The Friend at Midnight: A ‘realistic’ reading as a feminist tool

Verbum et Ecclesia

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The Friend at Midnight: A ‘realistic’ reading as a feminist tool
 
Creator du Toit, Charel D.
 
Subject Theology; Historical Jesus Studies; Biblical Sciences historical Jesus; 1st-century Mediterranean; feminism; social-scientific criticism; equality; realistic reading; women’s history; parables; Friend at Midnight; women
Description The voices of women have historically been muted in biblical texts from their ancient to more modern interpretations. This article will attempt to ‘unhide’ the voices of women in the Parable of the Friend at Midnight by using a combination of social-scientific criticism and a ‘realistic’ reading as a methodology to inform an understanding of how 1st-century Mediterranean audiences would have understood women to be present in the parable where modern audiences might not. In the 1st-century Mediterranean world, women were key figures in facilitating group hospitality values, the baking and supply of bread, and caring for children. These women, however, are not directly mentioned in the parable and often excluded in modern commentaries. This contribution aims to pave a way forward for modern New Testament commentaries to not only include but also focus on the roles and importance of women in the parable of the Friend at Midnight.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The interdisciplinary nature of this article contributes to the debate on the roles and importance of women in the church by investigating the value that women had in the parables of Jesus. By reading women as present in the text, emphasis is given to the voices of women in the Bible and the importance of their representation today.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-09-15
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Social-scientific criticism; realistic reading
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ve.v43i1.2633
 
Source Verbum et Ecclesia; Vol 43, No 1 (2022); 6 pages 2074-7705 1609-9982
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2633/5903 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2633/5904 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2633/5905 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2633/5906
 
Coverage First-century Mediterranean First century —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Charel D. du Toit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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