Perkins School of Theology

With new revisions and additions, this is an up-to-date overview of the historical, social, and academic developments of reading the Hebrew Bible from a feminist perspective. Introducing the Women's Hebrew Bible is an up-to-date feminist introduction to the historical, socio-political, and academic developments of feminist biblical scholarship. In the second edition of this popular text Susanne Scholz offers new insights into the diverse field of feminist studies on the Hebrew Bible. Scholz provides a new introductory survey of the history of feminism more broadly, giving context to its rise in biblical studies, before looking at the history and issues as they relate specifically to feminist readings and readers of the Hebrew Bible. Scholz then presents the life and work of several influential feminist scholars of the Bible, outlining their career paths and the characteristics of their work. The volume also outlines how to relate the Bible to sexual violence and feminist postcolonial demands. Two new chapters further delineate recent developments in feminist biblical studies. One chapter addresses the relationship between feminist exegesis and queer theory as well as masculinity studies. Another chapter problematizes the gender discourse as it has emerged in the Christian Right's approaches to the Old Testament.

UltraCamXp is the new flagship camera product which introduced in 2008 at the ISPRS Conference and Exhibition in Beijing by Vexcel Imaging (a Microsoft Company). This paper will give a technical overview about the advantages and concept of the camera. The focus is set on a large scale project which was carried out in late 2008 near Graz, Austria. Radiometric and geometric aspects of this flight mission are presented in this paper.

Disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted, the websites discussed in this article were active on the day of publication. Due to the transitory nature of some websites, some of these links may no longer be active. The opinions expressed in these websites are not necessarily those of the author or the Journal.

Zusammenfassung: Für das Treffen der nordamerikanischen Sektion der ESWTR im November 2013 wurden die Podiumsteilnehmerinnen und -teilnehmer gebeten, die englische Übersetzung des Kompendium: Feministische Bibelauslegung (engl. Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books oft he Bible and Related Literature) zu kommentieren, die im Jahr 2012 erschienen ist. In diesem Artikel werden nun ein Teil dieser Kommentare und die damit einhergehenden Diskussionen sowie kritische Anfragen an das Kompendium schriftlich zugänglich gemacht. Die Beiträge der folgenden Autorinnen und Autoren sind hier veröffentlicht: Robert Wafawanaka, Martin Rumscheidt, Helen Leneman, Deborah Rooke, Dora R. Mbuwayesango, Johanna Erzberger und MarieTheres Wacker.

Die HebrŠische Bibel enthŠlt sechs ErzŠhlungen, die von Vergewaltigungen versklavter Frauen berichten. Dieser Artikel untersucht diese Texte literarkritisch und mit Hinweisen auf die Auslegungsgeschichte. Da die Perspektive von versklavten Frauen in diesen Geschichten bisher weitgehend ignoriert wurde und mehrere von ihnen nicht als Vergewaltigungstexte bekannt sind, verdeutlicht die Bezugnahme auf einige Berichte von versklavten Frauen in den Vereinigten Staaten des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts die feministisch kritische Perspektive, mit der die sechs ErzŠhlungen hier gelesen werden. Die Exegese beleuchtet eindrŸcklich den Zusammenhang von Geschlechterund Klassenanalyse in biblischen Vergewaltigungsgeschichten von versklavten Frauen. Die Untersuchung zeigt auch auf, inwiefern diese und andere biblische Texte gerade wegen ihrer androzentrischen Perspektive fŸr ein feministisches VerstŠndnis von Religion und Gesellschaft weiterhin wichtig sind.

The reviewers represent an array of feminist perspectives that is diverse in race/ethnicity, nationality/culture, gender, age, and stream of religious tradition. The reviews probe not only a variety of dimensions of Prof. Scholz's work, but also a variety of points of progress and ongoing issues in feminist interpretation.

