as primarily reflecting the dominant patriarchal ideology of the day, this thesis attempts to discern whether Mk7.24-30 contains a message of liberation. In reading the text from the perspective of the Syro-Phonoecian woman, and by examining the actions of both Jesus and the woman, we show how the text may indeed be liberatory to women, and all marginalised people, despite the harsh racist and sexist overtones.