Description:
This is the third of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last forty years. In this third volume, eighteen contributors focus on the wide range of exegetical methods as they have been productively employed in feminist biblical interpretations.
More specifically, each essay investigates how feminist Hebrew Bible exegetes have worked with exegetical methods. Each essay surveys the method under consideration as it has emerged in academic discourse generally and in biblical studies in particular. Each essay also explains how feminist uses of the various exegetical methods have been deeply embedded within the theological, cultural, and even political expectations and assumptions of readers of the Bible.
This volume asks readers to come to terms with the following question: What are the best methods for feminist exegesis in the light of past and present socio-political, theological, or hermeneutical developments in reading the Bible? After all, feminist theorists have come to recognize that methods are always already situated within powerful epistemological and methodological structures that have their roots in vast arrays of historical, political, economic, social, and religious factors. This volume encourages feminist debate on these complex issues that stand at the heart of biblical exegesis.
Review Quotes:
The present volume is the third of a set of three volumes, dealing with feminist interpretation of the HB in retrospect. While the first two volumes of the collection focused on 'Biblical Books' and 'Social Locations ..., the third volume is dedicated to the survey of exegetical methods. The contributions assembled aim to show 'how feminist biblical scholars have used the wide spectrum of exegetical methods in their work'...
This is an extraordinary collection of contributions that in an exemplary way seeks to position feminist interpretation(s) within the methodological frameworks of the discipline. Not only does it give an excellent overview of the discussions in the past, but it will also prove to inform and encourage further feminist debates. Anja Klein, Society for Old Testament Study Book List.