The Bible and Patriarchy in Traditional Tribal Society: Re-reading the Bibles Creation Stories

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Chingboi Guite Phaipi examines how biblical texts reinforced female subjugation in Northeast Indian tribal societies after tribes had accepted Christianity in the early 20th century. Phaipi shows how most tribal groups reinforced womens subordinate status by invoking newly authoritative biblical texts such as the creation stories in Genesis 1, 2 and 3. Phaipi studies the creation stories in Genesis to offer broader readings for Christian tribal communities that are communal, traditional, and struggling to retain their women and girls, particularly those who are educated. This volume recognizes and respects tradition, traditional communities, and the enduring witness of faithful lives in tribal communities at the same time as offering ways forward with respect to unworthy cultural practices and preferences that have been legitimised by the Bible. This book offers a contextually sensitive and scholarly reading of the Bible, with particular attention to the ways patriarchal norms in biblical narratives are perpetuated, rather than considered and reformed.

Reviews

As a Northeast Indian tribal Christian analyzing biblical perspectives on gender, Chingboi Guite provides us with a fresh voice that expands our understanding of the intersection between the Bible and culture. Drawing on her traditional tribal culture, on the introduction of colonialism and Christianity, on contemporary methods of biblical scholarship, and on her own personal experience in India and in the United States in immigrant and non-immigrant churches, Dr. Guite charts a biblically informed path forward for women within her own emerging Christian context. * Theodore Hiebert, Professor Emeritus, McCormick Theological Seminary, USA *
A scholarly distinctive book reflecting on the sensitive yet crucial nature of how culture and biblical texts coalesce in the modern Christian tribal society of North East India. The experiences she faced as a woman and a mother from Paite patriarchal tribal society, and living abroad as an immigrant encountering American values and culture, makes Chingboi Guite Phaipi question the ways in which biblical texts are used as a stamp to validate patriarchal practices and female subjugation. Her suggestion to avoid eisegesis and the need to reread and reinterpret biblical narratives through a gender neutral eye is quite alluring. * S. Thianlalmuan Ngaihte, Chanambam Ibomcha College, affiliated to Manipur University, India *

Author Bio

Chingboi Guite Phaipi teaches Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary, USA.