A few revealing, and sad, passages from Biblical Archaeology Review’s March/April 2006 issue interview with feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible (of Texts of Terror fame):
BAR: Are you a Christian?
PT: Yes.
BAR: What does that mean?
PT: It means taking the major symbols of the Christian faith and using them, appropriating them.
and…
BAR: What differentiates the Bible, say, from Shakespeare?
PT: I ask myself that question, and if I had a clear answer, I’d give it to you.
Trible’s response to the questions of Christian identity and biblical authority are remarkably honest, given her efforts to deconstruct the biblical text over the past several years from a second-wave feminist perspective.
Still, one must ask: is “using” and “appropriating” Christian symbols what makes one a Christian? Isn’t burning a cross “using” and “appropriating” Christian symbols, albeit for anti-Christian ends? I can only imagine that one of Professor Trible’s students may one day ask her such a question. And, if she has a clear answer, I suppose she’ll give it.
