- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Toby Press Ltd (30 Jan 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1592643396
- ISBN-13: 978-1592643394
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 632,079 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Subversive Sequels in the Bible
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.25
Trade in Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Singularly faithful to the biblical text, which Klitsner reads closely and with great respect, this book is fascinating and radical in its implications and inspires the reader to see surprising connections in language and in themes."-JOFA Journal "Klitsner addresses head-on the challenges of finding modern-day relevance in the Bible, especially in relation to women"s issues. She analyzes without apologizing, leaving the reader with much to consider."-Hadassah Magazine "This new commentary exhibits biblical scholarship at its finest."-Jewish Book World "In this ground-breaking book, Judy Klitsner presides over a conversation between pairs, or sequences, of biblical narratives. Paying close attention to the nuances of biblical language, she expertly maps the way in which passages echo and subvert one another. Her alert ear and vigorous writing style reveal new intertextual structures, within which later narratives reconsider earlier ones, revising and often redeeming them ... A moral and religious passion animates this innovative study."-Avivah Zornberg, Torah scholar and author (including the JPS classic Genesis: The Beginning of Desire) "Ms. Klitsner is an excellent teacher whose insights into biblical narrative will deepen the reader's engagement and understanding."-Rabbi David Silber, Founder and Dean of the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Product Description
Judy Klitsner pairs biblical stories to show how a later text will often comment on, or even subvert, an earlier one. The author draws on her fluent command of Hebrew commentary and her broad reading of ancient and modern exegesis, and creates a rare dialogue between feminist and traditional Bible commentary. Using the method of parshanut (interpretation) and her own unique approach to biblical texts, Klitsner draws bold, surprising parallels between biblical passages, revealing previously unexcavated layers of meaning. The result is a series of fresh and original readings of familiar narratives, accessible to both novice and experienced readers of the Bible. With her fresh, original readings of familiar narratives, Klitsner illustrates the dynamic nature of bibical attitudes regarding issues of ongoing relevance, such as the self, gender relations, and relations between Jews and non-Jews.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The art of making surprising - but convincing - biblical connections,
By
This review is from: Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other (Paperback)
This is a scintillating book - scholarly yet accessible, well-written and full of delightful, illuminating biblical insights that bring familiar texts vividly to life afresh. Using a close literary reading of the Hebrew Bible, Klitsner's method is to analyse a text and then juxtapose it with a sometimes surprising second text, or a chain of them. She uses the story of Noah, for example, alongside that of Jonah in the prophetic book that bears his name, to show how flight from self and unpleasant truths about the human condition can be transformed into something more hopeful; and the account of the Tower of Babel together with the story of the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 to illustrate how the Bible stresses individuality over anonymous, mass-society conformity. The contrasting encounters of Abraham and Moses with non-Israelite priests (Melchizedek and Jethro respectively) are also absorbingly and persuasively analysed.If parts of the section on Adam and Havvah (Eve) seemed a bit laboured, they're redeemed by some thoughtful comparisons between some of the matriarchs of Genesis. Klitsner's welcome feminist perspective comes through clearly in her scrutiny of how Rebekhah provides an intriguingly positive, and even patriarch-like, contrast to Sarah. (The one serious blot in the book was Klitsner's assertion here that Genesis 25 exemplifies the `first and only time in the annals of Genesis' that `God delivers a verbal response to a woman in need' (142). This ignores God's response to Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21, dealt with so powerfully by, for example, Charlotte Gordon's `The Woman who named God'). The author goes on to assert that texts about Deborah (contrasted with Barak), Jael (who slaughters the enemy general Sisera) and others can be seen as striking blows, both literal and metaphoric, for the original, creational equality of women that Torah texts on Sarah have called into question. Klitsner reads her Bible creatively and imaginatively, but also with very close attention to the Hebrew text (Hebrew script is helpfully transliterated throughout). In drawing, too, on Talmud, midrashim and a host of Jewish exegetes from Rashi and Maimonides to Netziv and voices from the 20th century, she demonstrates just what a rich store of `plain meaning' commentary there is available to support her readings. A book that's infectiously enthusiastic for its subject, and thoroughly recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
