Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach (Revised)

In this eye-opening book, Ilana Pardes explores the tense dialogue between dominant patriarchal discourses of the Bible and counter female voices. Her findings lead to reassessments of patriarchal traditions and of current feminist critiques. Pardes studies women's plots and subplots, dreams and pursuits, uncovering the diverse and at times conflicting figurations of femininity in biblical texts. She also sketches the ways in which anti-patriarchal elements intermingle with other repressed elements in the Bible: polytheistic traditions, skeptical voices, and erotic longings. The formation of the Hebrew Bible, Pardes shows, entailed not only a concern for unity but also, on occasion, an irresistible attraction toward countertraditions. For her analysis Pardes draws on feminist theory, literary criticism, biblical scholarship, and psychoanalysis. Her discussions of Eve as namegiver, Rachel's Dream, the Song of the Shulamite, Zipporah's magical act, and the critique of Job's wife open new lines of thought for feminist critics, literary critics, biblical scholars, and all readers of the Bible.