xiv + 273 pp.
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Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond
Edited by Ovidiu Creanga
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The study of masculinity in the Bible is increasingly becoming established as a field of critical inquiry in biblical gender studies. This book highlights a variety of methodological approaches that reveal the complex and multifaceted construction of masculinity in biblical and post-biblical literature. It focuses uniquely and explicitly on men and the world they inhabit, documenting changes in the type of men and masculinities deemed legitimate, or illegitimate, across various social and historical contexts of the ancient Near East. At the same time, it interrogates readers’ assumptions about the writers’ positioning of male bodies, sexuality and relationships in a gender order created to reflect men’s interests, yet in need of constant reordering
In this volume specific features of biblical masculinity are explored: the masculinity of less favoured sons in Genesis (Susan Haddox); the ideology of Temple masculinity in Chronicles (Roland Boer); the masculinity of Moses (Brian DiPalma); the performative nature of masculinity in the Sinai episode (David Clines); Deuteronomy’s regimentation of masculinity (Mark George); Joshua’s hegemonic masculinity in the Conquest Narrative (Ovidiu Creangă); Naaman’s disability in relation to ideologies of masculinity (Cheryl Strimple and Ovidiu Creangă); Job’s position as a man in charge in the Testament of Job (Maria Haralambakis); Priestly notions of sexuality in the covenant of the rainbow and circumcision in Genesis (Sandra Jacobs); Samson’s masculinity in terms of male honour (Ela Lazarewicz-Wyrzykowska); the popular depiction of Jeremiah as a ‘lamenting prophet’ against the book of Jeremiah’s male ideology (C.J. Patrick Davis); the gendered interaction of a Bible-study group with Daniel’s dreams (Andrew Todd). Finally, David Clines and Stephen Moore offer closing critical reflections that situate the book’s topics within a broader spectrum of issues in masculinity.
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Contents
Part I
SUBORDINATING MEN, DESTABILIZING HEGEMONIES
FAVOURED SONS AND SUBORDINATE MASCULINITIES
Susan E. Haddox
OF FINE WINE, INCENSE AND SPICES: THE UNSTABLE
MASCULINE HEGEMONY OF THE BOOK OF CHRONICLES
Roland Boer
Part II
FANTASIES OF (MALE) GOVERNANCE
DE/CONSTRUCTING MASCULINITY IN EXODUS 1–4
Brian C. DiPalma
DANCING AND SHINING AT SINAI: PLAYING THE MAN IN EXODUS 32–34
David J.A. Clines
MASCULINITY AND ITS REGIMENTATION IN DEUTERONOMY
Mark K. George
VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF MASCULINITY:
JOSHUA’S GENDER IN/STABILITY IN THE CONQUEST NARRATIVE (JOSH. 1–12)
Ovidiu Creangă
‘AND HIS SKIN RETURNED LIKE A SKIN OF A LITTLE BOY’:
MASCULINITY, DISABILITY AND THE HEALING OF NAAMAN
Cheryl Strimple and Ovidiu Creangă
‘I AM NOT AFRAID OF ANYBODY, I AM THE RULER OF THIS LAND’: THE PORTRAYAL OF JOB IN THE TESTAMENT OF JOB
Maria Haralambakis
Part III
LO(O)SING IT IN SEX AND TEARS
DIVINE VIRILITY IN PRIESTLY REPRESENTATION: ITS MEMORY AND CONSUMMATION IN RABBINIC MIDRASH
Sandra Jacobs
SAMSON: MASCULINITY LOST (AND REGAINED?)
Ela Lazarewicz-Wyrzykowska
JEREMIAH, MASCULINITY AND HIS PORTRAYAL AS THE ‘LAMENTING PROPHET’
C.J. Patrick Davis
Part IV
BIBLICAL MEN GENDERING BIBLE-STUDY MEN
DANIEL’S MASCULINITY DEBATED AND APPROPRIATED IN BIBLE-STUDY GROUPS
Andrew Todd
Part V
REFLECTIONS
FINAL REFLECTIONS ON BIBLICAL MASCULINITY
David J.A. Clines
FINAL REFLECTIONS ON BIBLICAL MASCULINITY
Stephen D. Moore
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Reviews
Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond is not just a ‘first of its kind’ book of collective research. It documents the efforts of a group of biblical scholars working on closely related thematic issues (and even methodological starting points), and is also a promise for further research, suggesting the emergence of a field that seems to be in the process of rapid development. Milena Kirova, The Bible and Critical Theory
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