Women, the Bible’s questions, and ecumenical dialogue

For her entire life, Adriana Valerio, who is both a historian and theologian, has studied women in Christianity. Most recently, as archdiocesan delegate for the laity, she is responsible for the project “Women in Dialogue in the Church of Naples”, which has a website full of news and documents and, among other things, organizes conferences, meetings, and discussions. From the series of online (and free) lectures on the female figures in the Bible comes the book La parola alle donne [The Word to Women] (published by Il Pozzo di Giacobbe), which Valerio edits. This book collects contributions from experts in the field, which generates an open and ecumenical dialogue.

These include Eve, the matriarchs Sarah, Rachel, Rebekah, and Leah. The prophets Miriam, Ruth, Judith, Esther, Wisdom, the Shulammite, and the virtuous woman of Proverbs, and then Mary Magdalene, Martha, and Mary of Bethany. The Syrophoenician woman, the Samaritan woman, and Jesus himself with his presentation of a Father-Mother. These all animate the pages of this book, which Valerio defines as “full of colors, voices, and many points of observation that enrich our traditional cultural heritage, pushing us to ask new meaningful questions of the Bible, which still today urgently challenges contemporary issues with its dramatic contradictions”.

It is mostly laywomen, with a few religious and some researchers -even if they do not belong to a church or a confession-, were invited, including scholars from the Catholic, Reformed, and Jewish traditions, to offer the broadest and most ecumenical contribution possible. Thus, Maria Teresa Milano, Elena Bartolini, Simona Farace, Silvia Zanconato, Nuria Calduch Benages, Ester Abbattista, Laura Invernizzi, Vittoria D’Alario, and Emilia D’Antuono contributed to the Old Testament; Marinella Perroni, Letizia Tomassone, Simona Segoloni, and Rosanna Virgili to the New Testament. There was no exclusion of men who also contributed. With contributions from Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Archbishop of Naples Domenico Battaglia, historian Dario Garribba, and biblical scholar Gaetano Castello, Auxiliary Bishop of Naples.