Overview

This groundbreaking study looks beyond biblical texts, which have had a powerful influence over our views of women's roles and worth, in order to reconstruct the typical everyday lives of women in ancient Israel. Carol Meyers argues that biblical sources alone do not give a true picture of ancient Israelite women because urban elite males wrote the vast majority of the scriptural texts. Also, the stories of women in the Bible concern exceptional individuals rather than ordinary Israelite women. Drawing on archaeological discoveries and ethnographic information as well as biblical texts, Meyers depicts Israelite women not as submissive chattel in an oppressive patriarchy, but rather as strong and significant actors within their families and in their communities. In so doing, she challenges the very notion of patriarchy as an appropriate designation for Israelite society.

Full Product Details

Author:   Carol Meyers (Mary Grace Wilson Professor of Religion, Mary Grace Wilson Professor of Religion, Duke University)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.90cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 16.00cm
Weight:   0.649kg
ISBN:  

9780199734559

ISBN 10:   0199734550
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   17 January 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Notes on Translations, Transcriptions, and Documentation 1. Eve and Israelite Women: Understanding the Task 2. Resources for the Task 3. Setting the Scene: The Ancient Environment 4. Eve in Eden: Genesis 2-3 5. Eve out of Eden: Genesis 3:16 6. Eve's World: The Household 7. Women and Household Maintenance, Part I: Economic, Reproductive, and Socio-Political Activities 8. Women and Household Maintenance, Part II: Religious Activities 9. Excursus: Professional Women 10. Gender and Society: Reconstructing Relationships, Rethinking Systems Epilogue: Beyond the Hebrew Bible Notes

Reviews

<br> Page-turning excitement. --The Catholic Bible Quarterly<p><br> Only archaeology, with its emphasis on the unedited material, not the textual remains of the cult, can give back to Israelite women their lost history. Meyers grasps this point intuitively; and her attempt to reconstruct the overall domestic roles of women in ancient Israel is laudable, particularly as it uses the model of the 'domestic mode of production.' --Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research<p><br> Super! --Barry M. Gittlen, Baltimore Hebrew Univ.<p><br> A highly readable study of women and gender roles in the 'highland' period of pre-monarchical Israel. Extraordinarily well informed by a wide range of disciplines. --Lauree Hersch Meyer, Bethany Theological Seminary<p><br> Truly an interdisciplinary study that will reward scholars and students....The interpretations of the evidence are judicious. --Religious Studies Review<p><br> A unique endeavor, and her interdisciplinary approach deserves close attention, as it could virtually be a paradigm of a new approach. --Journal of the American Academy of Religion<p><br> Well written and should be highly recommended to the non-specialist and specialist alike....Its strength lies in its attempt to understand women's lives in context through the interrelationship of archaeological data, biblical texts, and social scientific models. --Critical Review<p><br> A most welcome contribution to the growing body of literature on women in Israelite society. Meyers helps us to imagine more faithfully the REAL woemn of the Bible, their life situations, daily activities, contributions to society. Excellent! --Barbara E. Bowe, Catholic Theological Union<p><br> An excellent and carefully written book that illuminates the social history of women in tribal Israelite society. Excellent for an introductory course in Hebrew scriptures. --Stephenson Humphries-Brooks, Hamilton College<p><br> This book makes a significant contribution to the field. Nothing of

