Abiding in the Fourth Gospel: A Case-Study in Feminist Biblical Theology

Abstract

From a hermeneutical perspective, the method of examining the prominence and status of women and female characters in a given text is an important but partial way of dealing with biblical texts. Feminist theology needs to recover a sense of “biblical theology” (despite the problems associated with that term), a theology that is sensitive to women's experience and theological reflection. The Johannine notion of “abiding” provides an example of such biblical theology. It is focused on the centrality of relationship, intimacy, and reciprocity, challenging Enlightenment individualism and subject-object bifurcation.