Dr. Carole Fontaine, John Taylor Professor of Biblical History and Theology, Andover Newton Theological School

Dr. Carole Fontaine gave the annual Unitarian Universalist Scholar's Committee lecture at General Assembly this year. Fontaine is John Taylor Professor of Biblical History and Theology at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She is a well-known feminist Biblical scholar and self-proclaimed "bible geek," as well as editor of the Feminist Theological Companion to the Bible series. She is an active Unitarian Universalist in preparation for the UU ministry.

Fontaine began by asking, "What will it take to form a global conscience for planet Earth?" Using both feminist analysis and deconstructionism, she looked at how the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur'an can influence understandings of human rights. Fontaine contends that Unitarian Universalism, with its traditions of religious tolerance and free inquiry, stands in a unique place to promote understanding between differing conceptions of human rights.

Fontaine referred to the Rev. Bill Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International and a former President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, who has "lodged human rights in a humanistic principle: the profound capacity for human empathy." But for many people around the world, the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and the Qur'an determine how human rights are understood. Yet Fontaine said "scripturally-based and secular-based rights workers can work together," and Unitarian Universalists are in a position to talk with both secular and religious people.

Fontaine proposed feminism and feminist analysis as a corrective to many of the problems of both the natural law and scripturally based approaches to human rights. Feminist scholars look at scripture in terms of the historical milieu in which they were written, and then look at how later editors and interpreters have altered the meanings. Fontaine believes in "reconstituting Jesus as a human rights guy," saying the later Christian tradition has obscured his potential relation to human rights issues. "I like Jesus. He's my guy. The fact that he's executed on trumped-up political charges-I mean, he's the Stephen Biko of the first century. We can work with this!" she said.

According to Fontaine, the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions all "encountered major threats in their early days" with the result that the traditions later turned against outsiders. Referring to the Qur'an and the later Islamic tradition, Fontaine said, "The feminist reading of the Qur'an says it is hoping to ameliorate the existing conditions for women [but] the contributions of women were slowly obscured by [later] male authorities." In short, she said, "The patriarchal interpretation has robbed us of thoughts we can use" in service of human rights.

"All of these books," said Fontaine, "in many ways have inscribed a less than inspirational view of humanity, which makes it difficult to cull a human rights from them." Yet at the same time, she feels there are passages in all three books that provide inspiration and guidance to people working for human rights, adding "There are places in each scripture that just glow." She referred to Matthew 25 in the New Testament, and Leviticus 19:16 in the Hebrew Bible. As for the Qur'an, Fontaine quoted feminist scholars who say, "the Qur'an is the Magna Charta of human rights."

As for Unitarian Universalists, Fontaine said "we have the right to keep the good parts" of various religious traditions. She believes the seven Unitarian Universalist principles offer religious inspiration for human rights workers, especially the first principle that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all persons.

Reported by Dan Harper; web formatting by Anna Belle Leiserson

Further Reading on Religion and Human Rights

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an (Brentwood, Maryland: Amana Corporation, 1989).

Asma Barlas, ‘Believing Women’ in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an (Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 2002).

Athalya Brenner, (ed.), A Feminist Companion to the Bible (1st Series;Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993-96).

Athalya Brenner and Carole R. Fontaine (eds.), A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible: Approaches, Methods, Strategies, (2nd Series; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).

John A. Buehrens and F. Forrester Church, Our Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989).

James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).

Lex Crane, ‘Some Assumptions Underlying the Seven Principles’, UU World, Nov/Dec 2000 (http://www.uua.org/world/1100sidebar3a.html).

George D. Chryssides, The Elements of Unitarianism (Boston: Element, 1998).

John Dominic Crossan, The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998).

Jack Donnelly, The Concept of Human Rights (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985).

Carole R. Fontaine, "A Heifer from Thy Stable: On Goddesses and the Status of Women in the Ancient Near East," reprinted in Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, ed. Alice Bach (New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 159-78.

Alan W. Gomes, Unitarian Universalism (Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1998).

Norman Gottwald, The Hebrew Bible: A Socioliterary Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).

The Earth Bible, ed. Norman Habel and Shirley Wurst (New York: Pilgrim Press with Sheffield Academic Press, 2001).

Riffat Hassan, Women's Rights and Islam: From the I.C.P.D. to Beijing (forthcoming);

"Religious Human Rights and the Qur’an," in Religious Human Rights in the World Today (Emory International Law Review, 10 (1996), pp. 85-96.

Helmut Koester and Thomas O. Lambdin, "The Gospel of Thomas (II,2)" in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977),

Jim Krane, ‘Microsoft, HP Join UN Tech Effort’, AP, 6/18/02 (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20020618/D7K7E1A80.html)

Niels Peter Lemche, The Israelites in History and Tradition (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998).

Martin E. Marty, ‘Religious Dimensions of Human Rights’, in John Witte, Jr. and Johan D. van der Vyver (eds.), Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996), pp. 1-16.

Carol Newsom and Sharon Ringe (eds.), The Women’s Bible Commentary (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992).

Tom Owen-Towle, Living the Interdependent Web: An Adult Series on Unitarian Universalist Principles (What Unitarian Universalists Believe: Living Principles for a Living Faith; Boston: Unitarian Universalist Denominational Grants Panel, 1987).

Ian Brownlie (ed.), Basic Documents on Human Rights (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).

Robert Traer, Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991), pp. 173-87.

Michael J. Perry, The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998)

Warren R. Ross, ‘After 15 Years, Our Principles and Purposes Provide Glue for UUs’, UU World, Nov/Dec 2000 (http://www.uua.org/world/1100feat3.html) p> Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, ed., Searching the Scriptures, 2 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1993; 1994).

William F. Schultz, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001).

Arvind Sharma, (ed.), Through Her Eyes: Women’s Perspectives on World Religions (Westview Press, in press).

James P. Sterba, Three Challenges to Ethics: Environmentalism, Feminism, and Multiculturalism (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1961).

M. T. Whyte, The Status of Women in Preindustrial Societies (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1978).

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