In this volume, Brian Charles DiPalma examines masculinities in the court tales of Daniel as a test case for issues facing the burgeoning area of gender studies in the Hebrew Bible. In doing so, it both analyses how the court tales of Daniel portray the characters in terms of configurations of masculinity in their socio-historical context, and also seeks to advance gender studies in the Hebrew Bible on theoretical, methodological, and political grounds. Masculinities in the Court Tales of Daniel is therefore of interest not only to scholars working on Daniel, but also biblical scholars studying gender in the Hebrew Bible more broadly, including those engaged in feminist criticism, queer criticism, and studies of masculinity, as well as anyone studying gender within an ancient Near Eastern context.
The striking scene of Judith cutting off Holofernes’s head with his own sword in his own bed has inspired the imaginations of readers for millennia. But there is more to her story than just this climactic act and more to her character than just beauty and violence. This volume offers a comprehensive examination of gender ideologies in the book of Judith, from the hyper-masculine machinations of war and empire to the dynamics of class in Judith’s relationship with her enslaved handmaid. Overall, this commentary investigates the book of Judith through a feminist lens, informed by critical masculinity studies, queer theory, and reception criticism.
The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages. Features: Reviews of new books written by top scholars Topical divisions make research easy Indexes of authors and editors, reviewers, and publishers
This book takes the groundbreaking work of Lee Edelman in queer theory and, for the first time demonstrates its importance and relevance to contemporary theology, biblical studies, and religious studies. It argues that despite extensive interest in Edelman’s work, we have barely begun to understand the significance of Edelman’s ideas both in their own right and with respect to the study of religion. Therefore, it offers fresh approaches to Edelman’s work that necessarily complicate the established interpretations of his thinking. With essays by rising and established scholars, as well as a response by Edelman himself, it contends that by fully engaging Edelman, scholars of religion will have to confront negativity and its consequences in ways that will contribute to reshaping the terrain of scholarship on religion, race, sexuality, and social change. The insights provided in this book are new territory for much of the study of religion. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of religious studies, theology and Biblical studies as well as gender studies and queer, feminist, and critical race theory.
An invaluable insight into the narrative politics and theologies of LGBTQ+ life-storytelling, a key text for those in African Humanities, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, and Refugee Studies.Presenting the deeply moving personal life stories of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees in Nairobi, Kenya alongside an analysis of the process in which they creatively engaged with two Bible stories - Daniel in the Lions' Den (Old Testament) and Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery (New Testament) - Sacred Queer Stories explores how readings of biblical stories can reveal their experiences of struggle, their hopes for the future, and their faith in God and humanity. Arguing that the telling of life-stories of marginalised people, such as of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees, affirms embodied existence and agency, is socially and politically empowering, and enables human solidarity, the authors also show how the Bible as an authoritative religious text and popular cultural archive in Africa is often used against LGBTQ+ people but can also be reclaimed as a site of meaning, healing, and empowerment. The result of a collaborative project between UK-based academics and a Nairobi-based organisation of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees, the book provides a valuable insight into the narrative politics and theologies of LGBTQ+ life-storytelling. A key text for those in African Humanities, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, and Refugee Studies, among others, the book expresses an innovative methodology of inter-reading queer life-stories and biblical stories.be reclaimed as a site of meaning, healing, and empowerment. The result of a collaborative project between UK-based academics and a Nairobi-based organisation of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees, the book provides a valuable insight into the narrative politics and theologies of LGBTQ+ life-storytelling. A key text for those in African Humanities, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, and Refugee Studies, among others, the book expresses an innovative methodology of inter-reading queer life-stories and biblical stories.be reclaimed as a site of meaning, healing, and empowerment. The result of a collaborative project between UK-based academics and a Nairobi-based organisation of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees, the book provides a valuable insight into the narrative politics and theologies of LGBTQ+ life-storytelling. A key text for those in African Humanities, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, and Refugee Studies, among others, the book expresses an innovative methodology of inter-reading queer life-stories and biblical stories.be reclaimed as a site of meaning, healing, and empowerment. The result of a collaborative project between UK-based academics and a Nairobi-based organisation of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees, the book provides a valuable insight into the narrative politics and theologies of LGBTQ+ life-storytelling. A key text for those in African Humanities, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, and Refugee Studies, among others, the book expresses an innovative methodology of inter-reading queer life-stories and biblical stories.
