The Depiction of Women in Pauline Corpus and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Modern African Womanist Criticism

Abstract

Humanities scholars, especially those in Biblical criticism have given much attention to themes arising from biblical and ecclesiastical boundaries in their critical variants. However, in spite of the impressive body of existing literature in this field, little or nothing has been done on the comparative study of biblical and African literature. Using the African method of biblical criticism (comparative and liberation hermeneutics), this study examines the depiction of women in Pauline corpus (New Testament) and Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart' (African literature) by arguing that, although Paul’s and Achebe’s literary genres differ in this instance, similarities exist in their depiction of women in their various societies. Gathering data from instances of selected modern African women in Africa who have locally and globally competed and achieved excellence and recognitions, it critiques the negative depiction of women in Pauline corpus and Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart.’