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Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus: Women in Q

Publisher:
, 2019
ISBN: 9781978701991
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Examining the hypothetical earliest layer of Jesus’ sayings known as Q, Sara Parks argues that Jesus deliberately crafted parabolic teachings regarding the basileia of God to appeal to both male and female adherents. For a century after Q, vestiges of gender-paired teachings popped up in multiple independent texts related to Jesus, from Mark to Paul to the Synoptics and John—making it more likely that this inclusion of women originated with Jesus himself. In Gender and the Rhetoric of Jesus, Parks engages the divided scholarship on the meaning of gendered pairs for an evaluation of the gender politics of Q, arguing that even though Q’s peculiar rhetoric of gender equality was an innovation, it was also a product of its time, as evidenced in other contemporaneous texts which struggled with ambiguous equalities, from Philo to Musonius Rufus to Joseph and Aseneth. In addition, she shows that Jesus’ rhetoric of gender, as remembered in Q constitutes some of the earliest evidence for the study of first-century Jewish women, and women in Christian origins.

1/8/2020 - The ReligionProf podcast featured author Dr. Sara Parks in an episode entitled "

ReligionProf Podcast with Sara Parks

." An accompanying blog post appeared on Patheos.com. Link: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2020/01/religionprof-podcast-with-sara-parks.html

Chapter 1: Methods and Mapping

Chapter 2: Q and the Q People

Chapter 3: What are They Saying about the Gendered Pairs in Q?

Chapter 4: Gendered Pairs in Q: Taxonomy and Analysis

Chapter 5: Were There Gendered Parable Pairs before Jesus?

Chapter 6: Gender Pairs in Contemporaneous and Later Texts

Chapter 7: Conclusions and Next Directions

Appendix: The Q Gender Pairs in English

Sara Parks' book Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus, should be read by anyone interested in the historical Jesus, or Q, or the earliest Jesus movements, as well as anyone interested in gender in ancient religion. Let the conversation continue!!

Sara Parks’s monograph is an excellent discussion of the 12 gender-pairs in Jesus’ parables in Q. . . . Parks does an admirable job in making a highly complex and nuanced topic clear and accessible, even to undergraduate-level students. Indeed, some of the chapters would serve extremely well as readings for students. At the same time Parks’s analysis of these pairs is never simplistic or reductive; she tackles head-on issues such as supersessionism, feminist readings, patriarchal society and – surprisingly for a book on Q – even the existence and nature of Q. In my eyes, the most useful (and possibly surprising) part of the book, for many scholars of early Christianity, will be the analysis of what the pairs do and do not imply for gender equality in the Jesus movement and how this reflects broader changes in the status of women in the first-century context.

There is an ethical challenge posed by this book, and Reinhartz returns to it in the final pages: “Should we not resist any rhetorical program,” she writes, “that vilifies the ‘other’ in order to construct the ‘self’?” (163). Important words, especially in the present global political climate. As a Jewish scholar of these early Jewish and Christian texts, she does not pronounce directly on the ethical consequences of seeing John as scripture. “The task of whether or how to integrate this view with Christian faith I must leave to others,” she writes (165). But that this task is important, she leaves no doubt. “Are we our best selves as we follow the story and worldview of this or that implied author?” she asks in an opinion piece about the book on the popular blogsite Ancient Jew Review.12 Should there be any question about a way forward, the reader is returned, in Reinhartz’s conclusion, to the lived example of Gregory Baum. One cannot help but conclude that she is giving words to her initial dedication: may his memory “be a blessing” (xi).

In this compelling monograph, Sara Parks combines two scholarly interests that have not been brought together before: studies of Q, a hypothetical source that explains the material shared by the Gospel of Matthew and Luke, and studies of the historical Jesus’ relationship to women.... Throughout this book, Parks offers a nuanced analysis of the parallel gender pairs in Q. By demonstrating the uniqueness of these gender paired sayings, Parks draws thoughtful conclusions about their function within the broader context of Q. The pairs demonstrate that men and women are equal with regard to their spiritual inclusion and eschatological agency, even as socially gendered roles are maintained. Parks’ work clarifies long-standing questions about what these sayings might mean for women in the Jesus movement, and provides an important contribution to the study of Q and the study of Jesus’ treatment of women.

