Obedience, Suspicion and the Gospel of Mark: A Mennonite-Feminist Exploration of Biblical Authority

By Lydia Neufeld Harder

How do our social, political and religious commitments influence our interpretation of biblical texts? Are obedience and suspicion necessarily opposite ways to respond to the authority of the Bible? Can one criticize and be transformed at the same time?

Lydia Neufeld Harder explores these questions from the vantage point of a scholar, a feminist and a member of a faith community. A hermeneutics of obedience, rising out of the Mennonite theological tradition, and a hermeneutics of suspicion, advocated by many feminist theologians, seem to represent opposite approaches to the Bible’s authority. The resulting polarization could easily have led to static definitions of authority and the subtle domination of those who differ from the majority. However, by focusing on the common theological concept of discipleship, Harder has constructed a critical dialogue, beginning a process of creative change in her own view of authority.

This new view opens the way for an interpretation of the Gospel of Mark. A new appreciation of both the power and the vulnerability of the biblical text leads to a view of authority that embraces both suspicion and obedience in a dynamic interpretative process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9780889207929

Lydia Neufeld Harder

Lydia Neufeld Harder has been passionate about the church and its ministry throughout her life. She has expressed this in her commitment to theological scholarship as well as through various kinds of ministry in the congregation and broader church. She advocates for an "embodied" theology in which elements of one's identity such as social location, gender and sexuality, ethnic background and economic standing are acknowledged within the theological conversation. She directed the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre (TMTC) from 1994-1999 and taught as an adjunct faculty member at Conrad Grebel University College (CGUC) and Toronto School of Theology (TST). Her other teaching experience includes a number of years of elementary school teaching as well as short term assignments in seminaries in Paraguay and Egypt as well as Elkhart, Indiana and Winnipeg, MB. Her area of teaching and research has been in biblical hermeneutics with a focus on feminist dialogue. More recently she has co-taught courses in the area of the church and its ministry with her husband Gary. She fully retired from teaching in 2013 but continues her interest in theology by participating in TMTC forums and the TMTC Women Scholars group. Lydia participated in the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) International Peace Committee and was deeply involved in the theological dialogues between the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute and TMTC, visiting Iran two times. She has also been a board Member of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (eight years), a member of the Faith and Life Committee of Mennonite World Conference (2 years) and was on the editorial committee of the Believers Church Commentary Series (ten years).

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