This article proposes an alternate way of reading the story of the Syrophoenician woman found in the Christian Bible in Mark 7:24–30. The goal of this contextual reading is to see how cultural and ethnic identity affects the perception of the story and the level of reverence to Jesus in the story. In this study, a non-Christian population was selected to avoid pre-conceived notions of the well-known story. The sample in this study comprised a Balinese student population (90.3% Hindu and 40.3% men). The results show that ethnic identity relates positively to positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman. When forced to choose between siding with the woman or with Jesus (labelled as ‘religious leader’), the perception of the good character of the woman relates to her being chosen as the hero of the story; however, her submissive attitude relates negatively to her being chosen as the hero of the story.
This article takes a cultural psychology and narrative approach to evaluate the behaviour and perceptions of Balinese Hindus in seeing the roles of women and religious teachers. The general perception and behaviour in religion seems to be influenced by the sociocultural context. Interdisciplinary implications of theological and psychological study are confirmed in the article.
Some studies have shown that cultural and psychological aspects affect the reading of text materials, including the Bible: Village (
This study extends previous research on the effect of culture on biblical text-reading from the perspective of the patriarchal Hindu Balinese culture of Bali, Indonesia. The biblical text we chose to focus on is the story of the Syrophoenician woman and Jesus from Mark 7:24–30. We chose this text because it highlights the minority ethnic status of the Syrophoenician, as well as the status of being a woman. Before we describe our study, we will first describe the psychological variables of ethnic identity and well-being, as well as cultural aspects and the biblical text that was used in this study.
Ethnic identity is a part of self-concept that is derived from an awareness and knowledge of membership in an ethnic group, coupled with emotions, behaviours and values that are attached to the membership (Phinney
However, not all memberships benefit equally, and belonging to a minority group could have adverse effects. Stereotype threat effects (Steele & Aronson
A two-dimensional model of acculturation helps us to understand the variation in ethnic identity (Berry
Aspects of subjective well-being found in Western countries include life satisfaction and pleasant or unpleasant emotions (Diener et al.
Ethnic identity and national identity are associated positively with well-being (Sari et al.
The Balinese are a small ethnic group in Indonesia (1.7% of the Indonesian population). They live mainly in the Province of Bali, making up 89% of the island’s population of 4.2 million inhabitants (BPS
The Balinese aristocrats came from the Kingdom of Majapahit in Java, and thus there are significant similarities between Balinese and Javanese cultures. The difference between Balinese and Javanese culture can be traced back to the spread of Islam in Java. Javanese culture is now dominated by Islam, whereas the Balinese keep and mix Hindu and Buddhist beliefs with local customs (Barski, Beaucort & Carpenter
The similarities between Balinese and Javanese cultures are evident in their arts, such as the shadow play (
The Province of Bali is Indonesia’s main tourist destination. The income from tourism makes up 80% of the province’s financial wealth (BPS
Ethnic conflicts are a rare occurrence in Bali, although Bali was not exempt from the Indonesia-wide conflicts of the 1950s and 1960s, when many members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were killed in the violent anticommunist purge by the Indonesian government militia. It was reported that at least 1 000 000 people were killed across Indonesia and around 80 000 were killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island’s population (ed. Cribb
The Balinese Hindu culture, like the dominant Javanese culture, is a patriarchal culture (with the exception of the region of Tabanan). Patriarchal culture in Bali is expressed in the Balinese laws of rights and responsibilities of a son and a daughter and in the form of marriage (Segara
Polygamy is practised in Indonesia, whilst polyandry is not. The national average of polygamy is 5% and according to the Muslim law, polygamy is legal. There is no such law amongst the Balinese Hindus; however, 10% of Balinese marriages are polygamous, twice the estimated national average (Ibrahim & Robertson
However, it is clear that there are gender gaps in many areas of life in Bali, such as education, employment, politics and social leader roles. The National Socioeconomic Survey or Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) in 2002 showed that the number of illiterate women was much higher compared to men. Similarly, the rate of high school education completion was higher amongst men, 21% amongst women and 32.1% amongst men. The gender gap in employment persists also because of differences in the rate of participation in the labour force between women (59%) and men (75.9%). The political gender gap is apparent in the differences between men and women in the rate of holding positions in legislative, executive and judicial departments in the government. Similarly, the roles of men and women in civil society differ, with men dominating participation in formal activities and decision-making in meetings and events of the
Text:
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs’. But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs’. Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go – the demon has left your daughter’. So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (NRSV)
In the story of a Syrophoenician woman, the narrator adopts Jesus’ views on the problem of clean and unclean motives (Hauw
The second explicit character in the story, a Syrophoenician woman (the antagonist), is on stage in Mark 7:25–28 (see Hauw
The dialogue between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman begins as the narrator declares Jesus’ rejection of the woman’s request: ‘Let the children be fed first [πρῶτον], for it is not fair to take the children’s food [ἄρτος] and throw it to the dogs [κυνάριον]’ (Mk 7:27). Whatever meaning is given to the word ‘dogs’ and the whole sentence as Jesus’ answer (v. 27), the narrator shows Jesus’ use of derogatory words and rejection of the woman’s request (see Hauw
The reader can anticipate Jesus’ rejection because of the initial conflict brought about by the woman. However, there is further conflict found in the woman’s answer: ‘Sir (κύριε), even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs’ (καὶ τὰ κυνάρια ὑποκάτω τῆς τραπέζης ἐσθίουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν παιδίων, Mk 7:28). This answer indicates the woman’s humble acceptance of Jesus’ words. The narrator wants the readers to understand that the woman is aware of her Gentile identity and that her expectation is to still receive Jesus’ miracle. The reply is an admission from the woman of the superiority of Jesus.
