Wise woman bearing gifts

Cross Currents, Spring, 2003 by Letty M. Russell

From a feminist perspective these Magi who resist patriarchal violence and lift up the compassion and wisdom of God could as easily be named as misfits, mothers, and uppity women. And as long as we are naming those with wisdom's gifts we need most certainly to include Rosemary along with Caspar, Baithasar, and Melchior, and celebrate her as a wise woman bearing gifts to us all!

This sermon was first presented at "Theology, Ecology, and Feminism' a conference honoring Rosemary Radford Ruether at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, April 3-4, 2002.

Notes

(1.) The title of this sermon reflects the title of a book on women preachers by Suzan D. Johnson, ed., Wise Women Bearing Gifts: Joys and Struggles of Their Faith. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1988.

(2.) Raymond E. Brown, "Infancy Narratives in the NT Gospels." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992, Vol. 3:412.

(3.) Elaine Wainwright, "The Gospel of Matthew," Searching the Scriptures: A Feminist Commentary, edited by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza. New York: Crossroad, 1994, II:641.

(4.) Wainwright, 643.

(5.) Wainwright, 636.

(6.) Wainwright, 636.

(7.) In this sentence a hyphen is used for emphasis: kin-dam. The term 'kindom" is widely used of God's reign as it moves us beyond hierarchical imagery to one of community and welcome. See Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, In la Lucha: (In the Struggle): Elaborating a Mujerista Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993, xi.

(8.) Wainwright, 644.

Letty M. Russell is Professor of Theology Emerita at Yale Divinity School. She cocoordinates the D.Min. program with an international feminist emphasis at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She is an author and editor of a number of books, including Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church and Dictionary of Feminist Theologies.