Danna Nolan Fewell

Interludes and Irony in the Ancestral Narrative

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Musical composition, ventriloquy, narrative mimicry, and irony form Jonathan Kruschwitz’s analytical constellation to reassess the morally unsettling and hermeneutically controversial stories of Hagar, Dinah, and Tamar in the book of Genesis. Often seen as narrative cul-de-sacs enforcing a rigid construction of Israelite ancestral identity and destiny, these interludes are shown in Kruschwitz’s careful reading to be integral to a more expansive and dynamic understanding of communal identity. This is truly a timely interpretation in a world currently fraught with social exclusivism.”

The Proverbial Woman

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“The Proverbial Woman--who can find her? If we think we have found her neatly contained and ripe for emulation in Proverbs 31, Amy Chase suggests we think again. In both her guises--the outspoken queen mother instructing her son and the dazzlingly resourceful wife ensuring her husband's success--the contradictory and controversial Proverbial Woman has a complicated story that teems with nameless people, churns with social struggles, and spills beyond the page to capture its audience in its morally compromising currents. In Chase's expert reading, the Proverbial Woman steps firmly off her traditional pedestal and enters a messier fray that reflects, generates, and challenges the elitist impulses to survive and succeed at the expense of others. A truly remarkable study that deepens our knowledge as readers and our awareness as moral agents.”