Journal of the Study on Religion and History (JSRH)

No. 1 (2025): JSRH
Articles

Feminist Biblical Interpretation through an Intersectional Lens: Diverse Developments in Theory, Methodology, and Practice

PDF
  • Nathanael Xuesheng WANG
Nathanael Xuesheng WANG
Chung Yuan Christian University

Published 2025-07-02

Keywords

  • Feminist Biblical Interpretation, Gender and Religion, Hermeneutics, Intersection¬ality, Global-South Perspectives
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Feminist Biblical Interpretation through an Intersectional Lens: Diverse Developments in Theory, Methodology, and Practice. (2025). Journal of the Study on Religion and History (JSRH), 1, 32-56. https://doi.org/10.30250/JSRH.202506_(1).0003

Abstract

This paper traces the development of feminist biblical interpretation from its marginal beginnings to its current position as a mainstream academic approach. It examines the field’s evolution through four historical phases: early enlightenment (late 19th -mid 20th century), systematic development (1960s-1980s), theoretical diversification (1990s-early 2000s), and contemporary intersectional analysis. It explores key theoretical frameworks, methodological innovations, and significant contributions that have shaped this field. Special attention is given to recent developments in intersectionality and global-south perspectives, which have profoundly enriched biblical interpretation through diverse cultural lenses. The paper also addresses the impact of digital humanities technologies on biblical scholarship. While highlighting feminist biblical criticism’s achievements in challenging patriarchal interpretations and recovering overlooked female voices, the paper acknowledges ongoing challenges, including methodological debates and tensions with traditional approaches. It concludes by emphasizing feminist biblical interpretation’s continued relevance and potential for promoting social justice.