[Meyers] breaks new ground with a fresh examination of roles of the ancient Israelite women...With numerous expansions and multiple new perspectives, even those familiar with Meyers' 1988 work will find Rediscovering Eve a welcome new monograph in the field of feminist research in biblical studies. --Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology Carol Meyers' Discovering Eve was a milestone in feminist scholarship when it was published in 1988, bringing together disciplines that had not previously had much contact. Now, after nearly twenty-five years of further work in feminist and gender studies, archaeological and ethnographic analysis, Meyers' Rediscovering Eve provides a superb study that retrieves the material and cultural conditions of ordinary Israelite women, as well as shedding new light on how to read and understand the account of the mythic Eve. This book is essential reading for introductory courses on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. --Carol A. Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology Meyers elegantly documents the Hebrew Bible's minimalist and misogynist views of women in ancient Israel. More importantly, she then proceeds to document this using perceptive new insights into the biblical texts; the pertinent but neglected archaeological data on household activities; and especially a considerable body of ethnographic data unfamiliar to many scholars in our respective fields. This pioneering work goes a long way toward rescuing ancient Israelite women from obscurity, ably demonstrating that they played far more significant roles than we had imagined in the domestic arena, in communal and public life, in the cult, and even in cultural and political life. This is feminist scholarship at its best--neither doctrinaire nor defensive, but simply factual, honest, incisive, bold scholarship...a landmark publication. It will change the way we view women in ancient Israel, in the church and synagogue, an

Carol Meyers' Discovering Eve was a milestone in feminist scholarship when it was published in 1988, bringing together disciplines that had not previously had much contact. Now, after nearly twenty-five years of further work in feminist and gender studies, archaeological and ethnographic analysis, Meyers' Rediscovering Eve provides a superb study that retrieves the material and cultural conditions of ordinary Israelite women, as well as shedding new light on how to read and understand the account of the mythic Eve. This book is essential reading for introductory courses on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. --Carol A. Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology Meyers elegantly documents the Hebrew Bible's minimalist and misogynist views of women in ancient Israel. More importantly, she then proceeds to document this using perceptive new insights into the biblical texts; the pertinent but neglected archaeological data on household activities; and especially a considerable body of ethnographic data unfamiliar to many scholars in our respective fields. This pioneering work goes a long way toward rescuing ancient Israelite women from obscurity, ably demonstrating that they played far more significant roles than we had imagined in the domestic arena, in communal and public life, in the cult, and even in cultural and political life. This is feminist scholarship at its best--neither doctrinaire nor defensive, but simply factual, honest, incisive, bold scholarship...a landmark publication. It will change the way we view women in ancient Israel, in the church and synagogue, and in the academy. --William G. Dever, University of Arizona Rediscovering Eve is thus an enlightening update of a classic work of Biblical and Feminist scholarship as well as a worthwhile read for sophisticated and casual readers alike. --Jewish Book Council

<br> Carol Meyers' Discovering Eve was a milestone in feminist scholarship when it was published in 1988, bringing together disciplines that had not previously had much contact. Now, after nearly twenty-five years of further work in feminist and gender studies, archaeological and ethnographic analysis, Meyers' Rediscovering Eve provides a superb study that retrieves the material and cultural conditions of ordinary Israelite women, as well as shedding new light on how to read and understand the account of the mythic Eve. This book is essential reading for introductory courses on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. --Carol A. Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology<p><br> Meyers elegantly documents the Hebrew Bible's minimalist and misogynist views of women in ancient Israel. More importantly, she then proceeds to document this using perceptive new insights into the biblical texts; the pertinent but neglected archaeological data on household activities; and especially a considerable body of ethnographic data unfamiliar to many scholars in our respective fields. This pioneering work goes a long way toward rescuing ancient Israelite women from obscurity, ably demonstrating that they played far more significant roles than we had imagined in the domestic arena, in communal and public life, in the cult, and even in cultural and political life. This is feminist scholarship at its best--neither doctrinaire nor defensive, but simply factual, honest, incisive, bold scholarship...a landmark publication. It will change the way we view women in ancient Israel, in the church and synagogue, and in the academy. --William G. Dever, University of Arizona<p><br> Rediscovering Eve is thus an enlightening update of a classic work of Biblical and Feminist scholarship as well as a worthwhile read for sophisticated and casual readers alike. --Jewish Book Council<p><br>

Author Information

Carol Meyers holds the Mary Grace Wilson Professorship in Religion at Duke University. A specialist in biblical studies and archaeology, she is a prominent scholar in the study of women in the biblical world and a trustee of the American Schools of Oriental Research and of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. She also serves on the board of directors of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation and is president-elect of the Society of Biblical Literature.

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