Dangerous Sisters of the Hebrew Bible

by Amy Kalmanofsky

Overview

Fathers, sons, and mothers take center stage in the Bibles grand narratives, Amy Kalmanofsky observes. Sisters and sisterhood receive less attention in scholarship but, she argues, play an important role in narratives, revealing anxieties related to desire, agency, and solidarity among women playing out (and playing against) their roles in a patrilineal society. Most often, she shows, sisters are destabilizing figures in narratives about family crisis, where property, patrimony, and the resilience of community boundaries are at risk. Kalmanofsky demonstrates that the particular role of sisters had important narrative effects, revealing previously underappreciated dynamics in Israelite society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451469950
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	01/01/2014
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	462,187
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Amy Kalamosfky is the Blanche and Romie Shapiro Professor of Bible and the Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is the author of Gender-Play in the Hebrew Bible (2017), Sexual Violence and Sacred Texts (2017), Dangerous Sisters of the Hebrew Bible (2014), and Terror All Around: Horror, Monsters, and Theology in the Book of Jeremiah (2008),

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Ideal and Dangerous Sisters in the Bible 1

Part I Sister Pairs

1 Rachel and Leah 19

2 Michal and Merav 37

3 Israel and Judah 53

Part II Incestuous Sisters

4 Lot's Daughters 71

5 Sarah 87

6 Tamar 101

Part III Sisterhoods

7 The Daughters of Adam, Moab, the Land, and Israel 119

8 The Daughters of Jerusalem 141

9 Ruth and Naomi 157

10 Conclusion 175

Bibliography 187

Index of Names and Subjects 195

Index of Biblical References 205