Elaine M. Wainwright’s research while affiliated with University of Pretoria and other places

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Publications (8)


In Memory of Her! Exploring the Political Power of Readings--Feminist and Ecological
  • Article

January 2015

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23 Reads

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1 Citation

Feminist Theology

Elaine M. Wainwright

Over the last 30 years or more the feminist and ecological movements have contributed significantly to two major shifts in the human social imaginary. These shifts have lead to new ways of reading/interpreting classical texts, and in this instance, biblical texts. This article addresses the political function of readings which have attended to gender, power and a range of multiplicative vectors over the recent decades of feminist interpretation. The more recent shift in the social imaginary to what Lorraine Code calls ‘ecological thinking’ has called for a move beyond anthropocentrism. Such a shift requires new ways of reading. This article concludes with a reading of Mt. 26.6–13 from an ecological perspective taking account of the materiality and sociality encoded in the text.


Crossing over; taking refuge: A contrapuntal reading
  • Article
  • Full-text available

February 2014

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96 Reads

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1 Citation

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

In this article, I undertake a contrapuntal reading (a type of reading developed within postcolonial studies) engaging the Gospel of Matthew and the current global and local contexts of migration. The work demonstrates the mode and the significance of such readings and ways in which the approach could be brought to bear in a range of contemporary contexts and in relation to any number of current global and local issues.

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Images, Words and Stories: Exploring their Transformative Power in Reading Biblical Texts Ecologically

January 2012

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36 Reads

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4 Citations

Biblical Interpretation A Journal of Contemporary Approaches

This essay is theoretical rather than interpretive in that I seek to develop a process or processes for reading biblical texts ecologically. I identify initially a significant epistemic shift that Lorraine Code calls ecological thinking as the context in which ecological reading takes place. I emphasize that reading ecologically is a process rather than a fixed approach, drawing imagery and language from Earth's processes that are characterized by reciprocity and multi-dimensionality. As a critical process, ecological reading will be characterized by suspicion and reconfiguration in their reciprocity. They will inform the range of reading procedures that uncover the inner texture and intertexture of the text. Having borrowed these two aspects of textual reading from Vernon Robbins" socio-rhetorical approach and nuanced them in relation to an ecological reading which recognizes the centrality of "habitat," I propose a more significant development of Robbins' approach in that I replace his "social and cultural texture" with what I call "ecological texture," suggesting that "inter-con/ textuality" is a way of naming the various tools and procedures that will facilitate a reading of this ecological texture of the biblical text. I name my ecological reading process eco-rhetorical and conclude by noting that it cannot remain text-bound but must be integrated into the praxis of ecocitizenship.


Like a finger pointing to the moon: exploring the Trinity in/and the New Testament

June 2011

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8 Reads

How do Christians reconcile their belief in one God with the concept of three divine 'persons'? This Companion provides an overview of how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been understood and articulated in the last two thousand years. The Trinitarian theologies of key theologians, from the New Testament to the twentieth century, are carefully examined and the doctrine of the Trinity is brought into dialogue with non-Christian religions as well as with other Christian beliefs. Authors from a range of denominational backgrounds explore the importance of Trinitarian thought, locating the Trinity within the wider context of systematic theology. Contemporary theology has seen a widespread revival of the doctrine of the Trinity and this book incorporates the most recent developments in the scholarship.


On pilgrimage with biblical women in their land(s)

December 2010

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72 Reads

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

Recent sociological and anthropological studies have provided models for examining pilgrimage both in its ancient and contemporary manifestations. Such models can facilitate an examination of the phenomenon of study tours to biblical lands and the multivalence of the discourses associated with such tours. The first part of the article engaged critically with the literature in order to open up some frameworks for examining the study tour to biblical lands. Feminist critical biblical scholarship with its potential for a feminist hermeneutic of creative imagination contributes to the multivalence around the study tour. Therefore, the second part of the article engaged this scholarship in relation to an imagined tour with women of the biblical lands. The article highlighted significant issues for consideration for those planning a study tour of biblical lands, especially in terms of the consideration that ought to be paid to gender.



Place, Power and Potentiality: Reading Matthew 2:1-12 Ecologically

January 2010

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11 Reads

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6 Citations

The Expository Times

Reading biblical texts ecologically is an emerging feature of contemporary biblical studies. This article recognizes this brief history but rather than situating a proposed reading strategy within such a history, it places it within an epistemological shift to ecological thinking. Drawing on the work of Lorraine Code, using the key analytic category of habitat, and nuancing the socio-rhetorical approach of Vernon Robbins enables a unique way of reading ecologically to be developed. This reading strategy is employed in reading Matt 2:1-12 ecologically.


Reading the Gospel of Matthew within the global context: A response

November 2009

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151 Reads

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

This article responds to the diversity of approaches in the five papers presented at the Matthew Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, held in Boston (Massachusetts), 21–25 November 2008. This response focuses on an overarching question: what does it mean to read Matthew in a global context? It considers two key areas. The first is location and voice/language and the second, the hermeneutics and methodologies employed and how these enabled John Y.H. Yieh (Virginia Theological Seminary), Andries van Aarde (University of Pretoria), Dorothy Jean Weaver (Eastern Mennonite Seminary), Laura Anderson (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) and Lidija Novakovic (Baylor University, Waco) to read Matthew within a global context.How to cite this article: Wainwright, E.M., ‘Reading the Gospel of Matthew within the global context: A response’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 65(1), Art. #322, 2 pages. DOI: 10.4102/hts.v65i1.322

Citations (1)


... Hence, just reading a story book cannot transform someoneís environmental identity unless this reading has been actively mediated and supported by discussions, practices and other activities. This is what Wainwright (2012) calls ëpraxisí and considers it imperative for ecological reading and thinking. It is not only Wainwright that supports the idea of environmental identity as a socially constructed element. ...

Reference:

Who is the ‘Guardian of the Sea’? A Narrative Practice Approach Analysis of a Short Story Book for Six to Eight Years Old on the Main Character's Environmental Identity Construction
Images, Words and Stories: Exploring their Transformative Power in Reading Biblical Texts Ecologically
  • Citing Article
  • January 2012

Biblical Interpretation A Journal of Contemporary Approaches