Kathryn Lois Sullivan Interpretation of Judith
For my digital humanities project my partner and I choose to tell the story of Judith. She is an amazing heroine whose story can be found in the Old Testament. Judith is used as a vessel to not only deliver Gods word but Gods people. I point this out because it is very rare for a woman to have her chapter in the bible let alone be seen as a powerful symbol to deliver the Lords people and word.
Due to the story of Judith, her text has been interpreted by a couple of people and compared to other theological influential women such as Jael and Esther. One of those interpreters is Kathryn Lois Sullivan. She lived from 1905-2006 and within that timeframe, she pursues a very impressive but yet challenging career. Kathryn starts her writing career in Catholic focus teachings and as her career progressed she began to focus herself on the Judeo-Christian teachings so that she could bridge the two denominations.
When it came to interpreting the story of Judith Kathryn Lois Sullivan found her to be one of the Old Testament greatest women. However she questions her methods to achieve the goal but in the end, Sullivan feels that we should not judge Judith tactics for her means justify the ends.
There are a couple of factors that play into Sullivan interprets the story Judith this way because of the scenarios going on in her life. At this time, Sullivan faced many gender disparities in her education, writing opportunities, career, and life simply because she was a woman, but she had major triumphant. During this time in 1947 Sullivan was the first woman to be accepted into the Catholic Biblical Association. Once here she worked her way up to Vice President. Sullivan also became a lecturer at the Second Vatican Council and Manhattanville University. Even though she had all these great accomplishments she could not earn her doctorate in Catholic Religious Community because she was a woman but she could earn her doctorate in history because it was a more acceptable program for a woman to be in.
I believe Sullivan interpretation of Judith is responding to society’s social, cultural, and political expectations of a woman. As women during this time going to school, having a career, and making a life for yourself was heavily scrutinized and not allowed. Women of this period were expected to stay out home wife’s or to be working as teacher, librarian, or secretary and for Sullivan to be working as lecturer and writer, she defied these constraints but still was not seen as equal to her male counterparts in theology.
Sullivan interprets Judith as a strong patriotic, heroic women. Sullivan is able to show the strength of women, which was and currently is overlooked. It also in some context can portray the way she wishes she was viewed. Just as how Judith was viewed as a symbol of deliverance and hope for her people Sullivan was able to transfer her life onto Judith and use her a symbol unknowingly Sullivan in her right was a strong, influential, powerhouse for many women today's society.
