I was minding my own business watching Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
I decided to do a spot of research on Jessica Alba who plays Sue Storm otherwise known as the Invisible Girl. In doing extensive research (I only read the Wikipedia page), I came across a part that said that in her personal life she had been brought up a Catholic but rejected it because of the values on pre-marital sex and homosexuality. Now on these points I can understand that if you look at culture and look the standards of biblical sexuality then you’re unlikely to find what the Bible says appealing. But hey that’s humanity’s loss.
The part that really irked me, however, was that she rejected the faith because of the lack of strong female role models in the Bible.
I acknowledge that throughout history men have used the Bible to reinforce oppressive patriarchy. That is inescapable. Even today a few conveniently selected verses and episodes are taken out of context and abused to promote a culture that denies the fullness of humanity in the female form. That is something for which those men and those cultures will be held accountable by the Almighty who created male and female in His image.
What is also sloppy in the extreme is to come away from looking at the general sweep of the sixty six books of the Bible and reach the conclusion that there are no strong women role models there.
Eve may have been deceived, but she wasn’t weak. Sarah wasn’t weak. Hagar wasn’t weak. Rebecca wasn’t weak. Rachel and Leah sure as sugar wasn’t weak. That’s not even all the women in Genesis! Do I need to go on?
Sure, the culture and some parts of church history has a lot to answer for, but it is the height of laziness to besmirch characters from Deborah to Esther to Priscilla whose contributions to the Jewish story and to the development of the church are pivotal. To suggest that these were not strong women is just wrong. They are just a sample.
The challenge is to find examples of weak female role models in biblical narrative. Victimised women are there, sure, but they are not weaker than the victimised men in the Bible. Abused and mistreated women are in the Bible but that highlights the depravity of humanity. That’s not a strength, that’s a grotesque weakness.
People will do what they want to do. People will believe what they want to believe. I acknowledge that, I accept that. I even accept the fact that people will do this either in pure ignorance or a desire to use a piece of dirt to rule out the entire wardrobe when it comes to faith. What I suggest, however, is to go beyond traditions and move towards looking at the stories as they present themselves in scripture.
I don’t expect that to sway the likes of Ms Alba, but if she could consider it, that would be fantastic.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 