Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible

by Kenneth Stone (Editor), Andrew Mein (Editor), Claudia V. Camp (Editor)

Overview

Essays exploring and explaining how 'queer' reading makes a difference to biblical exegesis. As with feminism, theoretical questions arise such as whether such readings are characterized by certain questions or can only legitimately be done by gay or lesbian readers. The contributors are drawn from a range of backgrounds and a variety of interests—Jewish, Christian, agnostic, male, female, heterosexual, gay and lesbian—and mostly concentrate on individual passages and books. But the volume also contains some theoretical reflections, and it ends with three +critical responses' from scholars with interdisciplinary interests on the place of queer read-ing of the Bible in broader contexts. A book for anyone interested in contemporary issues of bible interpretation or in queer theory generally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841272375
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/09/2002
Series:	The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies , #334
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Andrew Mein is Lecturer in Old Testament at the University of Durham, UK.

Claudia V. Camp is Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University, USA and was on the steering committee of the Seminar. She is currently co-general editor of the LHBOTS series, as well as the author or editor of 4 books and numerous articles.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	7
	Abbreviations	8
	List of Contributors	9
	Queer Commentary and Biblical Interpretation: An Introduction	11
Part I	Queer Readings
	YHWH as Erastes	36
	Yahweh as Top: A Lost Targum	75
	Violent Femmes and S/M: Queering Samson and Delilah	106
	Lovers and Raisin Cakes: Food, Sex and Divine Insecurity in Hosea	116
	The Gift of Voice, the Gift of Tears: A Queer Reading of Lamentations in the Context of AIDS	140
	Remembering Pelotit: A Queer Midrash on Calling Down Fire	152
	Cruising as Methodology: Homoeroticism and the Scriptures	169
Part II	Responses
	(Cor)Responding: A Letter to the Editor	182
	A Gay Male Ethicist's Response to Queer Readings of the Bible	193
	Yahwist Desires: Imagining Divinity Queerly	210
	Bibliography	228
	Index of References	245
	Index of Authors	248