Women as Written in the Gospel

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

This is a feminist interpretation of the lives of nine women characters from the Books of the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). It used the feminist tenets from the historical development of the Feminist Theory focusing on De Beauvior's (1949) "The Second Sex," Harding's (1986) dimensions of gender oppression, and Grudem's (2002) biblical foundation for womanhood. The previous studies separated the secular and religious feminisms. Thus, this study focused on the connection between secular feminism (Granek, 2010), experiences of women in the society, and religious feminism (Khan and Docherty, 2007), experiences of women in the scriptures as it compared and contrasted the experiences of Herodias, the bleeding woman, Salome/ mother of Zebedee's sons, Martha, Samaritan woman, Elizabeth, The Virgin Mary, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene to relate them with the modern women's lives and issues such as identities, sex roles, violence, and the way they resist oppression in school, in the workplace, and in the society (Heldke & Connor, 2004).

METHODS

This study analyzed, compared, and summarized the sex roles (biological creation) of nine women characters, the types of oppression they encountered, and their images. The corpora for analysis were explored through the feminist approach associated with Merriam's (2009) critical qualitative research particularly feminism.

RESULTS

The results of this study revealed that the women in the Books of the Gospel performed dynamic and changing gender roles (social construction). Four among the nine women have traditional roles as wives and mothers at the same time, three of them have demeaning roles as patient, adulteress, and prostitute, and the remaining two had other supporting roles as provider and sister. All the women characters experienced a particular type of oppression regardless of their gender roles but those who were spiritually sensitive transcended their oppression as exposed by their common functions and representations.

DISCUSSIONS

The integration of various genres from the Bible in DepEd's Learning Modules under the K to 12 Curriculum may inform the modern learners with the embedded crucial lessons that will shape their minds and transform their passions. This research suggests that teachers of English should use not only literary texts but also Bible texts as a basis of their instructional materials in their teaching-learning process.