Table Of ContentTroubling Topics, Sacred Texts
Troubling Topics,
Sacred Texts
Readings in Hebrew Bible,
New Testament, and Qurʾan
Edited by
Roberta Sterman Sabbath
ISBN 978-3-11-063426-6
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-065061-7
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-065100-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021940703
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Forourchildren
Preface
As an observer of the intersection of Cultural Studies with Hebrew Bible, New
Testament, and Qur’an scholarship, I recognized the lively interest developing
during the last few decades in the profound impact these sacred texts have
had and continue to have on individual and community lives.Cultural Studies
embraces a polymorphous array of literary theories to focus on how the texts
themselves—the words on the pages and the reception through the centuries
andacrossculturesandcivilizations—becometoolsforculturalandthusindivid-
ual and communal formation.While that formation has served to develop the
greatreligionsofJudaism,Christianity,andIslamwhoseculturalimpactinforms
many other world views,the formation has also reached into the everyday and
intimatelifeofitsadherentsandcommunitiestoestablishnormativestandards.
On the one hand, these standards nurture a communitas, the visible/invisible
bondingweb,creatingacommunitythatfunctionsasaunit,supportsindividual
members,andachievesanamenablestability.Ontheotherhand,theirverysuc-
cessservestoeraseindividualidentity.Thus,theideaofthetroublingaspectof
thetextsandtheirfunctionsgrewtoaddresstheecosystemthatnegotiatescon-
flicting contexts, needs, desires, and outcomes both for individuals and com-
munities.
I am particularlygratified at the diversity of voices that speak through this
collectioninverypersonalyetacademicways.Contributorscomefromuniversi-
ties in Egypt, Israel, United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Ghana, and across the
United States. They represent a spectrum of sectarian and public, large and
small,seaboardandheartlandacademicenvironments.Contributorsthemselves
are diverse in academic maturity, gender, confessional identity, ethnic back-
ground,andage.MostcontributorsparticipatedinanAmericanComparativeLit-
eratureConferenceheldatHarvardUniversity,Cambridge,MA2016,UtrechtUni-
versity,Utrecht,The Netherlands 2017, and Georgetown University,Washington,
D.C.2019.Theirwillingnesstooffertheirmaturingscholarshipisforeverandpro-
foundly appreciated.
The chapters herein attest to the eternally dynamic nature of the texts and
their reception. That very vibrancy is what has propelled and empowered our
contributors to focus on an element demonstrating the malleability of texts
andparticularlytheiruseastoolsofempowermentorsuppression.Contributors
havedemonstratedaparticularcompassionforthosewho,ontheonehand,may
havebeenstrangledbypolemicpowerofthesetexts,butwho,ontheother,may
have been enriched by the very malleability that the textsbring tobear invali-
datingoften-conflicted lives and circumstances.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110650617-001
VIII Preface
SpecialgratitudegoestoSophieWagenhofer,SeniorAcquisitionsEditor,De
Gruyter,who,asearlyastheSocietyofBiblicalLiterature/AmericanAcademyof
ReligionConferenceinBoston2018,expressedinterestinthecollectionandcon-
tinuedtoencourageitsprogressionthroughvariousstagesofcollectionandfor-
mation.ThisvolumebuildsuponthecomparatistworkofSacredTropes:Tanakh,
NewTestament,andQur’anasLiteratureandCulture(Brill2009)whosecontrib-
utors have given me confidence that cross-national, interdisciplinary, and di-
versescholarsshareacommonpassionforinterrogatingsacredtexts.University
of Nevada,Las Vegas,Collegeof Liberal Arts,andthe English Departmentcon-
tinued to support this endeavor with funding and interest. Additional heartfelt
gratitudegoestomychildren,eachofwhomcontributedediting,conceptualiza-
tion, and endless encouragement.
Contents
List of Previous Publications XIII
Roberta Sabbath
Introduction 1
Part I: Gender & Sexuality
Monique Moultrie
Introduction to Gender & Sexuality 15
Kecia Ali
Destabilizing Gender, Reproducing Maternity: Mary In The Qurʾān 19
Benjamin H. Dunning
Same-Sex Desire and Theological Anthropology in the New Testament:
The Case of Romans 1:18–32 43
Nicholaus Pumphrey
Unexpected Roles: Examining Ancient Gender Construction in the Joseph
Narrative 71
Part II: Body & Appearance
Marvin A. Sweeney
Introduction to Body & Appearance 95
Andrew R. Davis
Disability and Advocacy in the Book of Job 99
Hadas Hirsch
The Contradictory/Complementary Roles of Clothing in the Qurʾān: Grace,
Metaphors, Morals, and Fashion 113
X Contents
William Thomas McBride
“Wast Naked” A Biblical Scruple 135
Part III: Women & Feminism
Tammi J. Schneider
Introduction to Women & Feminism 149
Naomi Graetz
Intertextuality Sheds Light on the Text of Judges 19, the Concubine of Gilead:
The Case of Genesis 24 153
Taira Amin
Women and Guile in the Qurʾān and Tafsīr: A Close Study of Verse
Q12:28 191
Gail Labovitz
Two-Faced and of Two Minds: A Jewish Feminist Reading the Rabbis Reading
the Creation of Humanity 215
Tammy Heise
Embracing Female Submission to Exercise Maternal Authority: How Biblical
Literalism Fueled White Evangelical Women’s Anti-Civil Rights
Activism 265
Mariah Q. Richardson
The Reality of Female Despondency in the Book of Esther 291
Part IV: Death & Mourning
J. Richard Middleton
Introduction to Death & Mourning 311
Zev Garber
The ʿAḳedah, Binding of Isaac, and Shoah Enigmas 315
Sarah Katerina Corrigan
The Language of Lament: Unlocking the Potentials of Biblical Despair 333
