Galatians 3:28 and the Call for Gender Justice in Indonesian Faith Communities: A Hermeneutics of Wounded Solidarity Galatia 3:28 dan Panggilan untuk Keadilan Gender di Komunitas Iman Indonesia: Hermeneutik Solidaritas Terluka Section Articles

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Published Sep 23, 2026
https://doi.org/10.46362/ijs.v2i1.85
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Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026): Indonesian Journal of Service

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Bobby Kurnia Putrawan
Asia Graduate School of Theology, Quezon, Philippines
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1651-7883
Suriawan Suriawan
Daehan Theological Seminary, Anyang, South Korea

Abstract

Kekerasan berbasis gender (KBG) tetap menjadi krisis global yang meresap, sering diperkuat oleh tafsiran religius yang melegitimasi hierarki patriarkal. Meskipun Galatia 3:28 telah banyak dikaji dalam konteks Barat, potensinya sebagai sumber untuk merespons persekusi berbasis gender di komunitas iman Indonesia masih kurang berkembang. Artikel ini bertujuan membangun kerangka teologis kontekstual bagi gereja-gereja Indonesia untuk merespons KBG dengan menafsirkan Galatia 3:28 melalui hermeneutik pembebasan feminis, kritik pascakolonial, dan teori trauma. Studi ini menggunakan hermeneutik pembebasan feminis, mengikuti tarian hermeneutik empat langkah Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (kecurigaan, ingatan, evaluasi, dan imajinasi kreatif), dilengkapi kritik pascakolonial Kwok Pui-lan, metode trauma-informed Serene Jones, dan analisis Michelle Eastwood tentang kepenulisan laki-laki dan ketidakhadiran perempuan, dengan menganalisis Galatia 3:28 secara intertekstual dengan Kejadian 1:27 dan teks-teks Paulus lainnya. Analisis menunjukkan bahwa formula baptisan "tidak ada laki-laki dan perempuan" (οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ) sengaja menggemakan dan mensubversi Kejadian 1:27, membongkar hierarki penciptaan; bahwa visi teologis kesetaraan dalam Kristus membawa imperatif etis bagi praksis gereja; dan bahwa komunitas iman Indonesia memerlukan strategi kontekstual pada tingkat liturgis, pastoral, dan struktural untuk menerjemahkan visi ini menjadi respons konkret terhadap KBG. Galatia 3:28 menyediakan fondasi teologis bagi respons berbasis iman terhadap KBG, tetapi potensi pembebasannya hanya teraktualisasi ketika penafsiran akuntabel terhadap pengalaman korban dan terwujud dalam praktik gerejawi.


 


Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive global crisis, frequently reinforced by religious interpretations that legitimize patriarchal hierarchies. While Galatians 3:28 has been extensively examined in Western contexts, its potential as a resource for responding to gender-based persecution in Indonesian faith communities remains underdeveloped. This article aims to construct a contextual theological framework for Indonesian churches to respond to GBV by interpreting Galatians 3:28 through feminist liberation hermeneutics, postcolonial critique, and trauma theory. The study employs feminist liberation hermeneutics, following Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza's four-step hermeneutical dance (suspicion, remembrance, evaluation, and creative imagination), complemented by Kwok Pui-lan's postcolonial critique, Serene Jones's trauma-informed method, and Michelle Eastwood's analysis of male authorship and female absence, analyzing Galatians 3:28 intertextually with Genesis 1:27 and other Pauline texts. The analysis reveals that the baptismal formula "neither male nor female" (οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ) deliberately echoes and subverts Genesis 1:27, dismantling the creation hierarchy; that the theological vision of equality in Christ carries ethical imperatives for church praxis; and that Indonesian faith communities require contextual strategies at liturgical, pastoral, and structural levels to translate this vision into concrete responses to GBV. Galatians 3:28 provides a theological foundation for faith-based responses to GBV, but its liberating potential is actualized only when interpretation is accountable to victims' experiences and embodied in ecclesial practice.

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How to Cite
Putrawan, B. K., & Suriawan, S. (2026). Galatians 3:28 and the Call for Gender Justice in Indonesian Faith Communities: A Hermeneutics of Wounded Solidarity: Galatia 3:28 dan Panggilan untuk Keadilan Gender di Komunitas Iman Indonesia: Hermeneutik Solidaritas Terluka. Indonesian Journal of Service, 2(1), 45–72. https://doi.org/10.46362/ijs.v2i1.85

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