Die hier präsentierte Sammlung von Beiträgen dokumentiert das Panel „Feminist Approaches to the Bible“, organisiert von Susanne Scholz und Hanna Stenström bei der EABS-Tagung in Leuven im Sommer 2016. Die Diskussionsgrundlage dieses intensiven feministischtheologischen Gesprächs bildete das dreibändige Werk Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect, erschienen bei Sheffield Phoenix Press in den Jahren 2013, 2014 und 2016 (herausgegeben von Susanne Scholz). Die Beiträge von Klaus-Peter Adam, Hanna Tervanotko und Karin Tillberg reflektieren auf Grundlage dieses Werks Fragen moderner feministischer Exegese zwischen methodisch-hermeneutischen Errungenschaften und neuen Herausforderungen und Perspektiven. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The progressive German-speaking scholarship produced by Old Testament exegete Willy Schottroff (1931–1997) is often neglected in historical reviews of biblical studies. Schottroff adhered to a marginalized intellectual tradition in German Protestant late twentieth-century Hebrew Bible scholarship that preserved and nurtured exegetical integrity and theological ethics in resistance to imperial intellectual and political ambitions and practices. This essay traces Schottroff’s exegetical efforts to read the Hebrew Bible with a method, called social historical criticism, not much known outside German-speaking contexts. Three sections depict Schottroff as standing in this liberationist-materialist view of historical criticism. A first section surveys my personal encounter with Schottroff’s work in the West German Post-Holocaust, Post Civil-Rights, and Peace Movement era of the late 1980s. A second section connects Schottroff’s reliance on social historical criticism to Gerhard von Rad’s ...

This essay responds to Mukti Barton’s critique of White feminist exegetes for their preference of Miriam over Zipporah. Accordingly, the essay examines why White feminist European readers ought to view Miriam’s song (Exod. 15:20-21) not as a role model for feminist empowerment but as a fourfold exegetical opportunity, first, to reassess feminist biblical scholarship’s focus on Miriam; second, to expose the binary logic of Miriam’s song as problematic war rhetoric when read within the contemporary European context of the Ukraine war; third, to highlight the vassalisation of contemporary Europe as the reading context for White feminist European exegesis of Miriam’s song; and fourth, to develop readings on Zipporah that contribute to consciousness-raising insights about the longstanding discriminatory systems targeting people defined as “other,” whether by class, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, or religion. In sum, this study on Miriam’s song suggests that anybody’s war rhetoric should be rejected in our era of possible nuclear annihilation, and negotiated peace and life together on planet earth should be the exegetical guide for White feminist European readers.

Tendai hongaku thought has come under scrutiny and severe criticism recently on two counts，one ontological and the other socio-ethical. The ontological critique maintains that hongaku thought espouses substantialistic notions inconsistent with the teaching of early Buddhism. This article examines passages from hongaku writings and offers a reading that takes into account enlightenment practice in the Tendai tradition as the context within which these texts were written and used. Noting the role of "deconstructive disclaimersn imbedded in the text, it suggests a way of reading that can allow the contents to avoid the pitfall of substantialism.

An introductory essay competently traces the original context and eventual fate of thousands of carved wooden altarpieces of Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol from the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Authoritative discussion of their manufacture and formal development from earlier simple tabernacle and relic containers to multiply shuttered, enormous wooden structures, leads to the specific history of twenty-two specifically featured altarpieces, chosen as exceptionally well-preserved examples of a southern Germanic carving tradition from the midfourteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. Subsequent chapters focus in turn on these individual altarpieces, with physical condition, artistic hands and patronage, and iconography clearly and thoroughly covered. In addition to an erudite and accessible prose, the volume sings in the quality of the photographic reproductions specially commissioned for this project. In each case an altarpiece is illustrated in its whole aspect, followed by a wealth of carefully selected detail photographs. The resultant hefty weight and size of this book make it an unlikely choice for casual browsing. But the erudition of the author establishes authority on the subject of late-Gothic altarpieces, and study of this sumptuous publication will yield rich rewards to readers with serious interest in the topic.

Die HebrŠische Bibel enthŠlt sechs ErzŠhlungen, die von Vergewaltigungen versklavter Frauen berichten. Dieser Artikel untersucht diese Texte literarkritisch und mit Hinweisen auf die Auslegungsgeschichte. Da die Perspektive von versklavten Frauen in diesen Geschichten bisher weitgehend ignoriert wurde und mehrere von ihnen nicht als Vergewaltigungstexte bekannt sind, verdeutlicht die Bezugnahme auf einige Berichte von versklavten Frauen in den Vereinigten Staaten des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts die feministisch kritische Perspektive, mit der die sechs ErzŠhlungen hier gelesen werden. Die Exegese beleuchtet eindrŸcklich den Zusammenhang von Geschlechter-und Klassenanalyse in biblischen Vergewaltigungsgeschichten von versklavten Frauen. Die Untersuchung zeigt auch auf, inwiefern diese und andere biblische Texte gerade wegen ihrer androzentrischen Perspektive fŸr ein feministisches VerstŠndnis von Religion und Gesellschaft weiterhin wichtig sind. Rape has a long history even though this kind of sexual violence has taken on different meanings in different times and places. It also appears in stories of the Hebrew Bible, and we keep struggling to understand its importance there. Can we use the contemporary term ÒrapeÓ for literature thousands of years old? Scholars disagree. Some object to the terminological anachronism whereas others accept more freely the fact of readers creating biblical meaning. This article follows the latter position, and goes even further; it examines a particular set of rape stories, those of enslaved women, in light of questions about gender and class. The task is controversial because several of the stories are not often classified as rape stories and almost never viewed as rape narratives centered on enslaved women. One story that is sometimes recognized as a rape text is not usually read in light of class. Yet in all of the stories studied here,

