Disorderly Women and the Order of God: An Australian Feminist Reading of the Gospel of Mark

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Michele A. Connolly reads the Gospel of Mark through a postcolonial, feminist lens. Post-colonial analysis links the Gospel of Mark, produced in the context of the Roman Empire with contemporary Australia, established initially as a colony of the British Empire. Feminist analysis of texts from two foundational events in Australian colonial history reveals that women in such texts tend to be marginalised, silenced and denigrated, because imperialist sexism, both ancient and modern, perceives women as a threat to the order that males alone can impose on the world The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus bringing the order of the Reign of God to combat the disorder of apocalyptic evil. Jesus’ task is a markedly male project against which 11 female characters are portrayed as disorderly distractions who are managed by being marginalised, silenced and denigrated.This contradicts Jesus’ message of mutual service and non-domination. In his death under apocalyptic power, Jesus is depicted as isolated, silenced and denigrated.This subtly associates femaleness with chaos, failure and disgrace Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: The Postcolonial Religious World in Australia 1.1 Contemporary Australia as a Site for Reading 1.2 The Thesis 1.3 The Methodology 1.4 Postcolonial Criticism 1.4.1 Postcolonial Criticism in General 1.4.2 Vernacular Hermeneutics 1.4.3 Postcolonial Biblical Criticism 1.5 Feminist Criticism 1.5.1 Feminism in General 1.5.2 Postcolonial Feminist Biblical Criticism in Australia 1.5.3 The Role of Language in Postcolonial and Feminist Criticisms 1.6 Conclusion Chapter 2: Colonial Australia as the Imperialized Reading Context 2.1 British Government Decision to Found a Colony in the Great South Land 2.1.1 Imperial and Industrializing Britain of the Eighteenth Century in the World Context 2.1.1.1 General European Imperialism in the Late Eighteenth Century By the late eighteenth century, Great Britain was heavily committed to building and maintaining an empire. She was not alone in this project: since the late fifteenth century, European na 2.1.1.2 The US War of Independence and British Loss of the US Colonies British imperial power, however, was significantly checked by the loss of the thirteen American colonies as a result of the American War of Independence of 1776–83. At the Peace of Par 2.1.1.3 British Industrial Revolution: Poverty and Crime in the New Urban Classes The increase in convicts in British gaols was caused by a combination of the loss of the American colonies and the economic and social changes brought into British life by t 2.1.2 Theories of Social Organization in Late-Eighteenth-Century Britain 2.1.2.1 Theory of Crime and Punishment First, crime and its punishment were theorized in England preeminently by Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). For the supervision of convicts Bentham devised a building called a Panopticon, which made it possible for prisone 2.1.2.2 Theory of Sexuality, Gender, and Population Growth Second, the theorists thought seriously about how the sexual energies of human beings should be managed in the case of convicts founding a colony. The most influential thinker on this issue was th 2.1.3 Reasons for the Establishment of a Convict Colony in New South Wales in 1788 2.2 The Role of Female Convicts in the Foundation of the Colony in New South Wales 2.2.1 Identity of the Female Convicts Sent to Botany Bay 2.2.2 Conditions of Imprisonment and Transportation of Female Convicts 2.2.2.1 Women Imprisoned in Gaols and Hulks Conditions in the British gaols were appalling because the nation’s penal system was not designed to accommodate the numbers of displaced people who flooded into the cities. In the women’s prisons, cells were of 2.2.2.2 Women Transported in Ships The British Empire’s management of female convicts in all contexts shows that its leadership regarded women as a quite dangerous source of chaos. This fundamental perception underlies the interpretation I will offer here 2.2.2.3 Women Landed at the Colony The first landfall of convicts in the new land was made not at Botany Bay but at another site further north, Sydney Cove. The female convicts were held on board ship until the site had been sufficiently prepared to hold 2.2.2.4 Women Manufactured in Female Factories In discussing the Female Factory as the culmination of the imperial-colonial management of female convicts in New South Wales, I argue that we see in it an attempt to construct women according to ideals held 2.2.2.4.1 Isolated by physical restraints Annette Salt reports that it was Governor Darling’s “acknowledged purpose in extending the Factory . . . to help separate these