Women and Marriage in Paul and His Early Interpreters

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A comparative study of the treatment of women and marriage in 1 Corinthians, the deutero-Pauline letters and selected Nag Hammadi texts, in the light of neo-pragmatist theory and Michael Williams' work on 'Gnosticism'. Beattie undertakes a comparative survey of the treatment of women and marriage in three different kinds of text: an authentic Pauline letter (namely 1 Corinthians); the deutero-Pauline literature (Colossians, Ephesians and the Pastoral Epistles); and some tractates from the Nag Hammadi library (giving particular attention to the Gospel of Philip, the Exegesis on the Soul, the Hypostasis of the Archons and the Gospel of Thomas). The theoretical position she takes is based upon the neo-pragmatist thought of Richard Rorty and Stanley Fish, the former's notions of 'contingency' and 'redescription' being of particular importance. The aim of this book is twofold: to draw attention to the contingency (that is to say, the situatedness and vested interests) attendant on all acts of interpretation; and to engage in a redescription of the category of 'gnosticism' to which the Nag Hammadi texts have traditionally been assigned, and thus also of the canonical texts as seen in relation to them. It is not the intention to suggest in a simplistic fashion that the Nag Hammadi texts should somehow displace the canonical documents as the 'correct' reading of Paul, but rather to show that texts can be read in ways as diverse and numerous as the goals of their interpreters. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplements Vol 296

Reviews

"Beattie's discussion of the Nag Hamadi Texts will interest scholarly colleagues...A quote from Richard Rorty...sums up Beattie's goal: Reading texts is a matter of reading them in the light of other texts, people, obsessions, bits of information, or what have you and seeing what happens' (160). In short, her focus on the importance of context and the vital role played by the presuppositions and interests of individuals and communities in both the writing and reading of texts has ongoing value not only for the scholarly reader, but more particularly, for the non-specialist." - J. Dorcas Gordon, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall 2008 -- J. Dorcas Gordon
"A book with original insights." - International Review of Biblical Studies -- Internatioanl review of Biblical Studies * Intl. Review of Biblical Studies *

Author Bio

Dr Gillian Beattie is a graduate of the University of St. Andrews and Princeton Theological Seminary. She received her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2003.