About this ebook
This collection of essays deals with aspects of women and gender relations in early Judaism (during the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires). Some essays focus on specific writings: the Greek (Septuagint) version of Esther, Judith, Joseph and Aseneth, and the Letter of Jeremiah. Others explore how certain biblical texts are reinterpreted: Eve in the Life of Adam and Eve, the mixing of the sons of God with the daughters of men from Genesis 6:1–4, the Egyptian princess at the birth of Moses, and how Josephus retells biblical stories. The third group of essays explore specific social contexts: Philo's views of women in the Roman empire, the Sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls, and women philosophers of the Therapeutae in Egyptian Alexandria.
Features
- An International team of contributors from Europe and North America
- A breadth of materials covered, including many lesser-known early Jewish writings
- Focus is on a gendered perspective and gender specific questions
About the author
Eileen Schuller is Professor (emerita) in the Dept. of Religious Studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, where she has held the Senator William McMaster Chair in the Study of Religion. She has edited various prayer and psalm manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls for Discoveries in the Judaean Desert. She has written on women in the Dead Scrolls and in early Judaism, and a more popular book The Dead Sea Scrolls: What Have We Learned (2006).
Marie-Theres Wacker is professor for Old Testament and for gender studies in theology at the Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet in Muenster, Germany. She has written several books on early Jewish writings, feminine figurations in Hosea, and biblical monotheism. Together with Luise Schottroff she edited Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (2012).
