Table Of Contenti
Are We Not Men? Unstable
Masculinity in the Hebrew Prophets
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Are We Not Men?
Unstable Masculinity
in the Hebrew
Prophets
RHIANNON GRAYBILL
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1
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By Anne Carson, from GLASS, IRONY, AND GOD, copyright ©1995 by Anne Carson.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
From Glass, Irony and God by Anne Carson
Published by Jonathan Cape
Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Limited.
First published in Glass, Irony and God, copyright Anne Carson, 1995. Reprinted by permission of Anne
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Graybill, Rhiannon, 1984– author.
Title: Are we not men? : unstable masculinity in the Hebrew prophets / Rhiannon Graybill.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press USA, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043885 (print) | LCCN 2016031873 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190227364 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190227371 ()
Subjects: LCSH: Men (Christian theology)—Biblical teaching. | Bible. Prophets. |
Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Classification: LCC BS1199.M34 G73 2016 (print) | LCC BS1199.M34 (ebook) | DDC 224/.06—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015043885
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Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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To my parents
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1. The Materiality of Moses: The Prophet’s Body in Trouble 23
2. The Horror of Hosea: Female Bodies and Masculine Anxieties
in Hosea 1– 3 49
3. The Hysteria of Jeremiah: Gender and Voice in the Confessions 71
4. The Unmanning of Ezekiel: The Prophet’s Body Voluptuous
and Shattered in Ezekiel 1– 5 97
5. The Queer Prophetic Body 121
6. Final Reflections 143
Notes 147
Bibliography 169
Index 181
Index of Biblical References 185
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Acknowledgments
there are many people who made this book possible. The project began at
the University of California, Berkeley, as my doctoral dissertation in Near Eastern
Studies. I am grateful to Robert Alter, Daniel Boyarin, Chana Kronfeld, and
Celeste Langan for their guidance, as well as their trust. At Berkeley, I also owe
a debt of gratitude to Benjamin Porter and John Hayes. At Rhodes College, this
book was nourished into its present form. My colleagues in Religious Studies sup-
ported the project, and me, from the beginning. In the department, I have found
sympathetic listeners, critically engaged readers, and conversation partners, all of
whom helped refine the book and its arguments. In particular, John Kaltner and
Steven L. McKenzie provided me with a number of valuable comments and sug-
gestions. Karen Winterton helped in many ways; Kenan Padgett assisted me in
obtaining a number of research materials. The Dean’s Office provided me with a
research leave to complete the manuscript, for which I am deeply appreciative.
I am also grateful for my students, their enthusiasm, and their curiosity— they
have asked all manner of questions, many of which made this a stronger book.
At Oxford University Press, I have been lucky to work with Steve Wiggins,
a wonderful editor. I am also appreciative of the feedback from three anony-
mous reviewers. An early version of chapter 4 was published in The Bible and
Posthumanism; I would like to thank Jennifer Koosed for including the piece, and
for her comments. An early version of c hapter 1 likewise appeared in the journal
Biblical Interpretation; Tat- siong Benny Liew and two reviews provided helpful
feedback that shaped the final version of the piece.
Multiple audiences also heard and commented on early versions of this work.
Chapter 1 was first presented to the AAR Body and Religion group in 2011.
Chapter 2 benefited from multiple audiences, including the Gender, Sexuality,
and the Bible session at SBL (2013), and audiences at the University of Mississippi
(2014) and Centenary College (2015). An early form of chapter 3 was presented
at the 2010 SBL annual meeting to a joint session of Gender, Sexuality, and the
Bible, and LGBT Hermeneutics; this chapter was also the basis of a 2013 lecture
