蜜芽传媒

Good morning

Powerful women, exuding the qualities of resilience and vision, were published - in the 鈥淲oman鈥檚 Hour鈥� Power List of 2016, yesterday. It identifies seven women, who, according to a panel of judges, have made the greatest impact on the lives of women during the past 70 years. Compiling these sorts of list are always fraught with difficulty, especially when the meaning of 鈥榩ower鈥� is debatable and contested. And no list can be completely definitive.

For many Christians, top of the list of powerful women in the Bible is Mary the mother of Jesus. But not everyone agrees. Take for instance a conversation I had last week with one of my students.

Out of nowhere, she asked the question, 鈥淚s the traditional nativity scene sexist against women?鈥� I was struck by the intensity and punch of the inquiry, and I asked her to elaborate on the allegation. She continued by saying that the nativity scene presents Mary as an object: a passive, subservient woman, who has submitted to the demands of a powerful deity, and assumed the traditional capitalist, patriarchal role of wife and mother. When I heard the term, 鈥榗apitalist patriarchy,鈥� I realised that this question was probably a hangover from a lecture on feminist theology that the student had taken with a colleague of mine the day before.

"What about the Magnificat - the radical song that Mary sings while visiting her cousin, Elizabeth,鈥� I replied? The student paused for a moment, then smiled. The smile told me that she understood that there is an alternative image of Mary as a powerful woman, at the beginning of Luke鈥檚 gospel.

In the Magnificat Mary鈥檚 power resides in her resilience and vision. Despite her personal predicament, an unmarried woman in a deeply conservative, and politically oppressive culture, she risks humiliation and violent retribution to see through her mission from God. She even has the foresight to connect her personal struggle with the turmoils of the oppressed peoples of her nation, and reminds them that change will come.

Lists are designed to provoke debate. And including the fictional Bridget Jones as one of the Women鈥檚 Hour Power list, certainly did that. For some Christians, the way Mary is portrayed, and the way she has been used as an exemplar down ages, is problematic. But for me, at this time of year when we see her ubiquitous image, on Christmas cards and in nativity scenes, we forget how central she is to the story. I think she is challenging convention, rather than conforming to it. And that challenge remains throughout the ages.

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