Description
Book SynopsisAncient literature was generally written by and produced for elite men. That fact creates specific challenges to modern interpreters of gender roles in the ancient world, especially once contemporary understandings of gender as construction and performance are embraced. In Gender and Second-Temple Judaism, world-renowned scholars take on these challenges with regard to ancient Judaism (here including early Christianity and early rabbinic Judaism as well), at once examining the ancient evidence and quite consciously addressing difficult methodological questions regarding gender. Taken together, these chapters further complicate discussions of the construction of identity (e.g., “who is a Jew?”) by inflecting them with questions of gender construction as well. Scholars of ancient Judaism and of gender alike will find much to grapple with in these pages.
Trade ReviewThis is a rich collection of studies on gender from Jubilees to Josephus, Jesus to John and Paul. It challenges assumptions, and subverts the marginalisation of gender studies and its relegation to being a niche area. It is a major contribution to contemporary study of gender, an important aspect of what it meant to be human, which is at the heart of religion in Second Temple Judaism.
-- William Loader, emeritus professor, Murdoch University
The publication of Gender & Second Temple Judaism marks a significant milestone in the discipline; gender as a constructed category now takes its rightful place as an operative analytical lens for the study of ancient Judaism. This important book will surely be a must-have for all bibliographies of works on early Judaism.
-- Meredith J.C. Warren, University of Sheffield
Through fresh arguments and methodological precision, the authors make a powerful case for the centrality of gender research within Jewish studies. They analyze its current marginalization and question received wisdom on various points, such as on Jewish women’s religious roles, authorship of religious texts, followers of Jesus, and Pharisees. They analyze the subtleties of masculinity and femininity within Jewish and Roman culture, examine literary representations of patriarchy and of motherhood, and assess women’s authority. They explore the extent to which one can best understand specific New Testament texts on women or with female imagery within the context of contemporaneous Judaism. Students and scholars alike will find this innovative volume indispensable.
-- Bernadette J. Brooten, Robert and Myra Kraft Professor, emerita, Brandeis University, and Director of the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project
Table of ContentsIntroduction:
Gender and Second Temple Judaism: Challenges and Possibilities
Shayna Sheinfeld
Chapter 1
“The Brooten Phenomenon”: Moving Women from the Margins in Second-Temple and New Testament Scholarship
Sara Parks
Chapter 2
Women Itinerants, Jesus of Nazareth, and Historical-Critical Approaches: Reevaluating the Con-sensus
Amy-Jill Levine
Chapter 3
Paul, the Man: Enigmatic Images
Kathy Ehrensperger
Chapter 4
From Pain to Redemption: 1 Timothy 2:15 in its Jewish Context
Sarah E.G. Fein
Chapter 5
Traversing the Boundaries of Gender: Rebekah’s Usurpation of the Patriarchal Role in the Book of Jubilees
Chontel Syfox
Chapter 6
The Reinforcement of Patriarchy and the (De)Construction of Gender Roles in Jubilees’ Recep-tion of the Jacob-Esau-Narrative
Daniel Vorpahl
Chapter 7
Women and Gender in the Gospel of John
Adele Reinhartz
Chapter 8
The Framing of Female Knowledge in the Prologue of the Sibylline Oracles
Francis Borchardt
Chapter 9
Female Authorship in Jewish Antiquity?
Gerbern Oegema
Chapter 10
Pheroras’ Wife: A Pharisee Woman
Tal Ilan
Chapter 11
Cross-dressing Zealots in Josephus’s War Account
Gabriella Gelardini
Chapter 12
Female Officiants in Second Temple Judaism
Angela Standhartinger