PDF

Counts

Views: 50 / Downloads: 3

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Althaus-Reid, Marcella. 2000. Indecent Theology: Theological Perversions in Sex, Gender and Politics. London: Routledge.
  2. Bacon, Hannah. 2009. What’s Right with the Trinity Conversations in Feminist Theology. London: Routledge.
  3. Baltazar, Stella. 2003. When Women Unite! Celebrate Our Differences as the Cause of Our Unity. In Feminist Interpretation of the Bible and the Hermeneutics of Liberation, edited by Silvia Schroer and Sophia Bietenhard, 155–63. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic.
  4. Belsey, Catherine. 1983. Critical Practice. London: Methuen.
  5. Brenner, Athalya. 2005. Epilogue: Babies and Bathwater on the Road. In Her Master’s Tools? Feminist and Postcolonial Engagement of Historical-Critical Discourse, edited by Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd C. Penner, 333–38. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.
  6. Buell, Denise Kimber, Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, Jennifer Glancy, and Halvor Moxnes. 2010. Introduction: Cultural Complexity and Intersectionality in the Study of the Jesus Movement. Biblical Interpretation 18(4-5): 309–12.
  7. Buss, Martin J. 1999. Biblical Form Criticism in Its Context. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic.
  8. Cafferky, Michael E. 2014. Teaching the Gospel from Agency Theory in the Bible. Christian Business Academy Review 9: 19–28. https://doi.org/10.69492/cbar.v9i0.28.
  9. Carson, D. A. 1996. Exegetical Fallacies. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
  10. Claassens, L. Juliana. 2024. Feminist Biblical Interpretation. St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Edited by Brendan N. Wolfe et al. https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/FeministBiblicalInterpretation
  11. Cobb, Christy. 2024. Enslaved Women, Women Enslavers Kyriarchy and Intersectionality in the New Testament. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 40(1): 43–60. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfs.00004.
  12. Collins, Patricia Hill, and Sirma Bilge. 2016. Intersectionality. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
  13. Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1989. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum 1: 139–67.
  14. Cuéllar, Gregory L. 2021. Reading Yee’s Intersectionality as an Intervening Counterdiscourse to Whiteness. The Bible & Critical Theory 17(1): 4–10.
  15. De Troyer, Kristin. 2002. Rewriting the Sacred Text: What the Old Greek Texts Tell Us about the Literary Growth of the Bible. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  16. ———. 2005. ‘And They Did So’: Following Orders Given by Old Joshua. In Her Master’s Tools: Feminist and Postcolonial Engagements of Historical-Critical Discourse, edited by Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd Penner, 145–57. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  17. Dempsey, Carol J. 2020. Catholic Androcentric Bible Translations as Global Missionary Tools? In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 37–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.44.
  18. Dempsey, Carol J., Rachel Adelman, Shelley Birdsong, and Holly Morse. 2024. Reviewing The Oxford Handbook on Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible. lectio difficilior, no. 2: 1–51.
  19. Diko, Mlamli. 2023. Intersectionality and the Oppressive Incidents of Women in the Old Testament and the South African Context. Old Testament Essays 36(3): 612–34. https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2023/v36n3a5.
  20. Dube, Musa W. 2000. Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible. St. Louis: Chalice Press.
  21. Dube, Musa W. 2006. Looking Back and Forward: Postcolonial ism, Globalization, Gender and God. Scriptura 92(2):178-93. https://dx.doi.org/10.7833/92-0-1359.
  22. Eskandar, Kirolos. 2024. The Digital Apostle: Exploring the Impact of Technology on Bible Study and Ministry in the 21st Century. Религия. Церковь. Общество 13: 138–59. https://dx.doi.org/10.24412/2308-0698-2024-13-138-159.
  23. Exum, J. Cheryl. 1993. Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International.
  24. Fadden, John W. 2020. Justifying (Feminist) Biblical Studies in a Neoliberal Age. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 180–98. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  25. Geisterfer, Priscilla. 2005. Full Turns and Half Turns: Engaging the Dialogue/Dance between Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Vernon Robbins. In Her Master’s Tools? Feminist and Postcolonial Engagement of Historical-Critical Discourse, edited by Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd C. Penner, 129–44. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.
  26. Gross, Rita M. 2002. Feminist Theology as Theology of Religions. In The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology, edited by Susan Frank Parsons, 60–78. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  27. Grudem, Wayne A. 2020. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
  28. Hauge, Astri. 1993. Feminist Theology as Critique and Renewal of Theology. Themelios 17(3): 8–12.
  29. Herzfeld, Noreen L. 2002. In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
  30. Hidalgo, Jacqueline M. 2014. Struggling with Mindsets of Domination. In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 199–214. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1287n2p.16.
  31. Huffard, Evertt W. 2006. When Scholarship Goes South: Biblical Scholarship and Global Trends. Restoration Quarterly 48(2): 65–72.
  32. Janssen, Claudia. 2022. Intersektionale Bibelanalyse und Gegenwart. Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 25(49): 112–25.
