Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees

Chontel Syfox (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

206 Seiten

2025
Brill (Verlag)
9789004734821 (ISBN)

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Utilising approaches from gender and feminist studies, Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees examines the rewritten depictions of the matriarchs, interrogating the motives and priorities that informed the rewriting of these characters.

A striking feature of the book of Jubilees is the visibility it gives to women in comparison to Genesis, with the matriarchs especially seeming to play an outsized role in the rewriting. Utilising approaches drawn from the fields of gender and feminist studies, Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees interrogates the motives and priorities that guided the rewriter in his re-presentation of the matriarchs, asking to what extent the treatment of these characters was unique to this text and its author’s attitude towards women or typical of the then literary Zeitgeist.

Dr. Chontel Syfox is an Assistant Professor in the department of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focuses on the early reception and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Second Temple Jewish literature, with a particular focus on gender-nuanced interpretative methods. She holds a Ph.D. in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity from the University of Notre Dame.

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction

1 History of Scholarship on Jubilees, Sex, and Gender

2 Methodological Considerations

3 Scope of the Study and Summary of Chapters

Part 1: Jubilees

2 Leah

1 Constructing Hegemonic Masculinities and Idealised Femininities

2 Jacob’s Hegemonic Masculinity

3 Leah’s Idealised Femininity

4 Neutralising Gender Trouble

5 Conclusion

3 Judith, Basemath, and Bedsuel

1 Constructing Pariah Femininities

2 Judith’s and Basemath’s Pariah Femininities

3 Bedsuel’s Pariah Femininity

4 Conclusion

4 Sarah and Rachel

1 Sarah’s Subordinate Femininity

2 Rachel’s Subordinate Femininity

3 Conclusion

5 Rebekah

1 Constructing Complicit Masculinity

2 Neutralising Deception

3 Gender Trouble: Doubling Down

4 Gender Trouble: the Intergenerational Consequences

5 Conclusion

Part 2: Jewish Novellas and Greek Novel

6 Esther

1 The Traditions

2 Gender Trouble in the Masoretic Text

3 Neutralising Gender Trouble in the Greek Rewriting

4 Conclusion

7 Judith

1 The Tradition

2 Judith’s Gender Trouble

3 The Complicit Masculinity of the Elders

4 Assyrian Masculinity vs. Judith’s Femininity

5 Neutralising Judith’s Gender Trouble

6 Conclusion

8 Callirhoe

1 The Tradition

2 Constructing Hegemonic Masculinity

3 Chaereas: from Subordinate to Hegemonic Masculinity

4 Constructing Idealised Femininity

5 Callirhoe: from Virgin to Mother and Wife

6 Pariah Femininities

7 Conclusion

9 Conclusions

Bibliography

Erscheinungsdatum	29.07.2025
Reihe/Serie	Biblical Interpretation Series ; 230
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	472 g
Themenwelt	Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Bibelausgaben / Bibelkommentare
	Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
ISBN-13	9789004734821 / 9789004734821
Zustand	Neuware