Biblical humour remains elusive for many readers. And biblical humour about women and gender remains more problematic still, since its recognition may imply the realization that it's a cruel and disrespectful humour, ridicule rather than good-natured fun. But viewing humour as social critique, as is largely done in this volume's essays, can be both fun and significant for developing an understanding the biblical worlds. As most of the essays show, writing about women is writing about men as well. The critique of women, womanhood and femaleness implied by biblical and related texts serves, in equal measure, as critique of men, manhood and maleness -- as they appear in the texts, as the texts' authors, and as the texts' commentators and readers. The contributors to this revealing and entertaining collection are Scott Spencer, Mary Shields, Kathleen O'Connor, Toni Craven, Kathy Williams, Athalya Brenner, Gale Yee, Amy-Jill Levine and Esther Fuchs. This is volume 2 in the Bible in the 21st Century series and is volume 383 in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement series.

Author Biography

Athalya Brenner, editor of the Bible in the 21st Century series, is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at the University of Amsterdam and the Rosalyn & Manny Rosenthal Distinguished Professor-in-Residence of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School, Texas.