Reading in and Writing Out: Origins and Impacts of Approaches to Sex Work in Biblical and Theological Scholarship

Abstract

This chapter analyses representations of sex workers in biblical texts, evaluating various approaches to sex work in biblical studies and theology and their impacts on perceptions of sex work. Traditional interpretations of biblical ‘prostitution’ associate sex workers with damaging tropes which normalise violence committed against them and imply a deficiency in moral agency and character. The labour of the few confirmed sex workers in the Bible, like Rahab of Jericho, is side-lined by interpreters or used to illustrate the unlikelihood of their heroism. Other figures whose dominant cultural constructions associate them with sex work, such as Mary Magdalene, are forcibly sanitised. In both the texts and their reception, as well as theological scholarship, sex workers are condemned, erased, or subjected to a narrative of victimisation, their voices and perspectives suppressed. These attitudes and assumptions make their way to the public realm through the significant influence of religious texts, traditions, and their interpretations on public sexual ethics. Sex worker-led readings uncover subjective meanings and unique insights into the biblical texts. This chapter argues it is crucial to pursue a rights-based, liberative approach which rejects narratives of victimisation, condemnation, and erasure, and prioritises the voices, agency, welfare, and liberation of sex workers.