The Power of Equivocation
Complex Readers and Readings of the Hebrew Bible
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- USD 31.99
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- USD 31.99
Descripción editorial
In The Power of Equivocation Amy Kalmanofsky addresses the Bible's inherent complexity as well as the complexity of those who seek to read the Bible critically, generously, and honestly.
The Bible invites what Kalmanofsky identifies as equivocal readings--readings that do not reach neat conclusions related to ideology or character. Kalmanofsky demonstrates the Bible's complicated artistry through her close readings of six biblical narratives that feature women: she examines culpability in the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife and shows how the Bible presents neither figure as a hero or villain; considers how the Bible's portrayal of Hannah both conforms to and also defies the Bible's patriarchal norms; how the Bible affords the rejected King Saul compassion and respect through a powerful yet unlawful medium from En-Dor; how Queen Esther overpowers men to become the equivocal hero of her eponymous book; how Tamar in Genesis 38, like Hannah, conforms to and challenges the Bible's patriarchal norms and how, like Esther, she is the equivocal hero of her story; and how the Bible presents Bathsheba as a complicated figure, both vulnerable and powerful.
Kalmanofsky draws from the challenges she personally feels as a feminist, as a Jew, and as a scholar to argue that equivocal readers like herself are best equipped to see the Bible's complex artistry. Equivocal feminist-religious readers are suspicious and generous readers who can expose the ways in which biblical texts empower and disempower women and who can provide essential insight about the Bible's theology and ideology.
Through her close readings, Kalmanofsky models what it means to be equivocal readers of an equivocal Bible. The Power of Equivocation is marked by honesty and the celebration of a text that can never be read just one way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There's no singular correct interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, suggests Jewish Theological Seminary professor Kalmanofsky (Sexual Violence and Sacred Texts) in this novel exploration of scripture. Through close readings of Torah stories about women, the author argues that "the Bible intends to be polyvalent and welcomes inconsistencies and employs minimal verbosity in order to be expansive in meaning." Kalmanofsky contends that though Potiphar's wife is traditionally regarded as nefarious for making sexual advances on her servant Joseph, some readings assert that Potiphar was a eunuch who may have brought Joseph into his home to father a child with his wife, which, for Kalmanofsky, makes Potiphar's wife "treacherous" but "not the villain." The author posits that Esther and Mordecai both have a claim to be considered the protagonist of the Book of Esther, and she notes that adopting this view illuminates how the pair can be interpreted as representing assimilation (Esther) versus maintaining a distinct cultural identity (Mordecai). Kalmanofsky also brings her sharp analysis to bear on stories about Samuel's mother, Hannah; the medium from Endor; Tamar; and Bathsheba, constructing a convincing argument that complexity and ambiguity are integral to the Torah's narratives. Readers will find the unorthodox interpretations eye-opening.