Amid the varieties of feminist interpretive methods in biblical scholarship, this article suggests a general typology of approaches: rejection of the claims of biblical authority; acceptance of those claims with critique of oppressive interpretations; revisionism, which holds to the possibility of reconstructing the lost experience of women in the texts; reliance on symbol and image of the feminine to convey meaning; and finally, the liberation critique of oppressive structures. An appreciation and critique is offered for each alternative.

Social-science study of the Bible is one of the most popular new methods of interpretation. Its rapid development poses certain problems regarding the proper and valid use of social-science models on material quite different from that for which the models were originally intended, representing silent majorities, and making the results available in a helpful format to researchers using other methods and to general inquirers.

Scholarship on patronage in the ancient Mediterranean world abounds but is not unanimous in its understanding of how the patronage system worked, how it was present in the pre-Roman Greek world, and what were the differences, if any, in how it functioned in the Roman West and East. Moreover, little is known about how the system worked among non-elites. In two of Paul's relationships, with Philemon and with Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2), we can see the informal patronage system at work among friends with common community ties.

No abstract

This article will explore the role and junction of the women in the empty tomb narratives of the Gospel tradition. What purpose do they play in the resurrection kerygma of the early church? Why is the story of their first arrival at the tomb so persistent that it continues into the later apocryphal gospels? The discussion of this question will be in three parts: part one will summarize some of the work on these passages that has been done by scholars using the tools of redaction criticism. Part two will examine some of the surrounding issues from the perspective of social history and social construction of meaning, especially with regard to women's subcultures, roles in burial customs, and public testimony. Part three will apply to these findings a feminist analysis using both a hermeneutic of suspicion and of remembrance.