No Longer Be Silent: First Century Jewish Portraits of Biblical Women (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews 133 and silenced. Moreover, it demands an evaluation of these texts from the perspective of a commitment to women. Schussler Fiorenza thus develops a rhetorical approach to biblical interpretation that forgoes claims to disinterestedness and objectivity. We read the Bible from particular locations for particular purposes and we read a set of texts that is itself the product of various political, social, and theological interests. But not all readings are rendered equal by virtue of all being interested interpretations. For Schussler Fiorenza, from the perspective of the ekklesia of women, the readings that self-consciously attend to those voices previously left out both of the text and its history of interpretation carry more weight, for they contribute more clearly to the democratizing of the community and to the creation of a dialogue among equals by bringing into the conversation the voices of those both in the Bible and now who continue to be silenced. In this view, truth has less to do with some objective content that we discover in a text or idea or person and more to do with the progressive enlarging of the community of equals who together seek to discern ways to live into a new future. But She Said covers a great deal of material and a wide variety of theories and approaches. It is held together by Schussler Fiorenza's attempt to delineate a theory of interpretation as rhetorical analysis. Because of its complex nature and its not always clear terminology, it is best suited for scholars and more advanced students. In these circles it is bound to stimulate debate about the nature of interpretation and the criteria by which interpretations should be judged. Sheila Greeve Davaney Iliff School of Theology No Longer Be Silent: First CenturyJewish Portraits ofBibIical Women, by Cheryl Anne Brown. Louisville, KY: Westminster!.John Knox, 1992. 219 pp. $17.99. In No Longer Be Silent, Cheryl Anne Brown offers a fascinating look at the portraits of four biblical women in the works of two first-century Jewish authors. The four women are Deborah, Jephthah's daughter, Hannah, and the witch of Endorj the authors who retell their stories are ,Flavius Josephus, author ofJewish Antiquities, and the unknown author (dubbed Pseudo-Philo by scholars) of the lesser known work Biblical Antiquities. Each of these authors uses poetic license in telling the women's stories-now embellishing, now subtracting from the biblical 134 SHOFAR Spring 1994 Vol. 12, No.3 accounts. Brown notes where the first-century portraits and the biblical portraits diverge and compares her findings with views expressed in other interpretive works of the period (including the Pseudepigrapha, Targums, Midrash, and Hellenistic Jewish works). She then assesses the authors' respective aims in portraying each of the women, relating these to their overall purposes in writing. The study contributes to a more rounded picture of women in early Judaism. In Biblical Antiquities, Hannah declares, "Speak, ... Hannah, and no longer be silent" (Bib. Ant. 51.6). As Brown observes, "Voices too long silent now speak through these significant figures" (p. 18). Of the two authors, Pseudo-Philo is the more generous in portraying women as strong characters who occupy leadership roles. Deborah is depicted in BiblicalAntiquities as a leader of truly heroic proportions. The author compares her to Moses, noting for example that she was sent by God to the people to "rule over" and "enlighten them forty years" (Bib. Ant. 30.2), and ascribing to her words that echo the words ofMoses before his death (Bib. Ant. 30.7). Jephthah's daughter is given a name ("Seila"), and her offering is compared to that of Isaac as interpreted according to the Akedah doctrine. Brown argues persuasively that Pseudo-Philo depicts Seila's death "as symbolic of the destruction ofJerusalem and the Temple" (p. 125). Hannah is portrayed (in terms echoing Psalms 42-43) as a righteous person who suffers at the taunting of Peninnah, the other wife of Hannah's husband, Elkanah. Thus the tension between the two wives is made to typifY the drama between the righteous and the wicked, "between Israel and its enemies" (p. 172). The figure of Hannah nursing her baby is here transformed into...