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Writing the Wrongs: Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation PDF

305 Pages·2001·19.01 MB·English
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Preview Writing the Wrongs: Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation

Writing the Wrongs OXFORD STUDIES IN HISTORICAL THEOLOGY Series Editor David C. Steinmetz, Duke University Editorial Board Ircna Backus, Universite de Geneve Gerhard Sauter, Rhemische Friedrich- Robert C. Gregg, Stanford University Wilhelms-Univcrsitat Bonn George M. Marsden, University of Susan E. Schreiner, University of Chicago Notre Dame John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame Wayne A. Mecks, Yale University Geoffrey Wamwnght, Duke University Heiko A. Oberman, University of Arizona Robert L Wilken, University of Virginia IMAGES AND RELICS Theological Perceptions and Visual Images in Sixteenth-Century Europe John Dillenberger THE BODY BROKEN The Calvmist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century France Christopher Elwood CASSIAN THE MONK Columba Stewart HUMAN FREEDOM, CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS Philip Melanchton's Exegetical Dispute with Erasmus of Rotterdam Timothy J. Wengcrt PRIMITIVISM, RADICALISM, AND THE LAMB'S WAR The Baptist-Quaker Conflict in Seventeenth-Century England T. L. Underwood THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY The ]ohannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus Craig S. Farmer THE UNACCOMMODATED CALVIN Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition Richard A. Muller WHAT PURE EYES COULD SEE Calvin's Doctrine of Faith in Its Exegetical Context Barbara Pitkin THE CONFESSIONALIZATION OF HUMANISM IN REFORMATION GERMANY Erika Rummel THE PLEASURE OF DISCERNMENT Gender, Genre, and Allegorical Rhetoric in Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron Carol Thysell REFORMATION READINGS OF THE APOCALYPSE Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenburg Irena Backus WRITING THE WRONGS Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation John L. Thompson WRITING THE WRONGS Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation John L. Thompson OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OO1 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Pans Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies m Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 2001 by John L. Thompson Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered Trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-m-Pubhcation Data Thompson, John Lee Writing the wrongs, women of the Old Testament among biblical commentators from Philo through the Reformation /John L, Thompson. p cm. —(Oxford studies in historical theology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513736-1 i.Bible O.T. —Criticism, interpretation, etc. —History. 2. Women in the Bible 3 Violence in the Bible. I. Title II Series 681199.Wy ^49 20°i 221.9'22'o82 — dc21 00-057490 Quotations from Luther's Works volumes 3 and 4, copyright 1955 by Concordia Publishing House, are used with permission under license number oo 6-6. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 42 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Marianne This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments At the conclusion of a long project, there arc innumerable loose ends to tie up on the way to publication. This one is the most agreeable —to look back over the journey and take stock of debts incurred and support received from institutions, col- leagues, friends, and family. First, the institutions. I am not a fast writer, or a fast much of anything. I am therefore especially grateful for institutional support that gave me time off from my faculty responsibilities, enabling me to think linear thoughts for whole days at a time. The Pew Evangelical Scholars Program funded a leave for 1994-95; a Lilly Faculty Fellowship extended my earned sabbatical in 1997-98; and the generous sabbatical policy of Fuller Theological Seminary contributed additional study time. Scholars cannot work without libraries, so it is fitting that I thank first of all John Dickason and the staff of McAlister Library at Fuller Seminary, who obtained nu- merous obscure sources (including microforms and subscriptions to electronic re- sources) that made it possible to research European intellectual history in sunny Southern California. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; to the Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin Semi- nary, Grand Rapids; and to Terrance Dinovo and the Lutheran Brotherhood Library at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, which loaned numerous sets of microfiche sources freely and promptly. My colleagues and fellow historians here at Fuller—Jim Bradley, Mel Robeck, and Charlie Scalise—gave helpful feedback during our monthly departmental lunch- eons, reading portions of every chapter. Charlie in particular went the extra mile, even sharpening my translation at points. Richard Muller of Calvin Seminary has been nearly an alter ego at times, interacting with me about method, sources, and backgrounds with an encyclopedic expertise and generally keeping my spirits up. Jack Levison of Duke University was invaluable in helping me frame and introduce this project, and continued to prove in other ways that the rewards of the scholarly life lie more in the bonds of collaborative friendship than in any printed page. viii Acknowledgments Various extracts from this book were read at a number of scholarly