The Catholic Media Awards (USA) were recently announced and Professor Mary Coloe’s book John 1—10 received an honourable mention in the category of Scripture: Academic Studies. These awards recognise the outstanding work of publishers, authors, and book editors that support the faith-filled life of Catholic readers.
John 1-10 is the first of a two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John published in the Wisdom Commentary series with Liturgical Press in 2021. The Wisdom Commentary series is the first scholarly collaboration to offer detailed feminist interpretation of every book of the Bible. The sixty-volume collection makes the best of current feminist biblical scholarship available in an accessible format to aid preachers and teachers in their advancement toward God’s vision of dignity, equality, and justice for all.
Mary begins her commentary with these words:
When Europeans arrived in Australia, they looked on the continent as terra nullius – ridding the land of 60,000 years of habitation, culture, agriculture, song, art, technology and eco-friendly living. The aborigines were considered non-people, and until 1967 were not even counted in the census of Australian people. Their existence was numbered with the stock, if they worked on cattle or sheep stations, otherwise they went unrecorded. The dark-skinned first people of this ancient land were made invisible and non-existent by European eyes.
Women can resonate with this. The experience of many women requires the suffix “less” – powerless, voiceless, moneyless, stateless, homeless. On the world stage women seem to be constantly in the shadows of written his-tory, watching on as if non-existent. Their lives and experience are not worth recording. Within the limits of an ancient text that emerged from within a patriarchal social context, I wish to invite women to take their place within the Johannine narrative.
The University congratulates Professor Coloe on this well-deserved acknowledgement.
Wisdom Commentary: John 1-10 can be purchased from the publisher here.
Yarra Theological Union is an inclusive and welcoming community, Catholic by tradition and ecumenical in spirit. We are committed to being a community of scholarship, prayer and pastoral care. We offer theological education and ministerial formation, open to those who seek educational and personal transformation in changing contexts. Our mission is to equip people for various ministries in the churches: parishes, schools, hospitals, church agencies and in the world at large.
Guest Author
Catholic Theological College
University of Divinity
Add comment