Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus

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.

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.

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