Romans 12:1 - I beseech you therefore, sisters, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Read this verse out loud, as it's written. Does it shock you? What kind of images come to mind?
During a lecture in my Women class today, my professor, wonderful Dr. Sakenfeld, read this passage: "I beseech you therefore..." half of the people in class were mouthing the words as she read this familiar passage. As she paused, our lips silently filled in the word that we expected, "brethren." Then she continued, "...sisters..."
I was struck dumb. As she spoke the part about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, my mind immediately leapt to sexual images. When I hear the text with the word "sister," my mind moves to images of women "giving themselves" to men for the sexual gratification of the man. Hearing the same text with the word "brethren," I think of a life of piety, lived for God, not for myself.
What does this say about me? What does this say about our culture? Why is it that I immediately associate sexuality and sacrifice in a female context? Did the resetting of this familiar text take anyone else by surprise?
After thinking about the way language affects our thoughts and actions for many years, the reality that just changing language is not enough was brought home to me more profoundly in the reading of that one text than in all the study I've done since college...
3 comments:
I am also a little struck by this reading, but I actually smile, because I somehow think of nuns or my sisters (who are women walking with the Lord). The feminine image is not so much of sacrifice (i.e. "I beat my body and make my slave") but I see a multitude of women walking together and serving humanity. Of course, I would love an image of men and women walking together with their eyes on Christ, but that is one that is hard for me to visualize for the very reason that you mention-women are objectified (sexual creatures) and I think that the church has perpetrated that image. But, I actually like the "sister" imagery!
I like that I was struck by this text. It's beautiful to consider what it means when I change a single word and, finally, feel included when I didn't even realize I felt excluded.
Interesting that the masculine imagery inspires violent imagery for you, while the feminine inspires servant imagery...
Yes, I have men issues. I'm not sure why violence is necessarily associated more with men...except that men start wars. I've never been in a physically violent relationship with a man (emotional turmoil is a whole other issue).
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