In Memory of Her

It seems to me that this is a classic work of feminist theology, but it also seems to be a lot more than that:

Schüssler Fiorenza, E. (1994). In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (2nd ed.). London: SCM.

The question, broadly put, is about what the relations between men and women in the early Church were like. The key piece of evidence brought to bear on the question is Galatians 3:28:

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NRSV)

There is, Schüssler Fiorenza argues, sufficient evidence within the Bible and other early writings to suggest two strands of early Christian view of the way the world should be. The first is the egalitarian view, put forward in Galatians 3:28. All the people in a church were regarded as being equal, regardless of sex or position in society or ethnicity. This, Schüssler Fiorenza thinks, is the way the earliest church was. The argument is lengthy and quite complicated, so I will not attempt to summarise it here, but she suggests that some of the Gospel writings and the letters of Paul imply two aspects of Christianity: one of a settled, stable, house church arrangement, the other of itinerant missionaries, such as Paul himself.

The second strand, the itinerant minister-missionaries were, perhaps, the spearhead of the mission operation, but also had a degree of oversight over the churches they founded or worked with. However, this does not seem to have equated with authority over the beliefs of the church. The evangelists had influence, but could not make absolute judgements about which of the many ideas flying around were correct doctrine.

The upshot of this was a lot of different ideas, a lot of argument, about what Christian belief was about and how it is shown. But also there are arguments about the organisation of the churches. Schüssler Fiorenza argues that many of the house churches met in the houses of wealthy women who, as they came from the wealthier strata of society had an expectation of control over church activities and money. That was the way the Graeco-Roman society worked, after all.

The problem was that Graeco-Roman society was also patriarchal. Certainly, the higher up the echelons of society you went, the more control the male of the family was expected to have as the head. Thus the egalitarian strand of Christianity, which gave equal status to slaves and even women, was a problem, especially for the more settled churches in the Greek cities of Asia Minor. They were, by their existence and teaching, undermining society.

Hence, the suggestion is, that the second strand became more dominant. Settled Christianity started to write women out of the church, at least as leaders and participants in the Gospel stories. While this could not be done completely, as, for example, all the Gospels have Mary being the first witness of the Resurrection, it could be done to a greater or lesser extent. Further, some of the later letters in the New Testament propagate ‘household codes’ telling members of households, husbands, wives, children and slaves, how to behave. In these the patriarchal order of the household, and hence the church, starts to be reasserted. This is, of course, a process, and did not happen overnight. There are reports of women functioning as deacons from quite late on in the development of the church, and women who were hosting and funding house churches and their activities could not be entirely removed from the picture and ignored.

Eventually the patriarchal viewpoint became established. Priests were male, and women were secondary. But, Schüssler Fiorenza argues, this is not how the set up had to be, nor was it how Jesus and Paul expected their followers to behave. There are, of course, passages in the Pauline corpus which indicate the subservience of women to men, but these, of course, can be explained by the two strand model Schüssler Fiorenza proposes. There is, she suggests, sufficient evidence for the early equality of women in both the settled churches and as missionary teachers.

One of the things that became clear to me while reading the book was that there was a great deal of discussion and debate flying around in Christian circles, as the mission got going and churches were founded, as to precisely what they believed, how they believed it, what difference it made in their lives and how they were to organise and sustain the churches.

Reading, say, the letters of Paul against this context, rather than as statements of doctrinal truth, gives a different perspective on the New Testament documents in question. As contributions to debates over, for example, whether Christians were to divorce non-believing spouses (1 Corinthians 7) Paul’s comments are given a different dimension. Those married to Christian partners should not separate, and, indeed, should continue to have sex. Those married to non-Christian partners should also not divorce unless the partner insists, but this is Paul’s opinion (‘I and not the Lord’ 1 Cor 7:12) and contribution to the debate, not a definitive answer.

The book is not, except in its introduction to the second edition and epilogue, particularly polemic. It is a detailed study of New Testament texts, early church documents and the context of the early church in its Graeco-Roman environment (not forgetting the Jewish heritage, as well). The question of us today is, of course, what do we do about it. The classic response is to ignore the arguments, models and hermeneutics discussed, but that, while apparently widespread, will not really do. Perhaps the most honest response by those of us who have neither the background or scholarship to respond directly would be to consider what to do about it in our church lives and in our day to day theology. If we are to treat everyone as equals, in accordance with the early baptismal statement recorded by Paul in Galatian 3:28, what difference would it make?