Reading the Women of the Bible : A New Interpretation of Their Stories

by Frymer-Kensky, Tikva

• ISBN13: 9780805241211
• ISBN10: 0805241213
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-07-30
• Publisher: Schocken

Summary

A noted biblical scholar reinterprets the women of the Bible from a feminist point of view as seen in the context of both their own times and modern-day society, discussing the stories of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Ruth, Jezebel, Dinah, and others and examining the meaning of their lives and the themes of the stories. 10,000 first printing.

Author Biography

Tikva Frymer-Kensky is a professor of Hebrew Bible at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xiii
Part I. Victors
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: The Rivka Stories	5	(19)
Saviors of the Exodus	24	(10)
The Guardian at the Door: Rahab	34	(11)
Warriors by Weapon and Word: Deborah and Yael	45	(13)
A Wise Woman of Power	58	(6)
The Shunammite	64	(10)
Villains: Potiphar's Wife, Delilah, and Athaliah	74	(19)
Part II. Victims
The Disposable Wife	93	(6)
Daddy's Daughters	99	(3)
Father-right Awry: Jephthah and His Daughter	102	(16)
The Bad Old Days: Concubine and Chaos	118	(21)
Kings to the Rescue?	139	(4)
``Off with His Head'': David, Uriah, and Bathsheba	143	(14)
Trauma and Tragedy: The Betrayals of Tamar	157	(13)
Power and Person: A Problem of Political Life	170	(9)
Part III. Virgins
The Dinah Affair	179	(20)
To the Barricades: Views Against the Other	199	(10)
Queen Jezebel, or Deuteronomy's Worst Nightmare	209	(6)
Cozbi	215	(10)
Hagar, My Other, My Self	225	(13)
Royal Origins: Ruth on the Royal Way	238	(19)
Royal Origins: The Moabite	257	(7)
Royal Origins: Tamar	264	(14)
The Royal Way	278	(5)
Outsider Women: Exile and Ezra	283	(14)
Part IV. Voice
Oracles of the Conquest of Canaan: Rahab and Deborah	297	(4)
Oracles of Saul: Hannah and the Witch of Endor	301	(9)
The Necromancer at Endor	310	(5)
Abigail	315	(9)
Huldah	324	(3)
Woman as Voice	327	(6)
Part V. Reading the Women of the Bible
Women of Metaphor, Metaphors of Women	333	(6)
The Later Adventures of Biblical Women	339	(11)
Mirrors and Voices: Reading These Stories Today	350	(5)
Notes	355	(82)
Index	437