An Issue of Relevance: A Comparative Study of the Story of the Bleeding Woman (Mk 5:25-34; Mt 9:20-22; Lk 8:43-48) in North Atlantic and African Contexts

Anglican Theological Review, Summer 2006 by Jobling, David

An Issue of Relevance: A Comparative Study of the Story of the Bleeding Woman (Mk 5:25-34; Mt 9:20-22; Lk 8:43-48) in North Atlantic and African Contexts. By Grant LeMarquand. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. xvii 284 pp. $72.95 (cloth).

A book appearing in the "North Atlantic" but defined by African biblical interpretation should be welcomed, especially when it is of such high quality. Enthusiastically and critically, Grant LeMarquand covers African scholars' interpretations of the story of the hemorrhaging woman. His discussion enables Western readers not only to gain a general understanding of African biblical scholarship but to encounter particular scholars. LeMarquand knows his subject from teaching for several years in Kenya. He did research in African libraries and solicited the opinions of African scholars. He chose the Gospel story that has received the most attention from them. The book's organization also reflects African concerns: the story is "about healing," "about a woman," and "about blood."

LeMarquand stresses the centrality of health issues in Africa. Many read the Bible out of desperation over illness, universally believed to have social and spiritual roots. This leads to conflicts between Western medicine and traditional healing, which is embedded in social life. Some Africans reject Western medicine, but most seek relief from both approaches. "Healing" is understood as extending beyond the Western notion of "cure" to restoration of dignity and social integrity. African Christians find a direct relationship between biblical healings and African practices of healing. Jesus is often perceived as a traditional healer, a person of power on whom the sick can draw. Thus, the woman diminishes Jesus' finite power. The woman's public testimony to her healing is important for her social reintegration.

LeMarquand also emphasizes how African women recognize their own experience in this story. The woman's self-assertion is at least as important as her healing. She encourages women to break silence about their many oppressions and to challenge debilitating taboos. The childlessness to which her illness condemns her highlights the shame often attaching to childlessness. LeMarquand gives close readings of works by Musimbi Kanyoro, Louise Tappa, and Teresa Okure, as well as scholarship from the Institute for the Study of the Bible (at the University of Natal) that elicits theology, readings of the Bible, and action for change from "ordinary" women living in South African townships. The number of African women biblical scholars has recently grown exponentially. These women seek a scholarship inclusive in both human and methodological terms, and they are less likely than male scholars to take a rosy view of all things African.

Lastly, LeMarquand notes powerful traditional associations of blood with both life and death. Blood sacrifice is important in many parts of Africa, and sacrificial imagery is central to African theology. Within this framework, menstrual blood is seen as powerful, sometimes for good but more often for harm. Menstruating women are often excluded from communion or from church entirely, and menstruation provides a rationale for excluding women from leadership. By arguing that Jesus aimed to abolish Jewish menstrual taboos, women scholars challenge contemporary church practices.

LeMarquand is to be commended for the depth, breadth, and generosity of his African research. His extensive comparative project is less successful. I believe this unfortunate feature results from the book's origin as a doctoral dissertation. In its published form, it would have been more effective for what I see as its primary audience-Western scholars and church people looking for deeper understanding of African biblical scholarship-if it had been recast as primarily an account of African readings. LeMarquand's account of Western scholarship holds few surprises. Overall, he tells a story of rationalistic embarrassment with miracles, privileging faith over action, and excluding issues of relevance. I hope readers will not be deterred from reading his account of African scholarship.

I conclude with a large hermeneutical issue. LeMarquand knows that African scholars are now being listened to outside Africa and asks what contribution they may make to North Atlantic scholarship. The question is a double-edged sword. Interest in biblical scholarship from the Global South can be a useless exoticism, born of a sense that our work has become boring and irrelevant. On the positive side, I agree with LeMarquand that Africa can be a model for "relevant" biblical scholarship. Relevance, however, must arise organically out of our own very different situation. In Africa, because the biblical world is like the traditional world, scholars can easily be relevant. Indeed, they have to run fast to keep up with the relevance that people find in the Bible. In comparison, Westerners are disadvantaged, since we keep extending the distance between ourselves and any kind of traditional society.