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Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza | |
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.JPG) Schüssler-Fiorenza in 2008 | |
| Born | Elisabeth Schüssler (1938-04-17)April 17, 1938 (age 87) |
| Spouse | - d.2025 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Doctoral advisor | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Theology |
| School or tradition | |
| Institutions | |
| Notable works | In Memory of Her (1983) |
| Notable ideas | Kyriarchy |
| Website | projects |
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (born 1938) is a Romanian-bornGerman, Roman Catholic[1]feminist theologian, who is currently theKrister Stendahl Research Professor of Divinity atHarvard Divinity School.[2]
Elisabeth Schüssler was born on April 17, 1938, inCenad, a locality in theBanat region of theKingdom of Romania, where she belonged to theBanat Swabian German-speaking Catholic population of an ethnically mixed community. As the Russian army advanced through Romania in late 1944, she and her parents fled to southern Germany. They subsequently moved toFrankfurt, where she attended local schools. She then received herTheologicum (Licentiate of Sacred Theology) from theUniversity of Würzburg in 1963, herthesis published in German asDer vergessene Partner (The Forgotten Partner) in 1964. She subsequently earned aDoctor of Sacred Theology degree from theUniversity of Münster. In 1967 she marriedFrancis Schüssler Fiorenza, an American theologian who was studying in Germany. In 1970 they both secured teaching appointments at the CatholicUniversity of Notre Dame. While at Notre Dame, they had their daughter, Christina. Schüssler Fiorenza then taught at theEpiscopal Divinity School inCambridge, Massachusetts.[3]
In 1984 Schüssler Fiorenza, along with 96 other theologians and religious persons, signedA Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, calling forreligious pluralism and discussion within theCatholic Church regarding thechurch's position on abortion.[4] In 1995 the Faculty of Theology atUppsala University in Sweden awarded Schüssler Fiorenza anhonorary doctorate.[5]
Schüssler Fiorenza identifies as Catholic and her work is generally in the context of Christianity, although much of her work has broader applicability.
Schüssler Fiorenza subsequently became a co-founder of theJournal of Feminist Studies in Religion (of which she is still editor).[6] She was then appointed as the first Krister Stendahl Research Professor of Divinity atHarvard Divinity School. Her husband,Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, is Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at the same institution.
Schüssler Fiorenza has served on the board of editors ofConcilium and is a past associate editor of theCatholic Biblical Quarterly.[6] She was elected a member of theCatholic Biblical Association in 1971, was the first woman elected president of theSociety of Biblical Literature (1987), and was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.[6]
In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins is one of Schüssler Fiorenza's earliest and best-known books. This work, which argued for the retrieval of the overlooked contributions of women in the early Christian church, set a high standard for historical rigor in feminist theology. Additionally, she has published widely in journals and anthologies.
Schüssler Fiorenza has been credited for coining the wordkyriarchy in her bookBut She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation.
In the reconstruction ofearly Christianity inIn Memory of Her, Schüssler Fiorenza discussesSaint Paul at great length. She explores hisepistles as well as the narrative of his ministry in theActs of the Apostles. Some see the relationship betweenPaul the Apostle and women asmisogynistic, pointing to controversial passages about women's subordination, their necessary silence in church, and more. Schüssler Fiorenza rejects this notion and delves deeper into the stories to find the true Paul and his relationship with women.
She discusses the many encounters Paul has with women throughout thecanon and inapocryphal works, noting that throughout, Paul saw the women as equals both as people and in ministry. Particular attention is spent on theActs of Paul and Thecla, a story that, despite having Paul's name in the title, is primarily about the holiness and ministry of his extraordinary female companion.[7]
To home in on the source of this reconstruction of gender equality, Schüssler Fiorenza turns to one of Paul's core theological verses,Galatians 3:28: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Schüssler Fiorenza sees this statement as "a key expression . . . of the theological self-understanding of the Christian missionary movement which had far-reaching historical impact."[8] It also combatted theGnostic understanding that "becoming a disciple means for a woman becoming ‘male,’ ‘like man,’ and relinquishing her sexual powers of procreation, because the male principle stands for the heavenly, angelic, divine realm, whereas the female principle represents either human weakness or evil."[9] In Paul's Christian communities, women did not have to become like men to be holier; they simply had to follow Christ. From Schüssler Fiorenza's perspective, this declaration in Galatians is a confirmation of the legitimacy of, among other marginalized populations, women in ministry.
She also discusses thehousehold codes found inColossians 3:18–4:1 and1 Peter 2:11–3:12, as well as what can be pieced together fromEphesians. She asserts that the households and the "church" housed in them would have originally been spaces of gender equality but as Christianity grew and faced increased pressures to conform to theGreco-Roman culture, sexism would have started to creep in. Coequal roles in ministry, like the early office ofbishop, were considered to be "socially volatile [situations]."[10] This, combined with a desire to take church power out of the hands of wealthy women, led to the introduction of patriarchy to the Pauline church.
While the oft-quoted misogynistic restrictions and verses were a part of Paul's epistles in some form, Schüssler Fiorenza insists that they existed to help ease tensions between the fledgling church and the surrounding culture, as well as ward off the perception of being a cult. However, post-Pauline and pseudo-Pauline communities “[drew] out these restrictions in order to change the equality in Christ between women and men . . . into a relationship of subordination.”[11]
Schüssler Fiorenza's workBut She Said is both an expansion of her earlier works as well as a venture into developing feminist biblical interpretations. By this endeavor, Schüssler Fiorenza seeks to tend a feminist practice of interpreting biblical texts in ways that aid women's struggles for freedom and to create space for this re-seeing of biblical texts to occur.[12] Key to Schüssler Fiorenza's goal is the deconstruction of a limiting theology that dominates the landscape of biblical interpretation. More than merely naming the patriarchal disposition of traditional, limited biblical ideologies, she exposes their elitist, racist and classist nature, thus identifying them as kyriarchal (master-headed).[13] By pointing out the flaws of this limited perspective, she purposes that the kyriarchal biases of past interpreters may not be passed down into contemporary biblical discourse.[13] Schüssler Fiorenza furthers this purpose by engaging in conversations with feminist theories and the process of biblical interpretation. A key element of Schüssler Fiorenza's contribution to biblical interpretation from this book is the presentation of interpretation as a spiraling dance. Schüssler Fiorenza uses the analogy of a dance to portray her approach, including feminist strategies of biblical interpretation and rhetoric of liberation, since interpretation is not accomplished in a purely linear fashion but, rather, consists of strategies that must be repeated much like the steps of a dance.[13] Rejecting claims to objectivity and neutrality, Fiorenza's approach to biblical interpretation highlights the social and historical positions of both the reader and text, thus recognizing that all readings of texts, throughout history, are influenced by different perspectives and interests.[14]
In the latter section of her work, Schüssler Fiorenza articulates a vision for a community by which a feminist reading of the bible can take place. Thisekklesia of women should be upheld by radical equality and be a space by which feminist struggles for transforming societal and religious institutions can become realized.[15] As a theoretical and real community of biblical interpreters, the ekklesia[α] is a structure that pushes against interpretations that have led to domination. Theekklesia of women is a place marked by plurality, critical reflection and a commitment to liberation.[14][16]
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| Preceded by | President of theSociety of Biblical Literature 1987 | Succeeded by |
