Abstract:
The parables of Jesus are often susceptible to patriarchal, androcentric interpretations. By
using a realistic reading and social-scientific criticism, this article will investigate the voices,
roles, and presence of women in the parable of the Good Samaritan, and how the 1st-century
audience of the parable would most likely have understood women to be present, even if not
mentioned in the parable. Women played critical roles in terms of hospitality, travel,
innkeeping, and healing. These roles and voices of women are often ignored by modern
interpreters and exegetes. This article not only emphasises the valuable roles that women
fulfilled in the time of Jesus but also critiques the lack, or absence, of women as a point of
discussion, acknowledgement, and study in most biblical commentaries and books concerning
the parable of the Good Samaritan. The aim of this research is to contribute to the unhiding of
women voices in patriarchal, androcentric texts thereby reconstructing and deconstructing
gender paradigms within biblical scholarship.
INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : The interdisciplinary nature of this
article contributes to the debate on the roles and importance of women in the church by
investigating the value that women had in the parables of Jesus. By reading women as present
in the text, emphasis is given to the voices of women in the Bible and the importance of their
representation today. This research is also in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender equality and women empowerment.
