The essay presents some examples of women and mystics who have read the Bible differently from the age-old male tradition. They have been able to reinterpret their own experience of faith using a new language, showing a doubtful subjectivity skillfully expressed through irony. They are: Domenica Narducci da Paradiso (+1553), who courageously comments on the famous prohibition ofSt. Paul that "Women must be silent in the assembly" (1Cor 14,34); Arcangela Tarabotti (+1652), who does not fear to denounce the scandal of compulsory wows; Sarah Grimké (+1873), who carries out a reading of the Holy Texts in the light of the emancipation and equality; Elisa Salerno (+1957), who characterizes the roots of female marginalization in the tendentious interpretation of the Bible and accuses the Catholic church of "anti-feministic heresy". Such a presence, which has never exhausted itself throughout the centuries, is becoming more and more important today thanks to the studies and the reflection of female theologians, who are pushing their churches into finding new ways of pursuing equality and diversity, acknowledging an absolute need for the faith in the Trinity.
Women and Holy Scripture; Women and Mystics; God seen in a feminine way