Women and Jesus

Professor Glenna Jackson

The Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages presented a lecture by Professor Glenna Jackson, on March 4, entitled "Women and the Historical Jesus," which centered on the women figures in the Old Testament and how verifiable their stories might be.

Jackson said there are stories that have been passed down over the centuries, but that their validity is still questionable. That validity can be divided into varying degrees, she explained, and used a color coding system in order to define validity: pink indicating reliable to the point of verifiable, grey designating historically doubtful, and black designating historically unreliable. She used the story of the anointing of the woman by Jesus to explain her views.

Related to the rise of Jesus until the time of his crucifixion and the presence of women in his life, the story is about the woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking along a road, the handle of the jar broke and the meal spilled out behind her. The woman did not notice and when she reached her house, she discovered the jar was empty. Professor Jackson refuted claims that question the validity of the story, since some observers would argue the woman should have felt the jar getting lighter in weight when it broke. Jackson said that after spending much time in Africa, she learned that "once a jar or basket is on top of a woman's head, weight becomes immaterial-she would not have felt less weight on her head as the meal drained out."

Professor Jackson then went on to present other critiques of stories involving women in the Old Testament, the validity of which could be questioned.

Jackson is a professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Otterbein College, Ohio. She has been teaching at Otterbein since she received her PhD in religious studies from Marquette University in 1992. Her research has focused mainly on women in religion in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.