Parks’ study of Q gender pairs provides a corrective to the earlier erroneous views that argues Luke is inclusive of women. It presents a case that gender equity weakened as Christianity moved away from Judaism to a more Romanized world. It acts as a corrective for scholarly views who interpret women’s inferior status in Judaism by referencing later Rabbinic writings. Consequently, this book raises many questions on both the Pastoral letters and the writings of many Church Fathers on the status and place of women. Therefore it makes a relevant contribution to the reconstruction of women’s status and position in the early Jesus’ movement. . . . Parks’ insight that the teachings of Jesus have been altered at a very early stage stands and correctly prompts the need for more research in this direction, and an important challenge for scholars to undertake further research on Jesus’ attitude towards women.

This book beckons its readers to reconsider the role of gender in the words of Jesus as attested in the rhetoric of Q. Dr. Sara Parks provides a taxonomy and analysis of rhetorical gender pairings in Q and by doing so reveals offers a fresh reconsideration of the historical Jesus. Gender roles in Q are treated with historical nuance and the fruit of her research is presented to her reader with cultural sensitivity without sacrificing integrity. . . this effort has furthered the study of the historical Jesus, Q, and gender in the New Testament, that needs to be digested by scholars in the aforementioned fields and anyone interested in the bible and gender studies. . . . Dr. Sara Parks has effectively and decisively revealed the value of women in the basilea of Christ––as attested in the rhetoric of Q and corroborated by the lack of corresponding gender pairings in its textual contemporaries––and in doing so has necessitated an ecumenical reconsideration of gender roles through her exceptional work Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus: Women in Q.

This is a highly focused and valuable study of Jesus’ attitudes toward women through an analysis of Jesus’ sayings found in the Q source (i.e., material found independently in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark). . . Parks carefully notes that we should not cast a twenty-first-century perspective on Jesus’ first-century world. These parallel sayings reflect typically gendered roles but also affirm that Jesus valued women as equal to men in their intellectual and spiritual capacities. This is an erudite and finely balanced study that makes a genuine contribution.

In this lucid and highly readable study, Sara Parks investigates the oldest recoverable body of Jesus' teaching and finds a deep and original commitment to male and female equality. This will be an important book for scholars of both women in earliest Christianity and the historical Jesus.

With breathtaking clarity and great political and theoretical sensitivity, Parks’s important study of women in Q both augments the conversation about the historical Jesus and has profound consequences for anyone interested in the role of women in early Christianity.

Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus engages in a careful reading of the gendered pairs in the Q source, mining the text for the earliest evidence of Jesus’ egalitarian attitudes and making sense of them firmly within their Jewish context. This feminist analysis refuses to let gendered rhetoric be a marginal feature of the Sayings Source Q. Anyone interested in Q as a reflection of the earliest ideas associated with Jesus or with gendered language in Second Temple Judaism needs to read this book.

Overall, the book approaches a little-known field and succeeds in giving us a picture of the time when Q was composed. The book, which aims to make the reader reconsider the role of women in the sayings of Jesus, achieves its purpose. Parks gives a fresh look at Q, the early movements, and the role of women regarding the Basileia. Therefore, it is an important contribution to the relevant

research and opens the doors for other scholars to deepen their studies in relevant objectives.

Throughout this book, Parks offers a nuanced analysis of the parallel gender pairs in Q. Parks’ work clarifies long-standing questions about what these sayings might mean for women in the Jesus movement, and provides an important contribution to the study of Q and the study of Jesus’ treatment of women.

Parks’s book is a Q study, a historical Jesus study, a study of gender categories in the New Testament and early Christianity, and a historical inquiry into an intersection of all of these. It is rigorous, thoroughly engaged with previous scholarship in all the overlapping disciplines, and contributes original insight. Problematizing previous scholarship when necessary and consistently nuancing her own methodology, Parks successfully steers clear of the trendy “burn down the house” approaches. As a result, she builds a bridge between this and the previous century to a new, exciting place. All future Q, historical Jesus, gender in antiquity, and canonical gospel studies will need to engage with this book.

Sara Parks is assistant professor in New Testament studies at the University of Nottingham.

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