DISCERNING IDENTITY AND BIBLICAL LITERACY THIRD SPACES THROUGH NARRATIVES OF MOTHERS

Abstract

The Protestant Reformation put the Bible into the hands of the people for the first time, ultimately putting Christian texts into the hands of women. This began a trajectory of women beginning to contribute to the historically male-dominated interpretation processes of biblical texts. This qualitative narrative study explores the lives of five Christian mothers using a feminist lens. Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey and I-Poems are used to situate their narratives surrounding womanhood and motherhood, how these experiences contribute to their biblical readings, and how they are choosing to teach–or not teach–their children about Christianity and the Bible. These mothers discuss the roles of church teachings in their understandings of womanhood–including issues like purity culture, gender roles, and domestic labor. They also discuss their identities as Christians–many of them discussing shame and embarrassment about sharing this identity. A key finding in this study is the rise of third spaces where people are teaching and learning about biblical texts. These third spaces are contributing to alternative biblical literacy practices, decentralized power, and the challenging of hierarchies.