ABSTRACT
The ekklesia represents the discursive community for Christian feminist interpretation. Sifting Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza’s work on the ekklesia gynaikon allowed for the identification of certain elements in need of further elaboration or clarification. The ekklesia as church of wo/men is, then, positioned by Schussler Fiorenza in the logic of democracy rather than in the logic of identity. The political flavour of the term ‘democracy’ is on the one hand a positive thing in Schussler Fiorenza’s terms of reference, for it highlights the public and political character of the ekklesia. It should be clear that the ekklesia is a profoundly ethical construct. Historical socio-political investments in democracy are inextricably bound up with kyriarchal structures and worldviews, as Schussler Fiorenza’s own analysis actually demonstrates. She is absolutely right in her argument that oppression is multiplicative, and a socio-political category based on oppression fundamentally fails to capture the differences between oppressions.
