This Abled Body: Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies

257 Pages·2007·0.91 MB·English

by  Hector Avalos

This Abled Body
Society of Biblical Literature
Semeia Studies
General Editor:
Gale A. Yee
Editorial Board:
Roland T. Boer
Tat-Siong Benny Liew
Sarojini Nadar
Erin Runions
Fernando F. Segovia
Ken Stone
Caroline Vander Stichele
Elaine M. Wainwright
Number 55
THIS ABLED BODY
Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies
edited by
Hector Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, and Jeremy Schipper
This Abled Body
Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies
edited by
Hector Avalos
Sarah J. Melcher
Jeremy Schipper
Society of Biblical Literature
Atlanta
THIS ABLED BODY
Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies
Copyright © 2007 by the Society of Biblical Literature
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
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any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976
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in writing to the Rights and Permissions Offi ce, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston
Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399, USA.
Drawing on page 85 by Richard Parkinson from John F. Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicine
(London: British Museum, 1996). Copyright © Richard Parkinson. Used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
This abled body : rethinking disabilities in biblical studies / edited by Hector
Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, and Jeremy Schipper.
p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature semeia studies ; v. 55)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-58983-186-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. People with disabilities—Biblical teaching. 2. People with disabilities—
Mediterranean Region—History. I. Avalos, Hector. II. Melcher, Sarah J. III. Schipper,
Jeremy.
BS680.A25A25 2007
220.8'305908—dc22 2007035805
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper
conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994
standards for paper permanence.
Contents
Abbreviations vii
Introduction
Hector Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, Jeremy Schipper 1
Essays
Part One
Rethinking Disabilities in Ancient Texts
1. The Origins of the Disabled Body:
Disability in Ancient Mesopotamia
Neal H. Walls 13
2. Deformity and Disability in Greece and Rome
Nicole Kelley 31
3. Introducing Sensory Criticism in Biblical Studies:
Audiocentricity and Visiocentricity
Hector Avalos 47
4. “Be Men, O Philistines” (1 Samuel 4:9):
Iconographic Representations and Refl ections on
Female Gender as Disability in the Ancient World
Carole R. Fontaine 61
5. Masculinity and Disability in the Bible
Thomas Hentrich 73
Part Two
Biblical Texts and Disability Studies
6. The Normate Hermeneutic and Interpretations
of Disability within the Yahwistic Narratives
Kerry H. Wynn 91
v
vi CONTENTS
7. Disabling Israelite Leadership: 2 Samuel 6:23 and
Other Images of Disability in the Deuteronomistic History
Jeremy Schipper 103
8. With Whom Do the Disabled Associate?
Metaphorical Interplay in the Latter Prophets
Sarah J. Melcher 115
9. “Living among the Tombs”: Society, Mental Illness, and
Self-Destruction in Mark 5:1–20
Holly Joan Toensing 131
10. “For Whenever I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong”:
Disability in Paul’s Epistles
Martin Albl 145
Responses
11. Enabling the Body
Janet Lees 161
12. “Jesus Thrown Everything Off Balance”:
Disability and Redemption in Biblical Literature
David Mitchell, Sharon Snyder 173
13. Impairment as a Condition in Biblical Scholarship:
A Response
Bruce C. Birch 185
Conclusion
Hector Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, Jeremy Schipper 197
Bibliography 201
List of Contributors 219
Index of Subjects 223
Index of Modern Authors 229
Index of Ancient Sources 235
Index of Selected Foreign Terms and Phrases 243
Abbreviations
AAR American Academy of Religion
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman.
6 vols. New York, 1992
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
AHB Ancient History Bulletin
AIA Archaeological Institute of America
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.
Edited by J. B. Pritchard. 3rd ed. Princeton, 1969
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ARM Archives royales de Mari
ASOR American Schools of Oriental Research
BAGD Bauer, W., W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature. 2nd ed. Chicago, 1979
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BAS Biblical Archaeology Society
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia
BLB Blue Letter Bible. www.blueletterbible.org
BR Bible Review
BS Bibliotheca Sacra
BT The Bible Translator
CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago. Chicago, 1956–
CANE Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Edited by Jack
Sasson. 4 vols. New York, 1995
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CEV Contemporary English Version
COS The Context of Scripture. Edited by W. W. Hallo. 3 vols.
Leiden, 1997–
DSS Dead Sea Scrolls
DtrH The Deuteronomistic History
FCB Feminist Companion to the Bible
GNB Good News Bible
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
vii
viii ABBREVIATIONS
HSS Harvard Semitic Studies
HTR Harvard Theological Review
IDB The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by G. A.
Buttrick. 4 vols. Nashville, 1962
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JARCE Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JECS Journal of Early Christian Studies
JFSR Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement
Series
JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
KMT KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt
KTU Die Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit. Edited by
Manfred Dietrich. Münster, 1995
LÄ Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Edited by W. Helck, E. Otto,
and W. Westendorf. Wiesbaden, 1972
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LXX Septuagint
MT Masoretic Text
NAB New American Bible
NEA Near Eastern Archaeology
NIBCOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament
NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary
NIV New International Version
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
NT New Testament
NTS New Testament Studies
OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
OEANE Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East.
Edited by E. Meyers. New York, 1997.
OT Old Testament
OTL Old Testament Library
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association
RA Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale
RelSRev Religious Studies Review
RlA Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Edited by Erich Ebeling et
al. Berlin, 1928–
RSV Revised Standard Version
SANE Sources from the Ancient Near East
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
TCS Texts from Cuneiform Sources
ABBREVIATIONS ix
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited
by G. Kittel and G. Friedrich. Translated by G. W.
Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1964–1976
TLOT Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by
E. Jenni, with assistance from C. Westermann.
Translated by M. E. Biddle. 3 vols. Peabody, MA, 1997
TUAT Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
WAW Writings from the Ancient World
ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen morgendländischen Gesellschaft
ZDVP Zeitschrift des deutschen Pälastina-Vereins