Women in Their Place - (Library of New Testament Studies) by Jorunn ØKland (Paperback)

About the Book

Women in Their Place examines 1 Corinthians 11-14 within the larger context of gender models and sanctuary spaces by relating exegesis to space, gender and discourse theories, to comparative archeological and historical material, and to ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultural and cultic practices. It establishes a distinction between private, public and sacred/sanctuary space and argues that, in much of 1 Corinthians, Paul is concerned with the marking of firm boundaries around the sanctuary space established by rituals in the eklesia, which would effectively gender the church as a male space.

Book Synopsis

In Women in Their Place Jorunn Økland takes the archaeological remains at Corinth as a starting point from which to develop an interdisciplinary, theoretically informed reading of Paul's utterances on women in 1 Corinthians 11-14. In this section of the letter Paul deals with the ritual gatherings and describes the ekklesia as a of ritual space distinct from domestic space.

Økland assesses the text within a larger context of four different gender models found in temple architecture, rituals and literary texts. Whilst Paul's teaching in the letter effectively engendered 'church' as male space, his use of a variety of gender models left early Christian women with many other notions of ritual space to explore.

Review Quotes

""This is a very important book that should have a significant impact on Pauline scholarship" Peter Oakes, SOTS Booklist 2007" --Peter Oakes

"'Women in Their Place is a much longer book, based on a doctoral thesis, and therefore a great deal more elaborate intellectually, inclined to leave no stone unturned, no avenue unexplored.' Revd Leslie Houlden, Church Times, 14 July 2006" --Leslie Houlden, Church Times

""Økland offers an often refreshing and useful analysis of not only Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, but also a wider set of texts that reflect and construct an ancient discourse of gender and sanctuary space. Økland's book has much to recommend a careful reading...the study is strongly recommended for scholars in a wide range of fields (Pauline studies, feminist interpretation, and Roman era material culture, among others). Økland's work could prove to be foundational for a renewed engagement with these texts and ancient gender discourse broadly conceived. It marks a step forward in the effective integration of a variety of approaches and materials, while demonstrating the explanatory potential of just such an integration." - RBL, September 2005" --Review of Biblical Literature

About the Author

Jorunn Okland, professor of Gender Studies in the Humanities, Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo (formerly Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield). Author of "Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Gender and Sanctuary Space "(2004).