Analysis Of Luke's Gospel By Barbara E. Reid

Barbara E. Reid is a compelling Feminist theologian who has raised questions as to the authenticity of Luke’s Gospel. Though questions remain as to Luke’s true feelings towards women, his language implicitly forwards the notion that women are/were not equal to Jesus. Her task, as a Feminist scholar, is to decode the text, and enlighten readers to the sometimes subliminal motifs of womanly subversion present within Luke’s text.
Reid’s Luke: The Gospel for Women points out that though the Gospel of Luke has been, by some scholars, designated as “The” Gospel for women, a closer examination of the text displays a different narrative for women. She evinces that in Luke's Gospel women are never regarded on the same level as men, and that when they speak to Jesus it is only to be
In terms of discipleship, women in Luke play a faint role. The only woman that followed Jesus in Luke is described as anonymous, while the author produces several accounts of male followers. Similarly, several of the male disciples are listed in the text as witnesses, while the role of women witnesses is ambiguous at best. Reid mentions that women did play a role in the communal aspect of Jesus’s ministry. They are listed by name in this manner. Reid avers that the nature of their involvement in the social aspects of Jesus’s ministry are somewhat disheartening as women give financial backing, but seldom play the role in the decision making and networking process of Jesus’s ministry. Moreover, there is no clear indicator within scripture that details if women were commissioned to spread the Gospel. Jesus commissions his twelve disciples, along with the crowd of seventy-two, but Luke does not list the specifics of women who were commissioned to spread the Gospel. Luke uses a different verb when he describes the act of teaching by Jesus and his disciples and the acts of teaching that