Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | September/2023 |
Spalte: | 888-890 |
Kategorie: | |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Alexander, Kimberly Ervin, Archer, Melissa L., Cartledge, Mark J. and Michael D. Palmer [Eds.] |
Titel/Untertitel: | Sisters, Mothers, Daughters. Pentecostal Perspectives on Violence against Women. |
Verlag: | Leiden u. a.: Brill 2022. XX, 271 S. = Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 43. Kart. EUR 55,00. ISBN 9789004513198. |
Rezensent: | Megan Bedford-Strohm |
Sisters, Mothers, Daughters is groundbreaking in that it is the first of its kind: a group of pentecostal scholars – from a range of different locations, disciplines, and ecclesial traditions – responding to violence against women in the form of an edited volume.
Inspired by the #metoo and #churchestoo movements, and noting the absence of pentecostal voices in the conversation, several scholars started using the hashtag #pentecostalsisterstoo and convened an open forum at the annual meeting for the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS) in March 2018 (257). There, women rose to share stories of abuse in their homes, churches and Pentecostal institutions, and experiences of discrimination in the church (257). This gathering gave the impetus for further reflection that was formalized into papers presented at the SPS conference in 2021 and is now being made accessible in this volume.
Pentecostalism is a rapidly growing and diverse movement that has swept across the globe, which is reflected well in the international and interdisciplinary makeup of the volume’s contributions. Systematic theology, practical theology, biblical hermeneutics, literary criticism, history, and sociology of religion are represented. The authors all come to the topic from a pneumatological or Pentecostal (broadly defined to include Pentecostals, Charismatics and Renewalists) perspective (IX).
This means that some of the authors, as insiders, offer connected critiques of Pentecostalism on its own complicity in violence against women; others show best practices, in terms of how Pentecostals have and can be part of the solution in practical ways; and still others draw on the rich resources within Pentecostal theology in attempts to both get back to its roots and map a better way forward (or all of the above).
That being said, the volume is relevant and useful far beyond Pentecostal circles. It should be required reading for church leaders, as well as lay people, who wish to see the world become a safer, more equitable place for women and girls, particularly within spaces which are supposed to be places of refuge – such as churches and homes – but far too often fall short of this calling.
Among the critical contributions of this volume is the identified disconnect between belief and practice. Central to the Pentecostal belief system is the idea of equality of all people in the Spirit. Pentecostals tend to be experts on the book of Acts, which features women apostles preaching, teaching and spreading the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. Multiple authors point to the dissonance between the founding narratives and beliefs of the Pentecostal movement, and the fact that, today, mens’ roles and voices are routinely favored over women’s in many Pentecostal churches. This is not inherent to Pentecostalism, but rather due to outside influences from other denominations and patriarchy in the surrounding culture. In Chapter 4, Linda M. Ambrose presents the thesis that this structural inequality, often supported by the teachings of Complimentarianism (a theological viewpoint which typically supports authoritative male headship and exists in conscious opposition to Egalitarianism), tends to perpetuate power imbalances between men and women that allow violence to go unchecked.
In Chapter 2, Lisa P. Stephenson provides chilling empirical examples from a wide range of Pentecostal contexts (South Africa, Australia, the US, the UK), in which women were fed harmful theology, by trusted church leaders or Christian family members, that encouraged them to stay in dangerous situations. Some women were urged to accept suffering in order to be Christ-like, or to pray for and forgive their abusers (even promptly and/or with no change in the abuser’s behavior), and were made to believe that this was what God desired for and of them. Stephensons goes on to consider how Christianity often idealizes certain virtues, for women in particular, that make them more vulnerable to victimhood, and when preached uncritically, they contribute to violence, or allow abuse to thrive. In some examples, the absence of seeing women in any meaningful leadership roles, or hearing women’s voices listen-ed to in church, also created environments where women did not feel safe or welcome to speak up in church about their experiences.
This can be seen as a sin of omission, of missed opportunities to mitigate suffering. Tanya Riches furthers this idea in Chapter 3, where she argues that it is not enough to have segregated spaces for women’s voices, but that churches need to »intentionally mainstream women’s voices and the issues that affect them« (49). She believes silence on topics such as violence against women, coupled with the regular preaching of submission, can increase »the power of abuses and the stigma for survivors« (55).
Several authors wrestle with the fact that Scripture itself contains troubling passages, famously termed «texts of terror« by Phyllis Trible, detailing violence against women. In Chapter 5, Casey S. Cole unpacks the violent story of the Levite’s Concubine in Judges 10, and proposes an »orthopathic hermeneutic,« in which the question is not »what will we do with the text?« but »what will we do with us?« (88). She suggests trusting our emotions when we read the text, such as outrage at injustice, and allowing that sense to propel us to action in our present reality.
Jacqueline N. Grey looks at Song of Songs in Chapter 6, and comments on the way that the woman-protagonist’s full personhood, including her feelings and desires, are included in the poem, which is rare in the Bible. At the same time, she asks why the woman is beaten for moving freely through the streets. Grey speaks to the need, on the one hand, to »disentangle the patriarchal culture of the Bible from its message« (118), as well as to look for the counter-cultural world, or the redemptive vision, in the text.
The volume also serves as a resource for more trauma-informed theology. In Chapter 1, Cheryl M. Peterson provides pneumatological resources for responding to the trauma that many survivors of abuse still live with. Drawing on Shelly Rambo, she writes about the ›spirit of the middle way‹ or the spirit who was present with the disciples on Holy Saturday. After the crucifixion (the traumatizing event) and before Resurrection Sunday (healing), there is a Spirit who witnesses, accompanies, and groans on behalf of those who find themselves in the painful period of waiting for a restoration to come. She also asks how the church can emulate, and act in, this Spirit by serving as a »middle space« for trauma survivors (14).
The authors and editors of Sisters, Mothers, Daughters have made a very important first step in reflecting on the pressing topic of violence against women from a Pentecostal perspective, and scholars will surely build on the foundation it has laid for contin-ued work in the future.