  33. Janssen, Claudia, and Hanne Köhler. 2014. A Long History of Sowing, from Which Miracles Occasionally Grow: Bible Translations in Language That Is Just. In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 339–63. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  34. Jenkins, Philip. 2006. Reading the Bible in the Global South. International Bulletin of Missionary Research 30(2): 67–73. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/239693930603000204.
  35. Jobling, J’annine. 2020. Feminist Biblical Interpretation in Theological Context. London: Routledge.
  36. Johnson, Elizabeth A. 1992. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. New York: Crossroad.
  37. Kartzow, Marianne Bjelland. 2010. ‘Asking the Other Question’: An Intersectional Approach to Galatians 3:28 and the Colossian Household Codes. Biblical Interpretation 18(4): 364–89. https://doi.org 10.1163/156851510X517591.
  38. ———. 2024. Travelling Thomas: Slave Trade and Missionary Travel in the Acts of Thomas. Religions 15(7): 808 (pp. 1-11). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070808.
  39. Kim, Yong-Bock. 2013. Messiah and Minjung: Christ’s Solidarity with the People for New Life. Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia.
  40. Kwok Pui-lan. 2000. Introducing Asian Feminist Theology. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic.
  41. ———. 2002. Feminist Theology as Intercultural Discourse. In The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology, edited by Susan Frank Parsons, 23–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  42. ———. 2005. Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox.
  43. Kyung, Chung Hyun. 1990. Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women’s Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
  44. Lerner, Gerda. 1993. The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-seventy. New York: Oxford University Press.
  45. Levine, Amy-Jill. 2006. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. San Francisco: HarperOne.
  46. Liew, Tat-siong Benny. 2008. What Is “Asian American” Biblical Criticism? Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
  47. Lima, Bruno Cesar Dos Santos, Nizam Omar, Israel Avansi, Leandro Nunes de Castro, Ismar Frango Silveira, and Viviane Pinto Alves Ribeiro. 2023. Use of Artificial Intelligence in Biblical Citation Recommendations in the New Testament. Revista Científica Multidisciplinar Núcleo do Conhecimento 7(2): 123–43.
  48. Nockels, Joseph, Paul Gooding, and Melissa Terras. 2025. Are Digital Humanities Platforms Facilitating Sufficient Diversity in Research? A Study of the Transkribus Scholarship Programme, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 40(1): 46–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqae018.
  49. Mace, Emily R. 2009. 2009 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award Winner: Feminist Forerunners and a Usable Past: A Historiography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 25(2): 5–23. https://doi.org/10.2979/fsr.2009.25.2.5.
  50. Martin, Clarice J. 1994. The Acts of the Apostles. In Searching the Scriptures Volume Two: A Feminist Commentary, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 763–99. London: SCM.
  51. Matthews, Shelly. 2014. Feminist Biblical Historiography. In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century: Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 233–48. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  52. McKnight, Edgar V. 1980. The Contours and Methods of Literary Criticism. In Orientation by Disorientation: Studies in Literary Criticism and Biblical Literary Criticism, Festschrift for W. A. Beardslee, edited by Richard A. Spencer, 53–69. Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press.
  53. Meeks, Wayne A. 1983. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  54. Mehring, Hanna-Maria. 2024. The Samaritan Woman as a Quick-Witted Border Crosser in John 4. Religions 15(8): 924 (pp. 1-13).
  55. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080924
  56. Melanchthon, Monica Jyotsna. 2014. Toward Mapping Feminist Biblical Interpretations in Asia. In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 105–19. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  57. ———. 2021. Widows: Tamar (Gen 38), Judith, Etcetera. The Bible & Critical Theory 17(1): 55–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1287n2p.11.
  58. Mtshiselwa, Ndikho. 2021. Resistance of Oppression in Exod 1–15 and Southern Africa An Intersectional Perspective. Old Testament Essays 34 (2): 503–29.
  59. https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2021/V34N2A12.
  60. Nasrallah, Laura Salah, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, eds. 2009. Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  61. Newberry, Julie. 2024. Age, Maternity, and Allusion: Elizabeth and Other Mothers. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 46(3): 321–48.https://doi.org/10.1177/0142064X231215792.
  62. Ọlọjẹde, Funlọla O. 2020. Toward an African Feminist Ethics and the Book of Proverbs. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 129–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  63. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.32.
  64. Osborne, Grant R. 2006. The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Rev. ed. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
  65. Pennington, Emily. 2017. Feminist Eschatology Embodied Futures. London: Routledge.
  66. Poythress, Vern S. 2019. Two Hermeneutical Tensions in Evangelical Feminism. Verbum Christi: Jurnal Teologi Reformed Injili 6(2): 147–58.
  67. Punt, Jeremy. 2020. Queer Bible Readings in Global Hermeneutical Perspective. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 65–80. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  68. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.3.
  69. Ringe, Sharon H. 1998. Wisdom’s Feast: Hearing the Voices of Women in Scripture. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox.
  70. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 1983. Sexism and God-talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. Boston: Beacon Press.