On the other hand, this humble attitude of the woman creates an irony which is a form of conflict. Whilst the woman confesses her Gentile identity as foreign dog, thus unworthy to eat at the table as children do, she does not accept the children’s crumbs. Her insistence on getting Jesus’ blessing reflects the depth of her faith. Mark’s Gospel does not use the word ‘faith’ in the pericope, however the evangelist Matthew, as one of the earliest interpreters of Mark’s Gospel, supplied the word ‘faith’ (Mt 15:28) (Mann
The narrator invites the readers to look at how the woman has faith in Jesus through the only words Jesus speaks in response to the woman ‘… you may go’ (ὕπαγε, Mk 7:29). These words are enough for her. She believes Jesus’ word without any visible evidence (Waetjen
The true faith of the Syrophoenician woman highlights the importance of Jesus in the story. This can be seen through the role of Jesus’ disciples, one of implied character. The absence of Jesus’ disciples contrasts with the pericope of the commissioning of the disciples in Mark 6:7–13, which records Jesus’ giving them the authority to exorcise. Furthermore, the wider context pictures the increasing participation of Jesus’ disciples in his ministry (Mk 6:12–13, 35–43; 8:5–8). However, in the story of the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus’ disciples are not around. By the absence of the disciples, the narrator intends to place Jesus at the centre of the story – the one who has the authority to exorcise. On the other hand, stories of the disciples’ lack of understanding of Jesus, for example, Mark 3:5; 6:35–37, 52; 7:17–18 and 8:14–21, point to the significance of the disciples as well as other characters. The dullness of Jesus’ disciples who do not understand Jesus’ parable of Mark 7:17 (Lane
As mentioned early in the introduction, this study is interested in understanding how the cultural background and psychological variables of the reader influence interpretation of biblical text. The cultural background to be examined is Balinese patriarchal culture, and the psychological variables to be examined are ethnic identity and well-being.
Based on the literature discussed above, we have devised four research questions:
Does ethnic identity relate to positive interpretation of the characters in the text?
Does well-being relate to positive interpretation of the characters of the text?
Do the positive interpretations of the characters in the story relate to choosing which character is perceived as the hero of the story?
Are there differences between male and female Balinese in the negative and positive interpretation of the text?
To investigate questions 1–3 above, we proposed a mediation model, as presented in
For testing the differences in mean scores between male and female Balinese, a Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA)
Proposed mediation model.
The participants of the study were 176 Balinese students in Denpasar, Indonesia. Their average age was 23.71 years, 40.3% of the participants were men, 90.3% of the participants believed in Hinduism and only 9.1% of the participants were non-indigenous Balinese (see
Sample characteristics.
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
---|---|---|---|
71 (40.3%) | 105 (59.7%) | 176 (100%) | |
1 = junior high | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2 = high school | 94.4 | 93.3 | 93.8 |
3 = college | 2.8 | 5.7 | 4.5 |
4 = BA university | 2.8 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
5 = master’s degree | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6 = PhD | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Christian | 0 | 3.8 | 2.3 |
Hindu | 88.7 | 91.4 | 90.3 |
Islam | 11.3 | 4.8 | 7.4 |
Indigenous Balinese | 84.5 | 92.4 | 89.2 |
Mixed Balinese with other | 2.8 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
Other ethnicity | 12.7 | 6.7 | 9.1 |
M Education | 3.08 | 4.97 | 3.08 |
SD Education | 0.37 | 0.85 | 0.33 |
M Age | 24.31 | 23.31 | 23.71 |
SD Age | 7.07 | 6.85 | 6.93 |
M, mean; SD, standard deviation.