meetings, in- cluding parts of chapters i through 3 at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in 1994, 1995, and 1996; at the American Society of Church History in 1997; and at the Seventh International Congress for Calvin Research (Seoul) in 1998. Parts of those presentations later appeared in Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought and in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. I owe a word of thanks to my respondents at these sessions, including Craig Farmer, John Farthing, Gerald Hobbs, Mickey Mat- tox, Elsie McKee, Barbara Pitkin, David Steinmetz, and Timothy Wengert, all of whom are far more than mere respondents, but also colleagues and treasured friends. My work benefited from the generosity of other scholars, too. Robert Hill advised me on reading Chrysostom, as well as Pseudo-Chrysostom, and Irena Backus further informed me about the probable career of Pseudo-Chrysostom in various sixteenth- century editions. David Hunter helped me interpret some of Ambrosiaster's laconic prose. Arthur Holder and Michael Gorman apprised me of the relationship between Pseudo-Bede and Rabanus. Bernie Rabenstein and Edward M. Cook of Hebrew Union College verified references to David Kimhi in the great rabbinic Bibles of the early sixteenth century, and Stephen Burnett shared his fiche copy of the Pagnini Bible. Max Engammare allowed me to read one of Calvin's sermons on Genesis in advance of the appearance of the critical text in the Supplementa Calviniana, while Tony Lane was of inestimable service in discussing Calvin's sources. Thanks are due also to other friends and sometime students, including J. Ted Blakley, who lovingly retouched the illustration of Jephthah's daughter; Cathy Eskew, who commented on my preliminary draft; and Diana Bailey, who checked page proofs. The most tedious details were addressed by my graduate assistant, Brian Ebersole, who must have thought he'd joined the Red-Headed League of Arthur Conan Doyle, for all the strange and actuarial tasks I pressed upon him, including paging through every leaf in the eighteen Migne volumes on Chrysostom, counting references to Gen- esis and Judges in a dozen or so volumes of Schneyer and Stegmiiller, and checking notes and bibliography. Finally, there are other important factors deserving of recognition. Two in particular exerted great influence over the pace of my work. I have already mentioned grants from the Pew and Lilly Foundations that probably hastened the appearance of this book by, oh, a decade or so. However, I must confess that the book was then delayed by maybe a year or two by the regular interruption of vastly more important matters. These were usually presented by my daughters, Allison and Annelise, in the form of urgent homework assistance, vital walks to school, crucial bicycle rides, the woefully needed renovation of a doll house, major construction work on the train set, soccer games in the front yard (mostly, they won), and, most important of all, the indis- pensable half hour of bedtime stories. That this book should be both so hastened and so delayed surely argues for the goodness of God, but I am grateful for these delays and for the growing companionship of these young women above all. Writing a book can remind one of other sorts of debts, too. Spending several years intermittently reading and writing about women of the Old Testament, I in- evitably came to think about a number of women who have shaped the course of Acknowledgments ix my own life and faith, usually more profoundly than I appreciated at the time. They include Tillie Thompson and Tenia Lundberg; Jane Lundberg Thompson; Carol Korsmo and Linda Fallstrom; Katey Finney Barker, Janie Baldwin Baker, Lynne Mitchell Baab, Suzanne Hall Shelton, and Anita Dawkins; Mimi Dixon and Cathy Fuller; Libbie Patterson; and Mary Meye. Writing a book might seem like an odd way to say thanks and give honor to those who deserve such things, but I hope those who read their names here will know that I have not forgotten their friendship, wis- dom, guidance, or love. For the inspiration of this study, however, no one is more to be thanked than my wife and colleague, Marianne Meye Thompson. In April of 1993, at a restaurant in Pasadena, we discussed how I might study and bring to print the ways culture and mores can disrupt the nicest of exegetical theories, and she it was who derailed my intention to study the history of the interpretation of i Corinthians by suggesting a monograph focusing on the texts of terror. For that, and for years of academic col- laboration, for the continued joys of shared parenting, for a mutual delight in cre- ation and culture, and for service yoked together to the church, I am grateful. Un- like so many self-assured writers, both inside and outside of Christendom today, I would not claim to understand what it necessarily means to be male or female in modern (or postmodern) American culture; but I do believe I know what it means to share one's life and love with another mortal soul, and to behold in her the image, love, and grace of God. It is to Marianne that this book is dedicated. La Canada, California J.L.T. May i, 2000

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Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror is a landmark among those studying women of the Bible. Focusing on stories of the maltreatment of women, Trible paved the way for subsequent feminist exegetes who have been very critical of such stories in the Bible, and who see Christianity as an unredeemably patria
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