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Policy: The Bible and Welfare Reform
97
l>eth, Mary, and Anna in the infancy narratives at the beginning of Luke’s
I’ospel, in the rest of the text “women speak in the Gospel only to be cor
rected
byjesus” (e.g., Luke 10:38—42; 11:27-28; 23:28) or disbelieved (Luke
’4:10-11).56Luke’s portrayal of Mary’s delivery of the Magnificat must be
examined in light of this concern about his possible objective of controlling
women, and especially of restricting women’s speech. We need to identify
i
lie
message Luke conveys about women’s prophetic vocation and how it
might reveal his intentions with regard to the Magnificat passage.
Throughout Luke-Acts the author alternates stories about women
with stories about men.57 Precisely what this pattern indicates about the
content of Luke’s message about gender roles is, however, not generally
igreed upon. Mary’s prophetic speech (Luke 1:46-56) parallels Zechariah’s
prophetic speech (Luke 1:67-79). Both Mary and Zechariah are imbued
with the Holy Spirit. With this parallel structure, Luke may have intended
t<>make sure that both males and females are instructed by his gospel mes
sage. How? He may want them both to feel equally inspired by the
prophetic speech of these characters. Therefore, Luke can be interpreted
is supportive of women’s equality, especially the equal importance of their
prophetic speech.
On the other hand, he may have wanted to teach some kind of subor
dination of women’s prophetic vocation to men’s by means of this paral
lel structure. Mary is not explicitly named as a prophet in Luke’s text,
while Zechariah is named as one. In Luke’s infancy narratives, of the three
prophetic women presented, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna, only Anna is
labeled a prophetess. Her prophetic words are only briefly summarized
with no reference to her being imbued with the Holy Spirit, unlike
Simeon with whom she is paired, who is anointed by the spirit three
tunes.58 Therefore in the gender pairing included in the infancy narra
tives, where Mary’s Magnificat is found, Luke may be teaching women in
Ins audience, who aspired to it, the subordinate, restricted nature of
women’s prophecy. In this understanding, women such as Mary are pre
sented by Luke as a means of “edification and control” of women in the
early Christian community.59
4'he relationship between the text and its ancient social context may
reveal attempts to exercise patriarchal control over women’s lives through
the use of sacred texts, but it does not reveal the extent to which these
attempts succeeded. There are also some indications of resistance. For
some women, even with the varying social restrictions on it, their sexual
status could l>c a means of empowerment. In Luke’s text, women who
enj oy
the
“chari sma!
ic privilege”
of
prophecy are usually either widows or