The participants were recruited from Ngurah Rai University in Bali, Denpasar, Indonesia. The respondents participated in this study online and were given academic credit for their participation. The instruments were administered in Bahasa Indonesia. All questionnaires were translated from English into Bahasa Indonesia following a translation and back-translation procedure (Van de Vijver & Leung
Demographic information about each participant’s age, gender, ethnicity, religion and level of education was sought (see
The scale to measure ethnic identity was an adapted version of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measurement, which was developed by Phinney (
Well-being was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (α = 0.87), which consisted of 5 items, such as ‘if I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing’ (SWLS; Diener et al.
The text was adapted from Mark 7:24–30 (version
There were two options: (1) Jesus as the hero is scored as 0, and (2) the Syrophoenician woman as the hero is scored as 1.
We proposed a mediation model, as presented in
In order to test whether the proposed mediation model could be applied, a SEM path analysis was conducted (see
the positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman’s character with the positive perception of the attitude of Jesus towards the Syrophoenician woman
the positive perception of the character of Jesus with the positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman’s attitude towards Jesus.
Furthermore, modification indices suggested that there were correlations between the error of the following variables:
the positive perception of the character of Jesus and the character of the Syrophoenician woman
the positive perception of the attitude of Jesus towards the Syrophoenician woman and the positive perception of Jesus’ character
the positive perception of the attitude of the Syrophoenician woman towards Jesus and the positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman’s character.
The new modified path model is represented in
Regression weights of modified mediation model (standardised).
Furthermore, the results of SEM path analysis showed that the positive perception of the Syrophoenician woman associates positively with choosing the woman as the hero of the story, but the perception of the attitude of the Syrophoenician woman to Jesus (respecting and believing in him) is negatively associated with choosing the woman as the hero in the story (see
The results of bootstrap SEM analysis (see
Descriptive statistics and
Variables | Sex | Means | SD | % | df | ƞ2 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ethnic identity | |||||||||
Male | 138.97 | 27.78 | - | 71 | 9.99 | 1 | 0.05 | 0.00 | |
Female | 127.82 | 23.74 | - | 105 | |||||
Total | 132.32 | 23.55 | - | 176 | |||||
Well-being | |||||||||
Male | 25.11 | 5.44 | - | 71 | 2.09 | 1 | 0.01 | 0.15 | |
Female | 23.8 | 6.20 | - | 105 | |||||
Total | 24.33 | 5.92 | - | 176 | |||||
Perception of woman’s character | |||||||||
Male | 27.35 | 5.55 | - | 71 | 0.44 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.51 | |
Female | 26.79 | 5.44 | - | 105 | |||||
Total | 27.02 | 5.48 | - | 176 | |||||
Perception of woman’s attitude | |||||||||
Male | 11.72 | 1.86 | - | 71 | - | 1 | 0.00 | 0.87 | |
Female | 11.67 | 2.18 | - | 105 | 0.03 | - | - | - | |
Total | 11.69 | 2.05 | - | 176 | - | - | - | - | |
Perception of Jesus’ character | |||||||||
Male | 28.82 | 5.61 | - | 71 | 0.28 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.60 | |
Female | 29.24 | 4.95 | - | 105 | |||||
Total | 29.07 | 5.22 | - | 176 | |||||
Perception of Jesus’ attitude | |||||||||
Male | 16.44 | 3.06 | - | 71 | 1.29 | 1 | 0.01 | 0.26 | |
Female | 16.98 | 3.17 | - | 105 | |||||
Total | 16.76 | 3.13 | - | 176 | |||||
Woman as hero | |||||||||
Male | - | - | 19.70 | 71 | - | - | - | - | |
Female | - | - | 18.10 | 105 | 0.07 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.79 | |
Total | - | - | 18.80 | 176 | - | - | - | - |
Standardised indirect effects (structural covariances).
Outcome variable | Ethnic identity | Well-being | Perception of positive character of Jesus | Perception of positive character of the woman |
---|---|---|---|---|
Perception of positive character of the Jesus figure | 0.07 |
- | - | - |
Perception of positive character of the woman | 0.04 | - | - | - |
Perception of positive attitude of Jesus towards the woman | 0.25 |
0.06 | - | - |
Perception of positive attitude of woman’s attitude toward Jesus figure | 0.15 |
0.12* | - | - |
Woman is the hero | 0.00 | 0.02 | −0.04 | −0.25 |
,
, not applicable;
,
The results of MANCOVA show that men and women differ in the mean scores of the variables (Wilks’ lambda = 0.91,
From the results, we have found that:
Ethnic identity relates to the interpretation of the biblical text on who is the hero of the story, Jesus or the Syrophoenician woman. The stronger the ethnic identity of the participants, the more positively they perceive the character of the Syrophoenician woman, and thus the more likely they are to choose the woman as the hero of the story.
