Biblical Literalism and Gender Stability: A Christian Response to Gender Performance Theory

Abstract

In March 2005, I was invited to participate in a forum on Christianity and feminism sponsored by a student-run organization on the campus of Azusa Pacific University, where I teach in the English department. Since I cover feminist theory in my course on literary criticism, I was eager to accept the invitation. Joining me on the panel of respondents were two students, a professor of biblical studies, and an Episcopal priest, the Reverend Wilma Jakobsen, who is known for her work on women’s issues in her native South Africa. Following some introductory remarks by the panelists, questions were solicited from the roughly one hundred members of the audience. After a few tentative opening comments and questions from students around the room, a woman near the front posed the crucial, inevitable question: “If you are claiming to be biblically-based feminists, how do you explain those passages in scripture which speak out against placing women in positions of religious leadership?” Without hesitation, Reverend Jakobsen responded, “I don’t think you can be a feminist and take the Bible literally.”