Reading Bibles, Writing Bodies: Identity and The Book / Edition 1

by Timothy K. Beal, David Gunn

Overview

The Bible is often said to be one of the foundation texts of Western culture. The present volume shows that it goes far beyond being a religious text. The essays explore how religious, political and cultural identities, including ethnicity and gender, are embodied in biblical discourse. Following the authors, we read the Bible with new eyes: as a critic of gender, ideology, politics and culture. We ask ourselves new questions: about God's body, about women's role, about racial prejudices and about the politics of the written word.
Reading Bibles, Writing Bodies crosses boundaries. It questions our most fundamental assumptions about the Bible. It shows how biblical studies can benefit from the mainstream of Western intellectual discourse, throwing up entirely new questions and offering surprising answers. Accessible, engaging and moving easily between theory and the reading of specific texts, this volume is an exciting contribution to contemporary biblical and cultural studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415126649
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/28/1996
Series:	Biblical Limits
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1340L (what's this?)

About the Author

Timothy K. Beal, David Gunn

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors Preface Opening: Cracking the Binding Timothy K Beal Part One: Divine Bodies Shifting the Blame: God in the Garden Danna Nolan Fewell and David M Gunn, The Problem of the Body for the People of the Book Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, The Hebrew God and His Female Complements Athalya Brenner, Oedipus Wrecks: Moses and God's Rod Ilona N Rashkow, Woman Wisdom and the Strange Woman: Where is Power to be Found? Claudia V Camp Part Two: Human Bodies: Woman and the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom Carol A Newsom, Imagination, Method and Murder: Un/Framing the Face of Post-Exilic Israel Danna Nolan Fewell, The Problem with Pagans Daniel L Hawk, Assuming the Body of the Heir Apparent: David's Lament Mark K George, Utopia and Pornography in Ezekiel: Violence, Hope and the Shattered Male Subject Jan William Tarlin, An Imaginary and Desirable Converse: Moses and Monotheism as Family Romance Daniel Boyarin Part Three: Textual Bodies Transference and Tact in Biblical Studies David Jobling, Margins of Lamentation, of The Unbearable Whiteness of Reading Tod Linafelt, A Postscript to The Book: Authenticating the Pseudepigrapha Kyle Keefer, What Does the Bible Say? A Question of Text and Canon David Gunn Bibliography Index