Prophecy and Gender in the Hebrew Bible ed. by L. Juliana Claassens and Irmtraud Fischer

Abstract

Reviewed by: Prophecy and Gender in the Hebrew Bible ed. by L. Juliana Claassens and Irmtraud Fischer Corrine L. Carvalho l. juliana claassens and irmtraud fischer (eds.), Prophecy and Gender in the Hebrew Bible (Bible and Women 1.2; Altanta: SBL Press, 2021). Pp. xv + 439. Paper $56. This collection of essays is part of the SBL Series, "The Bible and Women: An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History," whose aim is "to present a reception history and cultural history of the Bible, focusing on gender-relevant biblical themes, women in the text, and the women who throughout history have read, appropriated, and interpreted the Bible in text and image" (https://www.sbl-site.org/publications/books_BibleandWomen.aspx). This volume meets this aim by presenting a broad examination of gender analyses of both the Former and Latter Prophets. The series is published simultaneously in German, English, Italian, and Spanish. The institutional affiliations of the various contributors reflect that global perspective. For American readers, this engagement with continental European scholarship is an additional benefit of the volume. The book begins with an introductory essay by Irmtraud Fischer, "Women in the Prophetic Books of the Hebrew Bible." The book is then divided into three parts: the broader historical context, studies of the narratives in the Former Prophets, and essays pertaining to gender in the prophetic collections. The book contains indexes of both ancient sources and modern authors. Each essay contains a bibliography. Part 1 is titled, "Historical Background: Prophecy and Gender in the Ancient Near East." It contains the following essays: "Narrative, Story, and History in the Biblical Traditions about the Formation of the Israelite Monarchy (1 Samuel 9–2 Samuel 5)," by Omer Sergi; "Cult and War: Contributions of Iconography to a Gender-Oriented Exegesis of Prophecy," by Silvia Schroer; "Nonmale Prophets in Ancient Near Eastern Sources," by Martti Nissinen; "Women and Magic: Practices in the Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)," by Ora Brison. Part 2 is named "Female Literary Figures and Their Social-Historical Context in the Nevi'im." It consists of "Female Biblical Prophets: Visible Bodies, Audible Voices—Liberated Word," by Nancy C. Lee; "Profiles of Resistant Women in the Former Prophets," by Rainer Kessler; "Women in the War Narratives of the Prestate Period (Joshua–Judges)," by [End Page 519] Michaela Bauks; "Gendered Politics: Dynastic Roles of Women in the Narratives about Saul, David, and Solomon," by Ilse Müllner; and "Women at the King's Court: Their Political, Economic, and Religious Significance in the Accounts of the Former Prophets," by Maria Häusl. Part 3 covers "Gender and Metaphor in the Latter Prophets." The essays here are "Daughter Zion and Babylon, the Whore: The Female Personification of the Cities and Countries in the Prophets," by Christl M. Maier; "The Marriage Metaphor in the Prophets: Some Gender Issues," by Marta García Fernández; "Do the Prophets Have a Private Life? Women as Literary and Redactional Tools," by Benedetta Rossi; "Between Excruciating Pain and the Promise of New Life: Birth Imagery in the Prophets and Trauma Hermeneutics," by L. Juliana Claassens; "Embodied Memories: Gender-Specific Aspects of Prophecy as Trauma Literature," by Ruth Poser; "Pornoprophetics Revisited, Decades Later," by Athalya Brenner-Idan; "The Meaning of the Female Presence in Messianic Texts within the Corpus of the Nevi'im," by Ombretta Pettigiani; and "The Never-Ending Search for God's Feminine Side: Feminine Aspects in the God-Image of the Prophets," by Hanne Løland Levinson. On the whole, this volume is quite good, although I will offer a few critiques in my summaries. Some of the essays in part 1 lack focus partly because they are setting the broader social context. Sergi's essay provides a strong foundation on issues of historiography, especially for the early monarchy but, surprisingly, does not address gender. Similarly, Schroer's essay focuses more on the relationship between iconography and text, providing a good summary of current research, although the arrangement of the discussion was sometimes hard to follow. Nissinen's essay is an excellent summary of his extensive work on gender and prophecy in the ancient Near East. Brison uncovers the gender polemics in the biblical texts' use of certain prophetic terms, but it would...