Women and Jesus in Mark
A Japanese Feminist Perspective
Foreword by Letty M. Russell
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
From her unique position as a Japanese feminist theologian, Hisako Kinukawa provides readers with an intriguing new perspective on the encounters between women and Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. 'Women and Jesus in Mark' explores the meaning not only of those episodes in their context, but from the perspective of the author's own context as a contemporary Japanese Christian.
In the world of the New Testament, impenetrable walls of religion and culture separated the sexes and structured a rigidly patriarchal culture. As 'Women and Jesus in Mark' points out, then, the women who approached Jesus--the hemorrhaging woman, the Syrophoenician woman, the anointing woman, as well as those who followed him--risked severe sanction for what must have been considered scandalous behavior. Kinukawa asks how their encounters with Jesus--and especially his responses--reflect the central message of Mark. 'Women and Jesus in Mark' contends that it is the interaction of biblical women with Jesus that draws from him the most fully liberating implications of the gospel.
Hisako Kinukawa received her D.Min.degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary and now teaches at International Christian University, Lutheran Seminary and St. Paul graduate school. She is co-director of Center for Feminist Theology and Ministry in Japan.
"In the growing literature of feminist theology and hermeneutics from an Asian perspective, [this] is a welcome addition. Kinukawa demonstrates the creative insights on key Markian stories that arise from reading these familiar texts from the Japanese woman's perspective."
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
"A major contribution to Asian feminist biblical scholarship . . . I strongly recommend it to people interested in feminist theology, biblical interpretation, and cross-cultural studies."
Dr. Kwok Pui-lan, Episcopal Divinity School
"Here we see the remarkable exegetical fruits when an author grafts her agility in [ recent] Western interpretation on the roots in an Eastern shame-oriented, patriarchal society."
Antoinette Wire, Graduate Theological Union