Men, Spirituality, and Gender-Specific Biblical Hermeneutics

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-90-429-3916-5
Verlag: PEETERS PUB

Buch, Englisch, Band 78, 137 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 227 g

Reihe: Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia

With the rise of feminism, issues of gender have become more important

in many walks of life, but the specific problems and challenges faced by

men have not attracted much scholarly interest in theology. This book

looks at the challenges for men as described in popular and academic

publications. Masculinity is understood as the open, performative, and

transformative self-project of the individual person. As many

contemporary men suffer from pathologies – loneliness, emotional

repression, addiction, depression, alienation from self and others –

that are often rooted in misguided masculinity codes that emphasize

self-sufficiency, aggressiveness, and competition, they need to free

themselves from such self-expectations and turn towards a spirituality

of healing and flourishing.

The reading of biblical texts can help them. Critical reading and group

discussion of biblical stories allow men to examine and address

fundamental questions about their own identity. To help men benefit from

scriptural narratives, the author proposes a new method of biblical

interpretation: Readers of biblical texts should pay careful attention

to ideology, to the interests that have shaped the text, and to how the

text can influence the reader today. Secondly, readers should scrutinize

the text for its vision of the future and for messages of hope. Finally,

readers should look in the text for instances of, and invitations to,

personal change and transformation.

The author critically reviews a small selection of men-specific readings

of biblical texts by biblical scholars and demonstrates how biblical

exegesis can yield new insights by taking on board the key elements of a

gender-specific biblical hermeneutics for men.

This book adds to the tools of modern Biblical exegesis the lens of

gender-specific reading strategies for working-age men. Situated in the

borderlands of biblical and practical theology, it provides fresh

impetus both to exegesis and to the pastoral care of men.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kummer, A. M.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Feministische Theologie, Gender Studies