Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza

Reframing Ideas about Feminist Theory and Theology for the 21st Century In Congress of Wo/men: Religion, Gender, and Kyriarchal Power, leading feminist scholar Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza challenges the tendency in feminist theory to leave behind religion--a space of struggle, resistance, and social transformation--as a place for feminist politics. She also confronts the tendency of religious feminists to view women as if they are all the same, or to limit them to complementary roles with men. Presenting an alternative vision for global justice within the landscape of neoliberal kyriarchy, Schussler Fiorenza calls upon religious and non-religious feminists to engage in transformation through struggle, friendship, and community. Further, this groundbreaking book's final chapter opens up the discussion for future feminist work, drawing the reader into an imagined community of feminist readers with whom the reader can agree or disagree, but nevertheless struggle alongside to imagine a more just world.

Reframing Ideas about Feminist Theory and Theology for the 21st Century In Congress of Wo/men: Religion, Gender, and Kyriarchal Power, leading feminist scholar Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza challenges the tendency in feminist theory to leave behind religion--a space of struggle, resistance, and social transformation--as a place for feminist politics. She also confronts the tendency of religious feminists to view women as if they are all the same, or to limit them to complementary roles with men. Presenting an alternative vision for global justice within the landscape of neoliberal kyriarchy, Schussler Fiorenza calls upon religious and non-religious feminists to engage in transformation through struggle, friendship, and community. Further, this groundbreaking book's final chapter opens up the discussion for future feminist work, drawing the reader into an imagined community of feminist readers with whom the reader can agree or disagree, but nevertheless struggle alongside to imagine a more just world.

Ephesians is a “mystery” text that seeks to make known the multifarious Wisdom of G*d. At its heart is the question of power. In this commentary, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza examines the political understandings of ekkl­esia and household in Ephesians as well as the roles that such understandings have played in the formation of early Christian communities and that still shape such communities today. By paying close attention to the function of androcentric biblical language within Ephesians, Schüssler Fiorenza engages in a critical feminist emancipatory approach to biblical interpretation that calls for conscientization and change, that is, for the sake of wo/men’s salvation or wellbeing.

The New Testament writing known as First Peter was probably written at the end of the 1st century CE; it is addressed to ‘resident aliens’ who live as colonial subjects in the Roman Province of Asia Minor. They are portrayed as a marginalized group who experience harassment and suffering. This letter is ascribed to the apostle Peter but was probably not written by him. It is a rhetorical communication sent from Christians in the imperial centre in Rome (camouflaged as Babylon), an authoritative letter of advice and admonition to good conduct and subordination in the sphere of colonial provincial life. 1 Peter is a religious document written a long time ago and in a culture and world that is quite different from our own. However, as a biblical book it is a part of Christianity’s sacred Scriptures. This guide to the letter keeps both of these areas, the cultural-social and the ethical-religious, in mind. It offers help for understanding the letter as both a document of the 1st century and as sacred Scripture that speaks about the religious forces that have shaped Christianity and Western culture. In short, this guide seeks to enable readers to read ‘against the grain’.

In Jesus: Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza makes a unique contribution to two quite different discussions of Jesus the Christ. On the one hand, she looks at biblical christology from a critical feminist perspective in the tradition of liberation theology. On the other, she examines the feasibility of a feminine christology by considering such problems as Christian anti-Judaism, ideological justification of domination, religious exclusivism and the formation of patriarchal identity. Re-imagining the Jesus movement in a feminist key transcends the boundaries set by history, gender and doctrine. By assessing various Jesus traditions and interpretations in terms of whether they can engender liberating visions for today, Schüssler Fiorenza seeks to challenge and transform a Christianity dominated by masculinity and exclusivist theological frameworks so that it offers a vision of justice and well-being for all, the central image in which is the reign, the coming world, of God. This Cornerstones edition features a new extended introduction which takes into account the developments in the field since the work was originally published in 1994.

With Empowering Memory and Movement, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza completes a three-volume look across her influential work and career. In Transforming Vision (2011), she drew from decades of pioneering scholarship to offer the contours of a critical feminist hermeneutic. The chapters in Changing Horizons (2013) sketched out a theory of liberation. Now, the consequences for a liberating praxis are elaborated in interviews and essays that chart Schussler Fiorenza's own personal and professional history as these are intertwined with the history of the worldwide movement for emancipation and full equality. Empowering Memory and Movement looks back, but also looks around at challenges and potentialities on the global scene, and looks ahead to an emancipatory future, with a critical and wise engagement with scripture and the interpretive tradition always at the center.