classes.” This theme of separation is important because it is one of the ways that im 2.2.2.4.2 Isolated on the basis of virtue or vice Once within the Female Factory women were organized into groups based on an estimation of their relative moral virtue. There were at least two major schemas over time, the system introduced by Governor Dar 2.2.2.4.3 Isolated from feminine identity This separation was surpassed by another separation which the Factory practiced as a punishment, namely the denial of the women’s sense of themselves as attractive women, as feminine. In an institution that sought 2.2.2.4.4 Isolated from legal rights and protection Perhaps the greatest injustice was that most of the female convicts held in the Female Factory were doubly punished. Having been sentenced to transportation, they were then imprisoned at the destination 2.3 English Narrative of Female Crime and Convict Transportation 2.3.1 The Unrestrained, Shameless Woman: A Proto-convict 2.3.2 The Reformed Female: Shameful, Deferential, Silent 2.4 Conclusion Chapter 3: The Myth of Colonial Australia in an Imperial War 3.1 Australia’s Involvement in the First World War as a Dominion of Great Britain 3.1.1 The Outbreak of the First World War: Conflict Between Imperial Powers 3.1.2 Australian Involvement in the Imperial War, the First World War 3.1.3 The Postcolonial Significance of Australia’s Entry into the First World War 3.2 The Gallipoli Campaign 3.2.1 Male Australian Participation in the First World War 3.2.2 Female Australian Participation in the First World War 3.2.2.1 The Home Front At home in Australia, women engaged with the war effort in a variety of ways. Some campaigned for the war, encouraging enlistment, while others lobbied against it. Most contributed by way of organizations that provided assistance ei 3.2.2.2 The War Front Over against this work of the vast majority of Australian women in the First World War was that of women who served at the war front. Although women in Australia had, in Shute’s words, “repeatedly offered their services to the milita 3.3 The Anzac Legend 3.3.1 The Anzac Legend: Its Significance 3.3.2 Definition of the Legend 3.4 Postcolonial Feminist Critique of the Anzac Legend 3.4.1 Editor of the Legend, George Robertson 3.4.2 Writer of the Anzac Legend: C. E. W. Bean 3.4.3 The Anzac Book 3.4.4 The Official History of the First World War 3.5 Conclusion Chapter 4: The Gospel of Mark, a Christian Narrative of the First Century CE 4.1 Literary Features of the Gospel of Mark 4.1.1 Marginalization by Plot 4.1.2 Denigration, Containment, and Silencing by Characterization 4.1.2.1 Denigration by Association with Disorder First, at the thematic level, female characters in Mark are always associated with the theme of disorder. Second, women are contained in this narrative by the way they are identified, usually in relationshi 4.2.1.1.1 Apocalyptic eschatology The Gospel of Mark presents the story of Jesus of Nazareth against the backdrop of apocalyptic eschatology. Apocalyptic eschatology is a religious view of history that prevailed in Jewish consciousness from at least the e 4.1.2.2 Containment by Compulsory Relationship with an Authorizing Male Second, women are contained in this narrative by the way they are identified. They are rarely accorded an individual identity established by their personal name, as most significant m 4.1.2.3 Silencing of Female Characters: The Issue of Voice Finally, women very rarely speak in this Gospel but are silenced. When women do speak in Mark it is never approved because in some way it provides an opening for disorder to disrupt a well-ordered 4.2 Mark: A Narrative of the First-Century CE Roman Imperial Context 4.2.1 Provenance of the Gospel According to Mark 4.2.2 Genre of the Gospel According to Mark 4.3 Conclusion Chapter 5: Jesus and Familial Women in Mk 1–12 5.1 Markan Stories Featuring Women 5.1.1 The Mother-in-law of Simon (Mk 1:29-31) 5.1.2 The Mother of Jesus (Mk 3:21-22, 31-35) 5.1.3 The Daughter of Jairus and her Mother (Mk 5:21-24, 35-43) 5.1.4 The Daughter Saved by God’s Order (Mk 5:25-34) 5.1.5 Herodias and Her Daughter (Mk 6:14-29) 5.1.6 The Syrophoenician Woman and Her Daughter (Mk 7:24-30) 5.1.7 The Great Gap: Mk 7:31-14:2 5.1.8 The Widow of the Temple System (12:41-44) Chapter 6: Jesus in the Midst of Functional Women, Mk 14-16 6.1 The Woman Who Anoints Jesus (Mk 14:3-9) 6.2 The Maidservant Who Exposes Peter’s Betrayal (Mk 14:66-72) 6.3 The Path to the Death of Jesus (Mk 15:1-32) 6.4 A Reprise of Female Characters in Mark 1-14 6.5 The Death of Jesus (Mk 15:33-39) 6.6 Women, the Last to Appear on the Markan Stage (Mk 15:40-41, 47; 16:1-8) Chapter 7: Conclusion Appendix 1: Contrapuntal Reading of the Stories about Women Against the Main Markan Theme, Jesus Appendix 2: Triangulated Relationships in Mk 6:17-29 Bibliography Index