Ordinarily, I would have glanced at an article such as this, shaken my head about the unfortunate but powerful alliance between the Christian Right and the current administration in the United States, and moved on. This time, however, I cut out the article and copied it for my ...

We live in a post-biblical world—a world that sentimentalizes the Bible, ignores it, or is indifferent about the sacred text of the Christian and Jewish religions. Our daily lives are not shaped by biblical rhetoric, imagery, or practice, but by our everyday efforts of making a living, ...

, President George W. Bush spoke to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) during its annual convention in Colorado Springs. An organization of 30 million Americans, the NAE has given full support to Bush, who spoke via teleconference to the convention's attendees. Bush, mentioning his opposition to gay marriage, certain forms of abortion, and gene research, knew that his audience endorsed a conservative agenda. Bold religious (and androcentric) rhetoric laced his speech, in which he asserted, "Human life is a creation of God, not a commodity to be exploited by man." The speech was noteworthy enough to warrant coverage by the New York Times, which ran the article in its main section. 1 Ordinarily, I would have glanced at an article such as this, shaken my head about the unfortunate but powerful alliance between the Christian Right and the current administration in the United States, and moved on. This time, however, I cut out the article and copied it for my students. I understood more fully to whom Bush spoke, because I was already involved in reviewing the Christian Right's discussion on gender and the Bible. I had visited the Web site of the NAE, as well as those of some of its member organizations, such as the Christian Coalition of America, Jerry Falwell Ministries, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, and especially the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. 2 The latter organization focuses on gender issues, publishes the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and sponsors conferences aiming to educate the American public about "biblical manhood and womanhood." 3 Not only had I studied these and other Web sites of Christian fundamentalist organizations, I was also in the process of reading more than ten books on gender and the Bible, all written by men of fundamentalist Christian convictions. 4 I was not at all pleased with what I found, but I was beginning to understand the links between the political Right and evangelical gender talk. My project took its initial inspiration from an article published in this journal in 2003. In "Men in Biblical Scholarship," Esther Fuchs examined the strategies of male Bible scholars who engage with feminist exegesis. 5 I enjoyed Fuchs's essay for its unambiguous criticism of scholarly co-optation into androcentric perspective. Fuchs's argumentation was refreshingly essentialist, but this characteristic is also a limitation. A critique that does not consider right-wing publications of the 1990s is incomplete when such books make it to the top of Web searches for "Bible and gender" at popular book sites such as Amazon's. 6 In a politically, culturally, and religiously conservative climate, progressive feminist Bible scholars benefit from understanding how evangelical writers, most of them men, address gender issues. When even George W. Bush feels free to publicly align himself with an organization of the Christian Right, progressive scholars of all persuasions have to ask, How has it happened that Christian conservatives have gained the attention of the political elite while scholarly organizations such as the Society of Biblical Literature and progressive religious organizations such as the National Council of Churches work in relative oblivion? Currently, few mainstream researchers of biblical studies take into account the Christian Right's discourse. A rare example is Athalya Brenner's book re-Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 82

Disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted, the websites discussed in this article were active on the day of publication. Due to the transitory nature of some websites, some of these links may no longer be active. The opinions expressed in these websites are not necessarily those of the author or the Journal. Abstract The Internet is a rich storage house for studying the role of the Bible in contemporary American and Western culture. The examination of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) on the Internet demonstrates that biblical studies gain from the critical interaction with the digital world. Many religiously oriented Web pages mention the biblical story when they discuss the issue of homosexuality. Others include archaeological findings to prove the historicity for the existence and destruction of the two cities. Numerous Web pages give evidence for the commercial, cultural, and fantastic significance of Sodom and Gomorrah. The study shows that contemporary culture and thus the digital worl...