Abstract
F. Scott Spencer's Salty Wives is a feminist reading of the Gospel of Luke. Many recent feminists interpret this Gospel as ambivalent toward women, or as ultimately subverting women's leadership. Spencer's approach is “sunnier” (19) than these. He focuses on the agency of women despite the layer of patriarchy that remains visible in the text. Spencer describes a cultural backdrop against which Luke's women characters may be seen as “capable women of purpose and persistence.”
In chapter 2, Spencer seeks “to steer a middle course between the extreme poles of skepticism, on the left, and fideism, on the right” (20). He argues that a hermeneutic of suspicion is a necessary and beneficial part of interpretation but should be mutually informed by faith or trust. Spencer understands biblical interpretation as a complex phenomenon. It requires multiple tools, encounters variety in the biblical texts, requires self-awareness by the interpreter, and involves struggle to comprehend a difficult or offensive text. Spencer's approach is not one that tries to resolve such struggle, either by “fixing” the problems the text presents or by discarding it as irredeemably patriarchal. Instead, he is hopeful that the struggle (not simply its resolution) may yield a blessing for the reader.
In chapters 3 through 7, Spencer applies his method. Chapter 3 addresses the question of Mary's agency in response to the divine call to bear a child. This is the first of a number of instances in which Spencer draws on Martha Nussbaum's idea of “capacities.” Nussbaum argues that public planning should be geared toward cultivating capacities people need to live well, things like life, or bodily health and integrity (Spencer 60–62; cf., e.g., Martha C. Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 29–54). Her approach recognizes that, when offered choices, women do not always choose what appears as the “best” or most liberating option. Instead of pushing women toward a particular choice, public policy should focus on nurturing and sustaining the capacities needed for a full and rich life. Spencer reads Mary with these capacities in mind, looking for evidence of the cultivation of agency, even in a culture that already limits and constrains women's options. In his analysis, Luke's Gospel presents Mary as an “agent of and partner with God in her own right” (100).
Chapter 4 treats Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, who provided for Jesus (Luke 8:3). Although the information about Joanna is sparse, Spencer fleshes it out with an analysis of Roman practices of patronage. His analysis of Joanna suggests that women travelled with Jesus and may have left home for short periods to do so, and that women indebted to Jesus for healing repaid him as clients (142–44).
Spencer interprets the familiar story of Mary and Martha in chapter 5. Using Nussbaum's capacities, he acknowledges that “women too often choose against their capabilities” (185). Even amid such constraints, he sees Jesus in this story as opening space for women's participation and discipleship. Chapter 6 is one long chapter that tackles four short verses: Luke 4:25–26; 11:31; 17:32. This wide-ranging chapter is encumbered by its size (73 pages).
In chapter 7, Spencer “defends Luke's feminist reputation” regarding the story of the widow and the unjust judge. He reads Luke's preference for the poor as a sign that Luke frames the widow as one needing help. Yet he also emphasizes the widow's self-advocacy and assertiveness. Chapter 8 concludes that women in Luke's Gospel are not fully liberated but are capable (318). Spencer uses Nussbaum's capacities to synthesize what he has argued in the previous chapters.
Spencer is often at his best in drawing attention to details in the biblical text. For example, he notes that Elizabeth's words praise Mary (“blessed are you”—Luke 1:42) and her actions (“blessed is she who has believed”—1:45) as well as praising her offspring (“blessed is the fruit of your womb”—1:42). Elizabeth thus “focuses on Mary's independent identity and agency as much as on ‘the Lord’ she will birth” (77). Spencer's careful attention to language forms the basis of his reading, and offers many of the book's greatest insights.
Spencer capably lays forth a historical background against which his interpretation of Luke makes sense. In a few instances, his interpretation does not fully engage this background. For example, as Spencer acknowledges in chapter 7, widows were often vulnerable to abuse; yet it was not unusual that some widows, like Babatha, had extensive resources at their disposal and defended their interests in court. Spencer characterizes the widow of Luke 18 as impoverished, perhaps because he wants to suggest Luke's affinity with her as one of the poor. However, nothing in the story demands that she is poor. Both the lawsuit and her victory may suggest that she is a woman of substantial wealth and social influence.
Spencer's prose is accessible, but the book is long and a bit unwieldy at times. Long insertions—like the history of interpretation of Joanna (124–41) or the list of biblical “household rivals” (147–65)—obscure the main argument to some extent.
These criticisms should not overshadow Spencer's contribution. He moves away from the sharp polarities offered by some feminist interpreters and by critics who reject challenges posed to the text. His approach reflects a feminism that expects to find complexity, both in the biblical texts and in the lives of historical women.