Drawing from a career of pioneering scholarship, Schussler Fiorenza situates the critical feminist theory that has characterized her work in the praxis of liberation. These pathbreaking essays challenge academic and ecclesiastical theologians to embrace critical theory and the analysis of overlapping oppressions in their work. Transforming Vision seeks to free theology from the disciplinary constraints that allow acquiescence to and perpetuation of oppression.

Me acerco al tema Poder, g nero, diversidad y religi n no simplemente en t rminos de los estudios acad micos de g nero o de mu/jeres, sino en t rminos de una teor a pol tica feminista y una teolog a de la liberaci n. Una teolog a de la liberaci n feminista y cr tica busca interactuar con el an lisis te rico de g nero, y tambi n analizar la intersecci n de las m ltiples estructuras de opresi n que constituyen las estructuras kyriarcales de dominaci n. Tal intersecci n tiene tanto efectos personales como pol ticos.

Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives that exist both in the Bible and in our contexts, Fiorenza argues, we must become aware of the pitfalls of one-dimensional thinking that seeks to use the Bible to find definite answers and to exclude different understandings.

What is the purpose of reading the Bible? Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza tackles the tough question of the Bible's role in the world today and how its vision can further a more just world. She shows particularly the radical power of the Word to challenge imperial ways, the humiliation of persons, and the use of religion itself to keep people down, today as then. Finally, she offers an understanding of the implications of such a program for the field and practice of biblical studies, an indispensable partner in challenging the status quo.

This leading feminist theologian offers an exciting introduction to a most creative field of biblical interpretation which the author says is best understood as the search for Divine Wisdom. She offers a review of the art that is not merely informative, but liberating. Challenging mainstream hermeneutic strategies she empowers us to think critically and enter creatively into a life-transforming journey.

This work seeks to interpret the rhetorics and politics of meaning which have compelled the proliferation of books and articles about the historical Jesus.

In this major study, leading feminist biblical critic Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza focuses on Paul and his interpreters. She questions the apolitical ethos of biblical scholarship and argues for an alternative rooted in a critical understanding of language as a form of power. Modern biblical criticism, she reasons, derives much of its methodology and inspiration from an outdated notion of modern science. It professes value-neutrality and detachment from the world of politics and history. Yet, Schussler Fiorenza maintains, this posture belies an objectivity that fails to engage the sociopolitical context of both the text and today's reader. It also does not recognize the rhetorical character of biblical texts and readings. If language is understood in the sense of ancient rhetorics as a form of power that constitutes reality, then an ethics of interpretation is called for. The task of biblical studies is to identify and assess the ethical resources and moral visions of biblical religions. "Only then," Schussler Fiorenza contends, "will bibical studies be a significant partner in the global struggles seeking justice and well-being for all."

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza's pioneering and widely acclaimed volume, now reissued with a new Preface and Epilogue, has served to reorient interpretations of this controversial book. Rather than finding an individual Christian vision of a fiery endtime, Schussler Fiorenza writes of Christian communities living in the shadow of imperial power, fearing denunciation by their neighbors, yet envisioning the eventual effect of Jesus Christ's resurrection and enthronement on the whole social order. In Schussler Fiorenza's theological-historical analyses, the Book of Revelation is a literary product of early Christian prophecy, and her interpretation leads to distinctive notions of the book's composition, social intent, relation to the Gospel of John, and visionary rhetoric of apocalypse and justice.

How can recent advances in biblical studies empower feminist struggles and inspire all Christians to articulate a vision that promotes human dignity, justice, inclusivity and well-being for all? In this book, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza develops her insights into the study of the Bible. She reclaims the work of nineteenth and early twentieth-century feminist biblical interpreters. And she analyses several intriguing biblical passages to show how the Bible can contribute to the spiritual struggle for a more just world.Praise for Sharing Her Word:"A fresh yet seasoned stock taking of feminist Biblical hermeneutics by one of the leading figures in this field." - Old Testament Essays, 2000

Recognized as a landmark in biblical literature, this paperback volume is the work of women scholars from around the world under the leadership of Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza. They look at the scriptures with ""different eyes,"" and offer knowledge and insight that are timely as well as timeless.

More than ten years after it was first published, this book is as important and influential as when it first appeared. By way of celebration, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza has written a new introduction, surveying responses and developments over recent years and the issues which arise from them, and commenting on her own intentions. This gives added value to what is already a classic.