The Absence of God in Biblical Rape Narratives
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2017
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Publisher's Description
In this groundbreaking work to identify and address God’s absence in three key rape narratives in the Hebrew Bible, Leah Rediger Schulte finds a pattern that indicates a larger community crisis. With a careful look at Genesis 34, Judges 19, and 2 Samuel 13, this study outlines God’s absence, a foreign presence, and a persistent problem that is resolved incorrectly to highlight consequences of the Israelites breaking their covenant with God. Using methodologies from literary criticism and gender studies and situating rape in its historical context, this volume makes distinctions between modern constructs of rape and biblical rape. Commentaries and studies on rape in the Bible often read a modern understanding of the victim and rapist back into the biblical text, missing how it would have been understood in ancient Israel. These biblical rape scenes are intimately connected to and assist in telling the story of Israel’s history as a people and their covenantal relationship with their deity.
Endorsements (2)
“In her sensitive, insightful reading of biblical rape narratives, Leah Schulte powerfully combines scholarly rigor with compassion for ancient and modern victims of sexual violence. Through her study of God’s absence—and community failure—in biblical stories of rape, Schulte calls on modern communities to work for justice and protection for survivors of violence.”
“Why on earth is God absent when women are raped? And what exactly does it mean when in the Bible women are raped? And how to connect rape with the experience of total crisis in the covenantal relationship between God and people? Leah Rediger Schulte sets out to answer these three pivotal questions. And she does so by not only studying the Hebrew Bible, but also connecting it with what seems to be a license to grab women by their genitals. Brilliantly written and to the point! We want more books by Leah Rediger Schulte!!!”
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