"Cutting across disciplinary boundaries and challenging traditional understandings of historical cultures, this handbook examines and interrogates the ways in which gender, sexuality, and religion were mutually constructed and negotiated in ancient Near Eastern societies. Chapters look at ritual and ceremonial practices, iconographic representations, mythological and divinatory texts, personal beliefs, and piety, focusing on the intersections of gender, sexuality and religion as a central category of inquiry"--
Cutting across disciplinary boundaries and challenging traditional understandings of historical cultures, this handbook examines the ways in which gender, sexuality, and religion were mutually constructed and negotiated in ancient Near Eastern societies. Chapters look at ritual and ceremonial practices, iconographic representations, mythological and divinatory texts, personal beliefs, and piety. The book explores these topics by adopting religion as a category of inquiry to understand gender roles and the intersections of sexualities with religious worldviews.
With a focus on particular case studies, this volume provides a broad and interdisciplinary overview of key areas and issues across the study of religions, genders, and sexualities in the ancient Near East. Each section is introduced by the editors with a discussion of relevant terminology, as well as convergences and divergences of rituals, beliefs, practices, and themes among the contributions.
Ranging from in-depth discussions of single texts to cross-cultural anthropological and sociological comparisons, the international contributions showcase the latest work of established scholars as well as emerging voices.
Recenzijos
Dolansky and Shectman have brought together a talented group of international scholars to highlight the absolute centrality of gendered historiography, namely combining gender studies with traditional historical critical methods. The essays use current theoriesbut without unnecessary jargonto suggest new, clever, and provocative readings, opening up broader interpretive possibilities for many ancient texts. * Marc Zvi Brettler, Duke University, USA * I challenge anyone to peruse Dolansky and Shectmans Handbook of Religion, Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient Near East without delight. Authors voices shine through, including a wide array of world-class specialists across numerous approaches. This handbook fills longstanding gaps and gifts pedagogues with clear, robust definitions and accessible methodology. Researchers far beyond ANE studies will benefit from taking the editors contribution of gendered historiography as a model for teaching and research in any historical period. * Sara Parks, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada * The discipline of biblical studies can feel overrun with handbooks do we really need another? In the case of the Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient Near East, the answer is a resounding YES. This is a remarkable volume in its breadth, depth, and quality of scholarship. Shawna Dolansky and Sarah Shectman have curated an excellent resource for scholars and students alike, and I cannot wait to use this handbook in class. * Rhiannon Graybill, University of Richmond, USA * Employing diverse methodological approaches to the material culture of the ancient Near East, the authors demonstrate how gender, sexuality, and religion were mutually constructed and negotiated at all levels of ancient societies. These cutting-edge essays offer valuable insights, and I highly recommend the volume to anyone seeking to understand the interconnections between religion, gender, and sexuality in antiquity and their relevance today. * Hanna Tervanotko, McMaster University, Canada * Though not everyone will agree with all of the conclusions and ideas presented in this volume of case studies on religion, gender and sexuality in the ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible, the contributions therein are truly stimulating examples of the current methodological shift in gender research. Therefore, It is a must read for scholars in the field. * Mark Chavalas, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA *
Daugiau informacijos
Surveys the ways in which gender, sexuality, and religion were mutually constructed and negotiated in ancient Near Eastern societies.
Introduction
Shawna Dolansky (Carleton University, Canada) and Sarah Shectman (Independent
scholar, USA)
Part 1: Gender Roles and Attributions
1. Stephanie Budin (Independent scholar, UK), Why Is Ishtar a Fertility
Goddess?
2. Noam Cohen (Muhlenberg College, USA), A Married Womans Right to
Intercourse: Schoolboys, Law, and Female Sexuality
3. Joanna Töyräänvuori (University of Helsinki, Finland), Divine Sexuality
in the Ugaritic Texts
4. Omar NShea (University of Malta, Malta), Gender Benders in the Temple of
the Goddess Itar: The Case of the Assinnu
5. Dorothea Erbele-Küster (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany),
Sexuality and Food
Part II: Ritual and Body
6. Adi Marili (Bar Ilan University, Israel), The Human Body in Ritual
Worship: Performance and Meaning
7. Jonathan Stökl (Kings College London, UK), Priestly Masculinity in the
First Millennium BCE: Fragile Hegemonies
8. Céline Debourse (Harvard University, USA), Women in Cultic Functions in
Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon
9. Gioele Zisa (The University of Palermo, Italy), Rear up, Make Love to
Me! Rear up, Bleat for Me!: Heteronormative Male Sexuality in the
Mesopotamian Therapies for the Recovery of Sexual Desire
10. Joseph Scales (Independent scholar, UK) and Laura Quick (University of
Oxford, UK), The Emergence of Submergence: Womens Bathing Rituals in
Ancient Judaism
11. Amelia Brownridge (University of Toronto, Canada), The Dual Feminine: An
Exploration of the Pregnancy Metaphor in 1QHa 1(?)18
12. Sarah Cook (The University of Georgia, USA), No Body, No Crime: Dressing
Yahweh-as-Tabernacle in Exodus 3540
Part III: Violence and Power
13. Chontel Syfox (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA), Rewriting the
Rape of Dinah: The Endogamous Exchange of Women and Reproductive Futurism in
Genesis 34 and Jubilees 30
14. Jennifer Lehmann (Graduate Theological Union, USA), Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor HR Violation: Sexual Violence and Masculinity in Genesis
39
15. Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme (University of Oslo, Norway), Beauty,
Power, and Gender in the Hebrew Bible
16. Carmen Palmer (Stetson University, USA), The Woman Was Very Beautiful:
Beautiful Women in Scripture as Purveyors of Tradition
17. R. Gillian Glass (Aarhus University, Denmark), Inverted Pathways to
Power: Heavenly Knowledge and Authority in the Book of the Watchers and
Aseneth
18. Kelly J. Murphy (Central Michigan University, USA), And Aaron was
Silent: Priests, Power, and Masculinities
Shawna Dolansky is Associate Professor of Humanities at Carleton University, Canada. She is the author of Now You See It, Now You Dont: Biblical Perspectives on the Relationship Between Magic and Religion (2008) and co-author of The Bible Now (2011).
Sarah Shectman is the Managing Editor of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization and the author of Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-Critical Analysis (2009).