Well-being also relates to the interpretation of the biblical text in choosing the hero of the story. The higher the well-being of the participants, the more positive participants’ view of Jesus’ good character and the attitude of the Syrophoenician woman towards Jesus, and thus the more likely they are to choose Jesus as the hero of the story.
Well-being is also a mediator of (1) the positive relationship between ethnic identity and the positive perception of Jesus’ character, (2) the positive perception of the attitude of the Syrophoenician women towards Jesus and (3) the positive perception of the attitude of Jesus towards the Syrophoenician woman.
Therefore, we may say that ethnic identity has an association with the perception of both characters in the story directly and indirectly through well-being. On the other hand, well-being is the mediator of the relationship between ethnic identity and those positive perceptions, and only one direct effect on the positive perception on Jesus’ attitude towards the woman is seen. The significant variables that relate to choosing the Syrophoenician woman as the hero of the story are the perception of the attitude of the Syrophoenician woman towards Jesus (negatively associated) and the perception of the character of the woman (positively associated). Therefore, we may interpret that the submissive attitude of the Syrophoenician woman towards Jesus is not perceived as a trait of a hero, but the good character of the woman. Looking at the descriptive statistics (
The patriarchal culture in Bali may be seen to influence the findings of this study. Because Balinese men dominate in decision-making process in the
A biblical story has authorial intended meaning. From the perspective of Mark’s gospel (cf. Mk 1:1), the healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman is clearly meant to praise Jesus as the Son of God. This praising is compatible with the setting up of Jesus as the hero of the story. This intended meaning, as expressed by the narrator in the story, is the interpretation provided to the Balinese respondents in this study.
It is clear in the story also that the Syrophoenician woman, the second significant character, takes a role as a supplicant and an opponent against Jesus. Through the supplication of the woman, her faith in Jesus is highlighted. In the same way, the woman’s opposition to Jesus underlines her belief that Jesus is able to heal her daughter. In addition, the woman’s opposition creates an opportunity for her Gentile identity to accept Jesus’ blessing.
Although the narrator might not intend that the Syrophoenician woman would take a role as a heroine – an opposite role against his or her programme that challenges the patriarchal culture of the narrator and the original readers of the story – current readers might consider her the heroine. This might possibly occur in the process of interpretation, as seen in this research. Some Balinese respondents, influenced by their patriarchal culture, are convinced that the Syrophoenician woman is a heroine in the story. At the same time, they perceive Jesus (religious leader) as a hero also. The Balinese patriarchal worldview influences Balinese women to choose Jesus as the hero because of their submissiveness to men. Similarly, in her own patriarchal system, the Balinese woman is able to positively see her identity and choose the Syrophoenician woman as the heroine. This interesting result suggests that ethnic worldview is one aspect at work in the process of interpretation. It seems also that the methodology of interpretation provided by researchers does not determine the Balinese woman’s understanding of the text. A Balinese woman chooses Jesus as the hero partly because of her ethnic patriarchal system. Another reason is well-being. It is clear from this study that well-being is significant as a mediator of ethnic identity and the positive perceptions of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman. Thus, the methodology of interpretation is not as strong as the influence of well-being for Balinese respondents when choosing the hero of the story.
This research shows that the process of interpretation is not determined by gender. Ethnic identity relates to good perception of a woman, but well-being relates to good perception of a man (Jesus as religious leader). Although there is no difference between Balinese women and men in choosing Jesus or the Syrophoenician woman as a hero or heroine, we see that Balinese men’s and women’s perceptions about gender roles influence whether they choose Jesus as the hero. The methodology of interpretation, which is not neutral, is not directly related to Balinese readers, who are not neutral either. Ethnic identity, as shaped by the patriarchal system of Balinese, well-being and gender influence the respondents’ interpretation of the story.
This study is correlational and the respondents are university students; hence, the generalisation of the study may only be limited amongst students. Further study needs to be conducted to investigate whether similar relationships exist between variables in a different group such as young professionals.
We conclude from the study that cultural-gender roles (Balinese patriarchal) held by female and male members of the community influence the choosing of the character of Jesus as the hero. Furthermore, the findings of this study provide evidence that psychological variables (ethnic identity and well-being) relate to a reader’s interpretation of the text. Similar to a previous finding showing that ethnic identity relates to well-being (e.g. Sari et al.
The authors would like to thank the South East Asia Bible Seminary (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi SAAT), Ngurah Rai University and the Foundation Academy of Amsterdam for facilitating in collecting data information and using their facilities for this research.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
The authors declare that this field research is a joint cooperation research. Each author was responsible for checking, validating, writing and rewriting this article.
This article followed all standards for research without direct or indirect contact with human or animal subjects.
This research was funded by the South East Asia Bible Seminary (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi SAAT), Ngurah Rai University and the Foundation Academy of Amsterdam as part of the research activities of the authors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.