Since its origins in the women's liberation movement, feminist exegesis has been subject not only to the demand to identify the oppressive functions of biblical texts but also to contribute to the liberation of women. What biblical texts can serve this process of liberation-for which women, under what conditions, and in what manner? What roles do categories such as woman, gender, liberation, freedom, Holy Scripture, church, and theology play? This book originated from a symposium with feminist biblical experts from over twenty countries from five continents. It provides a striking and imaginative depiction of the questions central to feminist exegesis and the hermeneutics of liberation. It also provides a lively example of the kind of global discussion of the Bible and liberation that can take place among women from around the world. Typical of this discussion is the confrontation with questions such as contextuality or the diversity of feminist biblical interpretation (whether of theological or non-theological nature), and clear positions are taken with regard to issues such as the termination of anti-Judaism in feminist biblical interpretation or the dangers of neo-colonial domination in feminist-theological studies.

Wisdom Has Built Her House brings together for the first time the collected studies of Silvia Schroer on the biblical figure of Sophia, divine Wisdom. Schroer presents a differentiated image of Wisdom as female, creator, teacher, prophet, beloved, and more. In Wisdom Has Built Her House Schroer portrays Wisdom as a cosmic ordering principle, as universal architect, and as mediator of all scientific knowledge. Schroer also inquires about the contexts of these writings: about feminine wisdom and women's roles after the Babylonian exile, about the goddess traditions behind the idea of Sophia, and about their significance within a monotheistic symbol system. Schroer then follows the tradition of God imaged as Wisdom to the time of the Jesus- movement and the first Christian communities. Teachers, students, and those looking for a well-reasoned study of personified Wisdom - and reasons for reinvisioning our own images of God - will find this in Wisdom Has Built Her House. Chapters are Wisdom on the Path of Righteousness (Proverbs 8:20)," "Divine Wisdom and Postexilic Monotheism," "Wise Women and Counselors in Israel: Models for Personified Hokma," "'And When the Next War Began . . .' The Wise Woman of Abel of Beth-maacah (2 Samuel 20:14-22)," "Abigail: A Wise Woman Works for Peace," "The One Lord and Male Dominance in the Book of Jesus Sirach: The Image of Woman and the Image of Wisdom in a Misogynist Document," "Personified Sophia in the Book of Wisdom," "Jesus Sophia," and "The Spirit, Wisdom, and the Dove."

Othmar Keel has become well known as the author of masterly studies on the iconography and texts of the ANE and their relationship to the text of the Hebrew Bible. In this volume, he partners with Silvia Schroer to assemble ANE texts and art that bears on the idea of creation. The result is a convenient assemblage of texts and iconographical data that may be studied in concert, often leading to being able to see old texts in new ways. As with much of this Swiss scholar's work, this new volume will prove to be a resource for all who wish to study the biblical theology of creation against its wider background.

In the hundred years since The Women's Bible, giant strides have been made in feminist interpretation of the Bible. Now comes the first comprehensive overview of the whole field. The authors systematically recount those efforts to describe the story of women in both testaments, to uncover tendencies not supportive of women, and to describe biblical traditions that empower women. The book unfolds in three parts: Historical, Hermeneutical, and Methodological Foundations Toward a Feminist Reconstruction of the History of Israel Toward a Feminist Reconstruction of Early Christianity

Images are like texts influenced by their cultural environment. To decode their code and at the same time to liberate it from the guardianship of the text interpretation, the authors of this volume have made the task. They explore the question of the role of images in the reconstruction of women's history in antiquity. The answers range from fundamental interpretations of ancient images from a gender-oriented perspective to the exploration of more specific topics such as the portrayal of nudity or the woman as ruler, mother or priestess. "Images and Gender" is a unique groundbreaking collection of the latest gender research on the subject Iconography of Egypt, Palestine and Israel as well as Greek and Roman antiquity.