I think sociological approach is fascinating.

"Laws need not be written down unless the collective disagrees with them and refuses to obey. Laws that are publicly formulated are those that society has failed to internalize. They require promulgation in order to be enforced."

 

Naomi Steinberg, "The Deuteronomic Law Code", in 『The Bible and Liberation: political and Social Hermeneutics』, edited by Norman Gottwald and Richard Horsley, Orbis Books, London, 1993,p.373

 

Steinberg contends that Deutronomy ch.19-25, which has been widely considered to show egalitarian view on woman compared to Exodus 21-23, is not in fact pro women. She says that weakening the authority of father is needed to strengthen the nascent state. Also, controlling sexuality and emphasizing the rights of individual man and woman in marriage have something to do with enhancing a nuclear family at the expense of an extended family. Extended families(lineage, clans, tribal unit) must be withered since they can easily form a powerful rebellious group against the state. (It does not mean that a nuclear family superseded an extended family. They must have co-exited.) The author says that it may not be appropriate to say that Deutronomy shows a different view on women than the other patriarchic texts.

 

I found her argument quite compelling. Texts are important but they don't allow us to see through what was happening behind the text. Soicology helps us to see the text from a different and more rational standpoint. I think sociological approach is fascinating.

 

 

 

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