Till the Heart Sings: A Biblical Theology of Manhood and Womanhood

by Samuel Terrien

Overview

This new edition of Till the Heart Sings, including a substantial foreword by Phyllis Trible, makes available again Samuel Terrien's rich, acclaimed study of the biblical witness to personhood. Sweeping yet selective in scope, the book argues that the Bible as a whole advances a theology of manhood and womanhood unique in the ancient world. This theology, which resides in the main thrust of Scripture, turns away from sexism and misogyny to confer upon woman as well as man the full stature of humanity.

Terrien begins his argument where the Bible itself begins, with creation. He describes the first woman as "the crown of creation," in a mutual relationship with the first man. He then proceeds through Scripture — including the prophets, the Wisdom literature, the Gospels, and the Pauline letters — systematically showing that when the books of the Old and New Testaments are viewed in their historical growth, they reveal a theology of manhood and womanhood that runs counter to both traditional Judaism and Christianity and to modern religious attitudes and practices.

In the course of his thorough analysis of Scripture, Terrien eloquently examines a host of themes bearing on the issues of gender and personhood, from the myth of the Garden and the erZs-agap3 continuum in the Song of Songs to male overreaction to sexual mysticism and the Gnostic personification of wisdom. Terrien also explores matters related to marriage, homosexuality, and male and female priesthood, all with the aim of uncovering a truly biblical understanding of the relationship between the genders and between all people and God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802822376
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/13/2004
Series:	The Biblical Resource Series (BRS)
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Samuel Terrien (1911-2002) was Davenport Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Cognate Languages at Union Theological Seminary in New York. His many other books include Till the Heart Sings: A Biblical Theology of Manhood and Womanhood and The Elusive Presence: Toward a New Biblical Theology.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Preface	xxiii
	Introduction	1
	Hermeneutics and Theology
	Sexuality and Canonical Exegesis
	The Gospel and the Law
	The Thrust of Hebraic Faith Within Christianity
Chapter 1	Woman, Crown of Creation	7
	The Two Stories of Creation
	The Myth of the Garden
	Man's Existential Loneliness
	Woman as Savior
	An Aesthetic and Lasting Mystery
	The Totality of Love
	Precedence of "Maritality" over Male Filiality
	Paradigm of Covenantal Mutuality
Chapter 2	The Lure of Infinity	19
	Snake Worship
	Magical Use of Sexuality
	The Attempt to Grasp Infinity
	The Tree of Absolute Knowledge
	A Lust for Self-Deification
Chapter 3	The Eros-Agape Continuum	29
	Human Love in the Hebrew Epic
	Interpretations of the Song of Songs
	Structure and Unity
	A Musical Masque of Love
	Against Eden's Curse
Chapter 4	The Gender of God	51
	Human Love as Theological Metaphor
	Maternal Semantics and the Mother Goddess
	Paternal Tyranny and Divine Fatherhood
	Matriarchy and the Fatherhood of God
Chapter 5	Circumcised Male and Pollutant Female	71
	Ezekiel and the Pentateuch
	Circumcision as Covenant Rite
	Laws of Sexual Purity
	Women in Ancient Hebraism
	Women in Early Judaism
Chapter 6	The Play of Wisdom	87
	The Ecumenical Outlook
	Early Wisdom and Woman
	The Inaccessibility of Divine Wisdom
	The Play of Wisdom in Yahweh's Presence
	Toward a Theology of Mediation
Chapter 7	From Sophia to Logos	103
	Wisdom and the Eros-Agape Continuum
	The Love of Wisdom in Ben Sirach
	Wisdom and Zion
	The Hellenistic Sophia
	Jesus and Wisdom
	The Johannine Logos
Chapter 8	Jesus, Woman, and the Fatherhood of God	121
	Womanhood in Ritual Judaism
	The Women Who Followed Jesus
	The Sexuality of Jesus
	Wisdom's Vindication in Womanhood
	The Violation of the Torah
	Sexual Sin and Male Pride
	The Samaritan Woman as Apostle
	Mary Magdalene, Midwife to Christianity
	Jesus and the Fatherhood of God
Chapter 9	Men and Women in the Infant Church	143
	Men and Women in the Jerusalem Church
	The Magnificat and Radical Feminism
	Men and Women in the Greco-Roman Churches
	Women Ministers and Apostles
Chapter 10	Paul on Human Liberation	159
	Was Paul a Celibate?
	Paul's Ideal of Marriage
	The Half-liberated Legalist
	The Voice of Woman in the Church
	The Issue of Homosexuality
	Man and Woman as New Beings
Chapter 11	The Ambiguities of the Second Generation	175
	Was Hebrews Written by a Woman?
	The Followers of Paul
	Gnostic Deviations and Male Politics
	The Unresolved Tensions
Chapter 12	Man and Woman in Christianity	199
	A God-centered Humanism
	Wisdom in the Word
	Androgyny and the Eschatological Woman
	The Wonders and the Pitfalls of Human Love
	Toward a New Theology of Priesthood
	Our Father Who Art in Heaven
	Principal Abbreviations	225
	Notes	227
	Selected Bibliography	233
	Indexes	251
	Passages	251
	Subjects	257
	Authors	259

Editorial Reviews

Theology Today
"This is one of those rare books that ought to be read by anyone who deals with Scripture or sexuality. Seldom has this reader had the pleasure of reviewing a book that maintained such a high level of interest, insight, and scholarship from start to finish, or challenged in such a positive way so many accepted conclusions of both more traditional as well as feminist interpretations of biblical texts."

The Bible Today
"The only comprehensive biblical theology devoted to this topic. . . Phyllis Trible has written an excellent foreword in which she compares Terrien's feminist insights with those of Tikva Frymer-Kensky and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. . . The book continues to be well worth the reading."

From the Publisher