New Era Newspaper

New Era Epaper
Icon Collap
...
Home / Opinion - Biblical characters of ‘questionable virtue’ afford real world parallels

Opinion - Biblical characters of ‘questionable virtue’ afford real world parallels

2021-06-04  Reverend Jan Scholtz

Opinion - Biblical characters of ‘questionable virtue’ afford real world parallels

Barbara J.Essex’s fascination with the very human side of biblical characters has found its voice in her latest work, “More Bad Girls of the Bible”. This book is the most recent expression in her series of the books, including the best-selling “Bad Girls of the Bible,” which explores the “questionable virtue” of biblical personalities.

As in her other volumes, Essex attempts to give a fuller treatment of both the positive and negative aspects of these characters. She is well aware of traditional interpretations given to these stories. In some cases, the lack of theological attention given to lesser–known women is also telling for her.

Against this backdrop of dogma and exclusion, Essex coaxes out the important social and historic details that open up a deeper understanding of these characters.  This is no attempt on Essex’s part at rewriting the biblical narrative; she allows each story to retain its original context. Essex admits in her introduction that this approach may be challenging for some: “We might be reluctant to analyse closely the biblical women for fear that we will offend God…Critical study should deepen, broaden and expand our faith as we learn more about who these characters were and what they can teach us.”

Though clearly looking to “liberate “the included characters from the history of interpretation that is skewed by centuries of patriarchy, it would be unfair to characterise Essex’s work as simply feminist or womanist. True, a liberation-based methodology has informed this work, but it would be unfair to label “More Bad Girls of the Bible” as merely a product of this school of thought. Yet, it would be a grave oversight not to see that the perspective presented by the (presumably all male) writers of the Bible have biases towards telling the stories of men, especially those who were deemed the “winners”. What is amazing about the biblical narrative is that the failings of many of its dearest characters are equally exposed for us to see as well.  But the history of theology has largely ignored these flaws, leading to an incomplete picture of biblical personalities.

Essex’s other books, including “Bad Boys of the Bible” and “Misbehaving Monarchs”, have filled this void by demonstrating a consistent commitment to expanding readers’ viewpoints beyond long-entrenched opinions – freeing them to see the parallels in their spiritual pursuits and real-life struggles.  Therefore, when Essex delves into the story of Bathsheba and David, she is not afraid to ask hard questions. Was Bathsheba the victim of rape? Was she powerless to resist the king? Did David’s request for her come to him contain an implicit threat against her family if she refused? (As the rest of the strong tells, he was certainly capable of killing someone to get his way).

In opening up the narrative to these possibilities, Essex allows readers to place themselves and their experiences into the story. Rather than seeing Bethsheba as an unrelenting temptress or David as a sex-crazed seducer, these characters are placed into a real-world context, where abuses of power are used to gain sexual, political and personal favours. Her reading of the remaining stories in “More Bad Girls of the Bible” affords similar opportunities for personal and corporate reflection. In addition to Bathsheba, Essex focuses on Hagar, Shiphrah and Puah, Miriam, Zipporah, Rizpah, Huldah, a “crippled” woman, the Syrophoenician woman, Mary and Martha, the Samaritan woman at the well, as well as Mary Magdalene.

Each chapter concludes with a series of individual or group study questions, some scriptural and theological, others more personal. When discussing Miriam’s jealously regarding her brother, Moses’ power, Essex, asks: “Do you ever feel that your gifts and contributions to church and society are undervalued and unrecognised? How do you handle those feelings?” – certainly a struggle we have all encountered.

In summary, we are blessed to have sacred texts that give us pictures of real people who were not one-dimensional…. We see the good, the bad and the ugly – the Bible does not present perfect people. The biblical record is filled with the faithful acts of imperfect people. Maybe that is why Essex’s books are so popular. They give us hope that something great will be made out of our imperfection.


2021-06-04  Reverend Jan Scholtz

Share on social media