The neutered Word

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And then the revisionists took it away from Him. In a world that is oppressively ...

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And then the revisionists took it away from Him. In a world that is oppressively politically correct, it is assumed that nothing is sacred.

Everything must suffer revision, from automobile maintenance manuals through the world8217;s oldest fables to the divine Word itself. But now, the International Bible Society, the market ombudsman for the hottest selling title in publishing history, has had to cancel plans of bringing out a gender-neutral Bible 8212; or a gender-neutered Bible, if you will 8212; in the face of mounting criticism. The US Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has hailed it as a victory for the word of God. Ironically, the Seminary itself is a revisionist body 8212; it publishes the modern Bible.

Younger readers, as sick of the begats and untos of the King James version as Lady Chatterley was of her lover8217;s Thees and Thas, approve of it. But people who have grown up with the Authorised Version find it a soulless, featureless, homogeneous pap, about as interesting as processed cat food. However, it has the saving grace of leaving the spirit of the original intact.

The Bible Society8217;s feminist version, on the other hand, is acceptable to none because it failed to distinguish between the sacred and the profane. People are ready to accept a Red Riding Hood who kills the wolf herself, or a Swiss Family Robinson whose women sail manfully in rafts. But they will find it far more difficult to come to terms with a new authorised version of the Bible, rewritten from a women8217;s point of view.

An unapproved version for private use, on the other hand, would not have caused a furore. In fact, it would have sold rather well, achieving its objective 8212; to change attitudes about role models 8212; without getting into a confrontation with the traditionalists. Stereotypes cannot be rewritten. Only the attitudes to them can be changed, and change takes its own time.

Feminism has acquired a level of maturity and acceptance today and it no longer needs to be on the offensive. It can afford to wait for change to catch up with its ideals.

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly fashionable to reinterpret everything by the presumedly evolved standards of today. The results are more akin to bowdlerisation than to reinterpretation. True, the modern, egalitarian world may find it difficult to relate to a Bible in which the men get to have all the fun while the women get to be stereotypes.

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But in challenging those stereotypes, the revisionist also challenges the very fabric of the work and attacks the assumptions on which its logic is based.

It is hard, for instance, to think of a neutered God as the jealous God of the Old Testament. A Salome who headed the local council, and happened to dance only incidentally, would be an unlikely inspiration for one of the most popular plays of all time.

Yet, starting from Victorian times, the Bible has attracted more revisionist attention than any other work. The latest politically correct Bible ruled that God could no longer be allowed to remain a He. He must forthwith become a Hesh a neutered combination of He and She. Well, God may have won this round but obviously, Hesh Word is not safe yet.