Offering a reading of the intermarriage debate and expulsion of the foreign women in Ezra 9-10, this book engages with the production and performance of masculinities in this biblical text, shifting the focus away from the 'foreign women' to the men who are the primary actors in this work. This approach addresses the diversity of masculinities and the ways in which they are implicated in the production of power relations in the text. It explores the ‘feminized’ masculinity of the peoples-of-the-lands, the unstable masculinity of the golah, Ezra’s performance of penitential masculinity, and the rehabilitation of divine masculinity. The rejection of the marriages and the call for the expulsion of the women and children are addressed as sites on which masculinities and power relations are configured. In doing so, this book sheds light on how women and the traits and performances culturally ascribed to women, femininity and inferior masculinities, are appropriated to produce masculinities and negotiate power relations between men. It posits that the debate in Ezra 9-10 is not, ultimately, about the women themselves, but about bringing the masculinities, bodies and practices of dissenting men under the ‘management’ of those who wield the Torah in the narrative world of the text. Men, Masculinities and Intermarriage in Ezra-9-10 is of interest for scholars and students working on the Book of Ezra specifically, as well as the Hebrew Bible and its world more broadly. It is also a valuable study for those working on masculinities and gender in the biblical world and ancient Near East.
A hermeneutics of cispicion challenges cisnormative presuppositions that shape and, at times, occlude the variations in gender and sex exhibited by key characters in the ancestral narrative of Genesis 12–50. It charts the progression from Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics of suspicion, through liberation, feminist and queer approaches. Focusing on Deryn Guest's queer and trans hermeneutics, Henderson-Merrygold then offers a new strategy for reading against fixed, binary gender assumptions, where a character's sex always matches that assigned at birth. The initial case study addresses Sarah, who is the proto-matriarch of the ancestral narratives in Genesis. Masculinities contrast with femininities, and Sarah's own agency makes the picture of a consistent gender hard to identify. By closely reading the text, different facets of Sarah's story emerge to emphasise how much the narrative directs the reader towards a cisnormative reading. However, Henderson-Merrygold shows it is not only the images of Sarah as feminine woman and mother that remain visible. The subject of the second case study, Esau, is regularly judged to be a hypermasculine character due to his bodily appearance, but repeatedly fails to fulfil the expectations related to that appearance. Though often condemned as a poor example of (hyper)masculinity, a cispicious reading identifies a richer and more nuanced figure. Attending to Esau's actions, his rejection of the gendered expectations appears intentional, allowing him to settle more comfortably into his own identity. This project advocates for, and demonstrates the value of, creative, interpretations of biblical texts that challenge both malestream and feminist gender assumptions.
Moses: Man Among Men? examines the nature of Moses' relationships with other male characters by utilizing the theory of hegemonic masculinity and homosociality. In doing so, this book considers the way in which Moses is pictured as an idealized figure by comparison to other male characters in his story.
Male alliances, partnerships, and friendships are fundamental to the Hebrew Bible. This book offers a detailed and explicit exploration of the ways in which shared sexual use of women and women’s bodies engenders, sustains, and nourishes such relationships in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew Bible narratives demonstrate that women and women’s bodies are not merely used to foster and cultivate male homosociality, male friendship, and toxic hegemonic masculinity, but rather to engender them and make them possible in the first place. Thiede argues that homosocial bonds between divine and mortal males are part of a continual competition for power, rank, and honor, and that this competition depends on women’s bodies for its expression. In a final chapter, she also explores whether female characters in the Hebrew Bible use male bodies to form friendships and alliances to advance female power, status, and rank. The book concludes by arguing that women are essential to the toxic biblical hegemonic masculinity we find in the Hebrew Bible, but only because their bodies are used to make it possible in the first place. This book is intended for scholars of the Hebrew Bible, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in religious studies, women and gender studies, masculinity studies, queer studies, and like fields. The book can also be read profitably by lay students of biblical literature, seminary students, and clergy.
This book examines the relationship between mobility, lived religiosities, and conceptions of divine personhood as they are preserved in textual corpora and material culture from Israel, Judah, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. By integrating evidence of the form and function of religiosities in contexts of mobility and migration, this volume reconstructs mobility-informed aspects of civic and household religiosities in Israel and its world. Readers will find a robust theoretical framework for studying cultures of mobility and religiosities in the ancient past, as well as a fresh understanding of the scope and texture of mobility-informed religious identities that composed broader Yahwistic religious heritage. Cultures of Mobility, Migration, and Religion in Ancient Israel and Its World will be of use to both specialists and informed readers interested in the history of mobilities and migrations in the ancient Near East, as well as those interested in the development of Yahwism in its biblical and extra-biblical forms.
