Hagar. Sedd av Gud! Osedd av människor?

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to examine how the biblical person Hagar, who was African, woman and slave, has been seen on through history. I will also examine how Hagar is seen in a context of our time, as an identification for women who are marginalized. These two interpretations will be compared and discussed. At the end, an interpretation for my own time and context will be presented. The issues for this essay are how Hagar has been interpreted in early Jewish and Christian context, how do womanist theology look at Hagar and how can Hagar be a model and identification for people who feel they are marginalized. The methods that have been used are reception historical and effective historical analysis. The reception historical analysis gives a mixed picture. In the Christian tradition the picture is most negative, in the Jewish the picture is not only negative. The effective historical analysis gives that Hagar has been used in womanist theology. The story of Hagar can be a story in which many marginalized humans can find identification. It can be the refugee woman from Syria, the Romani woman who is begging, the single mother or the exploited woman. It can be almost anyone, it can be you or me.