The women at the tomb: What are they doing there?

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.

Name Recall in the Synoptic Gospels

“…4.219) caused the omission of their accounts until their 'explosion' into the public kerygma through the Gospels. 83 Osiek's suggestion that they are very old is confirmed by Martin's syntactical analysis of the pericopes in which these women are named. 84 The retention of specificeven variantlists of names may suggest that these women continued to function individually, as witnesses of their experiences during intervening years.…”

Die 'evangelie' van Paulus

“…Dit lyk asof die klaarblyklik outentieke tradisie dat Jesus ook aan Maria Magdalena verskyn het -kyk Markus 16:1, 9; Matteus 28:1; Lukas 24:10; Johannes 20:1; Evangelie van Petrus 12:50; Epistula Apostolorum 9 (kykOsiek [1993Osiek [ ] 2001) -nie aan Paulus oorgelewer is nie; wel die tradisie dat die opgestane Jesus spesifiek aan sy broer Jakobus verkyn het -'n tradisie wat ons ook vanuit die Evangelie van die Hebreërs [fragment 7] ken, maar nie op grond van die kanonieke evangelies nie (kyk Painter 1997:81).8 Die apokaliptiese en versoeningsinterpretasie van die dood van Jesus as 'n offerdood wat vir (u9 pe/ r) ander plaasgevind het, het miskien in die kultus van die na-Pase kring van die eerste Jesusgroep in Jerusalem op grond van Ou-Testamentiese invloed ontstaan. Markus (10:45) en Paulus (1 Kor 6:20; 7:22; Gal 3:13; Rom 4:24-25) ken hierdie interpretasie, maar die ander Sinoptiese Evangelies en die Johannesevangelie het nie hierdie tradisie oorgeneem nie.…”