Women and Livelihoods in 1st Century Palestine: Exploring Possibilities

Abstract

As the feminist ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ has helped to discover more about the nature and possibilities of women in Biblical times so livelihood studies in developing countries have helped to unpack the role of women at the household level. Based on the assumption of recognised similarities of certain features of peasant society over time this article draws on longitudinal studies of women in households in Malawi. It takes observations from ‘livelihood ladders’ and discusses the possible relevance to women in 1st Century Palestine. From this emerges a fascinating picture which points to the possibility that women were more involved and important to the livelihoods process than known sources suggest.

Keywords

Women 1st Century Palestine livelihoods peasant society Early Jesus Movement

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