Reading John 7:53–8:11 as a narrative against male violence against women

Male violence against women is at shocking levels in South Africa. According to Faul, 'A woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours, a probable underestimate because no perpetrator is identified in 20 percent of killings', whilst 'More than 30 percent of girls have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hervormde teologiese studies 2015, Vol.71 (1), p.1-08
Main Author: O'Sullivan, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abused women
Adultery
Crimes against
Exegesis & hermeneutics
New Testament
Rape
Reeva Steenkamp
Religion
South Africa
Steenkamp, Reeva
Theology
Violence
Violence against women
Woman Caught in Adultery
Women
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Summary:Male violence against women is at shocking levels in South Africa. According to Faul, 'A woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours, a probable underestimate because no perpetrator is identified in 20 percent of killings', whilst 'More than 30 percent of girls have been raped by the time they are 18'. Reeva Steenkamp's killing by her partner, Oscar Pistorius, came 'the day before she planned to wear black in a "Black Friday" protest against the country's excruciatingly high number of rapes' (Faul). The purpose of this article is to reread a key biblical text regarding male violence against women in order to highlight how Jesus would want us to respond to such violence. The text is John 7:53-8:11. The NRSV: Catholic Edition entitles the story 'The woman caught in adultery'. However, this title is problematic as it can lead to misleading readings of the text, as I will show, and so I have given it a different title, namely 'The woman threatened with stoning'.
ISSN:0259-9422
2072-8050
2072-8050
DOI:10.4102/hts.v71i1.2939