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Abstract
Reverend Mother’s entry into ordained ministry did not quench her maternal instinct to experience the fruit of her own body. Her craving was thus not for a man as a husband but for a baby, the fruit of her own womb. As a result of her unconventional choice to fulfil her desire technologically, the church ‘[…] stripped her of her authority, position, and title’ (Henry 2010 ). In many a family-oriented, communal, hetero-patriarchal (African) Christian setting, a setting in which many a woman, persuaded by a specific biblical hermeneutic, finds herself trapped between ‘artificial’ infertility and a deep desire to have a baby, what kind of hermeneutic may emerge if Genesis 38 is read side by side with Reverend Mother’s narrative? The present article is an attempt to engage the preceding question critically.
Highlights
With the advancements in technology, the conventional concept of motherhood1 has come to resist simple, neat definitions
The role of mothers, especially as it is performed by women, is contested in many circles which set great store by the rights of women as equal human beings
Rosemary Radfort Ruether (1995), for example, advocates for joint mothering. As it will become evident in the introductory section of this article, the advent of democracy and modern technology has ushered in new dynamics around the concept of motherhood
Summary
With the advancements in technology, the conventional concept of motherhood has come to resist simple, neat definitions. As the biblical narratives are mostly written from a male perspective, it makes sense that even talk about what was or is biologically connected to female persons would have male undertones These undertones, should not exclude the possibility that women would have desired to perform and celebrate their motherhood role. While levirate marriage was not a law in the time of the ancestors (their family structure created and enforced the sanctions by which they lived), the custom of protecting the widow’s place within her deceased husband’s family, perpetuating the name of the deceased husband, and providing a son was commonplace in the ancient Near East (see Deut 25:5–10 for later law).’ The actions of both brothers deprived Tamar of an opportunity to exercise her role as both a wife and a mother within the patriarchal context of her time. Sometimes they can save his tribe and his/story. (p. 89)
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