
Deborah's Daughters
Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation
Joy A. Schroeder(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 17. April 2014
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-19-999104-4 (ISBN)
Description
Joy A. Schroeder offers the first in-depth exploration of the biblical story of Deborah, an authoritative judge, prophet, and war leader. For centuries, Deborah's story has challenged readers' traditional assumptions about the place of women in society.
Schroeder shows how Deborah's story has fueled gender debates throughout history. An examination of the prophetess's journey through nearly two thousand years of Jewish and Christian interpretation shows how the biblical account of Deborah was deployed against women, for women, and by women who aspired to leadership roles in church and society. Numerous women--and men who supported women's aspirations to leadership--used Deborah's narrative to justify female claims to political and religious authority. Opponents to women's public leadership endeavored to define Deborah's role as ''private'' or argued that she was a divinely authorized exception, not to be emulated by future generations of women.
Deborah's Daughters provides crucial new insight into the the history of women in Judaism and Christianity, and into women's past and present roles in the church, synagogue, and society.
Schroeder shows how Deborah's story has fueled gender debates throughout history. An examination of the prophetess's journey through nearly two thousand years of Jewish and Christian interpretation shows how the biblical account of Deborah was deployed against women, for women, and by women who aspired to leadership roles in church and society. Numerous women--and men who supported women's aspirations to leadership--used Deborah's narrative to justify female claims to political and religious authority. Opponents to women's public leadership endeavored to define Deborah's role as ''private'' or argued that she was a divinely authorized exception, not to be emulated by future generations of women.
Deborah's Daughters provides crucial new insight into the the history of women in Judaism and Christianity, and into women's past and present roles in the church, synagogue, and society.
Reviews / Votes
A masterpiece-a model of how history of interpretation should be done. Deborah's Daughters is wonderful book that makes available the forgotten history of the interpretation of one of the most important female figures in Scripture accessible for the first time. Schroeder's carefully researched, well-written work is suited to a wide audience of scholars and students and promises to be a great resource for college and seminary courses. * Marion Taylor, Professor of Old Testament, University of Toronto * A work of this quality must have been the fruit of many years' labour. The breadth and the depth of the scholarship, together with the lightness of its expression, the even-handedness of its exposition, and the clarity of its presentation, make it a real gem. * Adrian Thatcher, Study of Marriage & Spirituality *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
6 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
728 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-999104-4 (9780199991044)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2014
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€43.49
Available for download
Person
Joy A. Schroeder is a Lutheran pastor and Professor of Church History at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Capital University, where she holds the Bergener Chair in Theology and Religion.
Author
Bergener Professor of Theology and ReligionBergener Professor of Theology and Religion, Capital University and Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, OH
Content
Acknowledgements ; Abbreviations ; List of Illustrations ; Introduction: Woman of Flames or Inflammatory Woman? ; 1 Domesticating Deborah: Disputes About Women's Leadership in Early Judaism and Christianity ; 2 Wife of Barak: Deborah in the Middle Ages ; 3 Judge Deborah and the Monstrous Regiment of Women: Sixteenth-Century Writers and the Prophetess ; 4 A "Heroick and Masculine-Spirited Championess": Deborah in Early Modern Gender Debates ; 5 Mothers in Israel: Suffragettes, Women Preachers, and Female Roles in the Nineteenth Century ; 6 A Fiery Woman: Deborah in the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries ; Conclusion: The Prophet Deborah in Jewish and Christian Imagination ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index