  71. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 2003. Ecofeminism. In Feminism and Theology, edited by Janet Martin Soskice, and Diana Lipton, 23-33. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198782469.003.0005.
  72. Russell, Letty M. 1985. Household of Freedom: Authority in Feminist Theology. Philadelphia: Westminster.
  73. Scholz, Susanne. 2014. ‘Stirring Up Vital Energies’: Feminist Biblical Studies in North America (1980s–2000s). In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 53–70. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1287n2p.8.
  74. Scholz, Susanne, ed. 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  75. Schottroff, Luise. 1995. Lydia’s Impatient Sisters: Feminist Social History of Early Christianity. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox.
  76. Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. 1975. Feminist Theology as a Critical Theology of Liberation. Theological Studies 36 (4): 605–26.
  77. https://doi.org/10.1177/004056397503600402
  78. ———. 1983. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad.
  79. ———. 1985. Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Feminist Biblical Interpretation. Boston: Beacon.
  80. ———. 1988. The Ethics of Interpretation: De-centering Biblical Scholarship. Journal of Biblical Literature 107(1): 3–17.
  81. ———. 1992. But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation. Boston: Beacon.
  82. ———. 1999. Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  83. ———. 2001. Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation. New York: Orbis.
  84. ———. 2007. The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  85. Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth, ed. 2014. Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
  86. Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. 2016. Congress of Wo/men: Religion, Gender, and Kyriarchal Power. Indianapolis: Dog Ear.
  87. ———. 2020. Biblical Interpretation and Kyriarchal Globalization. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 2–20. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.1.
  88. Sharp, Carolyn. 2017. Is This Naomi? Reading of the Ambiguity of Naomi in the Book of Ruth. In Feminist Frameworks: Power, Ambiguity and Intersectionality, edited by Juliana Claassens and Carolyn Sharp, 149–162. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark.
  89. ———. 2021. Jeremiah 26–52. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag.
  90. Sinn, Simone, Dina El Omari, and Anne Hege Grung, eds. 2017. Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures: Christians and Muslims in Dialogue. Leipzig/Geneva, Switzerland: Evangelische Verlangsanstalt / The Lutheran World Federation.
  91. Smith, Mitzi J., and Jin Young Choi, eds. 2020. Minoritized Women Reading Race and Ethnicity Intersectional Approaches to Constructed Identity and Early Christian Texts. Lanham, MD: Lexington.
  92. Spencer, Richard A., ed. 1980. Orientation by Disorientation: Studies in Literary Criticism and Biblical Literary Criticism presented in honor of William A. Beardslee. Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press.
  93. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. 1895. The Woman’s Bible. New York: European Publishing Company.
  94. Stock, Augustine A. 1983. The Limits of Historical-Critical Exegesis. Biblical Theology Bulletin 13 (1): 28–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/014610798301300106.
  95. Stone, Ken. 2004. Queering the Canaanite. In The Sexual Theologian: Essays on God, Sex and Politics, edited by Marcella Althaus-Reid and Lisa Isherwood, 110–34. London: T&T Clark.
  96. Stone, Ken. 2020. Animal Studies, Feminism, and Biblical Interpretation. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 542–54. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.36
  97. Tamber-Rosenau, Caryn. 2020. A Queer Critique of Looking for ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ Voices in the Hebrew Bible. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, edited by Susanne Scholz, 479–93. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.30.
  98. Tamez, Elsa. 1982. The Bible of the Oppressed. Translated by Matthew J. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
  99. Tan Yak-hwee. 2014. Postcolonial Feminist Biblical Criticism: An Exploration. In Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century Scholarship and Movement, edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 281–92. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1287n2p.21.
  100. Theissen, Gerd. 1978. Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress.
  101. Thiselton, Anthony C. 1980. The Two Horizons: New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical Description. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  102. ———. 2009. Hermeneutics: An Introduction. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  103. Tov, Emanuel. 1999. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  104. Trible, Phyllis. 1973. Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 41(1): 30–48.
  105. ———. 1984. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress.
  106. Ulrich, Eugene, Frank Moore Cross, Sidnie White Crawford, James A. Sanders, Emanuel Tov, and Julius C. VanderKam. 1999. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  107. Vander Stichele, Caroline. 2002. Murder She Wrote of Why Translation Matters: A Response to Mary Phil Korsak’s ‘Translating the Bible’. In Bible Translation on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century. Authority, Reception, Culture and Religion, edited by Athalya Brenner and Jan Willem van Henten, 147–55. New York: Continuum.
  108. Williams, Delores S. 1993. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-talk. Maryknoll: Orbis.
  109. Yee, Gale A. 2020. Thinking Intersectionally: Gender, Race, Class, and the Etceteras of Our Discipline. Journal of Biblical Literature 139(1): 7–26. https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2020.0001.