[AJPS 6:1 (2003), pp. 3-21] FEMINIST HERMENEUTICS AND PENTECOSTAL SPIRITUALITY: THE CREATION NARRATIVE OF GENESIS AS A PARADIGM

It is a great privilege to have been asked to read a paper at this fourth annual meeting of the Asian Pentecostal Society. Gone are the days when women were confined to the kitchen and assigned to perform domestic chores. Also gone are the times when only men were trained for the ministry of the church. This changing scenario necessitates the reconsideration of the role of women in church and ministry. One of the biggest and most controversial questions in the interpretation of the Old Testament concerns the question of the position of women in the church and society. Therefore, women began to question their role and function in church and society assigned to them by men. The result has been a reexamination of many biblical passages and a dynamic process of interpreting the scriptures from a feminist perspective, which has questioned and challenged many of the traditional male interpretations of the text. The present influx of feminist materials itself shows how this topic has become important in biblical scholarship. For instance, in 1992, The Women’s Bible Commentary was published by 41 American feminist scholars, almost all of whom are on the faculties of prominent universities and hold doctoral degrees in biblical and related fields. However, the magnum opus, The Feminist Companion to the Bible (Sheffield Academic Press, UK, 1993-97), a ten-volume work provides a work of an international flavor. A second series to the Feminist