an amazing book,
This review is from: Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other (Paperback)
The underlying concept - a God who grows and develops in tandem with his human creations - is subversive indeed, but the author makes a powerful case for this contention. She tackles those parts of the Bible which we find hard to accept - for example, a loving God who can destroy all mankind, or accept an inferior status for women - and brings convincing evidence for subsequent sequels which revise these offending concepts.I have bought this book for all my friends - you will read the Bible with new eyes.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews) 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inner Biblical Interpretation,
By Derek Leman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other (Hardcover)
While I do not share some of Klitsner's presuppositions, her book qualifies immediately in the most important virtue of a book on Biblical interpretation: she helps readers see the text in new ways. Occasionally her exposition is strained but for every non-sequitur there are dozens of insightful connections in inner Biblical interpretation.The first chapter draws attention to connections between the Jonah story and the earlier Noah story: (1) Noah sent a dove (Hebrew, yonah) to see if the flood was ended; Jonah is, of course Yonah. (2) God flooded the world because of hamas (violence, injustice); in Jonah, the Ninevites repented of their hamas and turned away from it. (3) Noah and Jonah's stories both involve boats, sea journeys, and water-induced catastrophe (even though Nineveh is nowhere near the sea). (4) The Noah story is about judgment without mercy; the Jonah story is about mercy over judgment. (5) Noah ends his career in self-induced slumber and drunken self-destruction; Jonah begins his quest sleeping in the hold of the ship, then asking to be drowned in the sea, and at the end praying for God to take his life. (6) Noah is ambivalent about the destruction of the world while God is unrelenting; in Jonah, God wants to save the wicked, but Jonah is unwilling. Klitsner is more willing than I to question God's motives in the story, as she apparently views the Biblical narratives as human writings about God. Thus, it is possible, in her view, that the Noah story represents an earlier and inferior view of Divine judgment and mercy. My own theology differs a bit from hers, not being as willing to find fault with God in the Flood account. I would say that context was different between the Flood and Nineveh and that the Judge of all the earth does right. In fact, the repentance of Ninevah, if you believe Jonah is based on real events, was temporary and did not save them. In the end, the Assyrians like the generation of the flood, paid the price for their hamas and went down in history as a defeated empire and a despised people. Nonetheless, Klitsner's insight into the verbal parallels, puns, and interconnections has forever changed the way I will read both Noah and Jonah. She is an interesting thinker and reader. I recommend this book to those who are not beginners in Bible reading. If you are a beginner, perhaps get it and put it on your list for after you have learned a bit more and you are ready to handle a little controversy. I especially recommend this book to those for whom Bible reading has become stale or whose faith in the God of the Bible is waning. You can see my review of the first chapter here at [...] Derek Leman [...] 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A voyage of discovery,
By H. Zukier - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other (Hardcover)
Submitted by Prof. Henri ZukierIn Subversive Sequels in the Bible, Judy Klitsner explores the complex relationship between various familiar Biblical tales in a manner that is at once both surprising and convincing. What is convincing is the degree to which these narratives interact with common theme and language. What is surprising is that the results of such an examination yield a subversive yet stubbornly reverent approach to Bible study. Klitsner is a masterful guide on a thrilling voyage of discovery of hidden meanings and dynamics in the classical texts. Klitsner shakes up our old certainties about our most ancient and seemingly familiar biblical narratives, with counterintuitive, but ultimately compelling insights. She casts this familiar universe in a very different, bright light. Written with a minimum of academic jargon, this work is accessible, enjoyable and valuable to scholar and layperson alike and may be one of a very few examples of literary close readings of Hebrew texts that brings the sophistication of ancient Hebrew literature to the English speaking public. An easily summarized example is Klitsner's first chapter comparing the narrative of Noah and his ark to that of Jonah (Hebrew for "dove"). Under Klitsner's lens, these two stories are in dialogue about the dynamic nature of both human transcendence and Divine compassion. Whereas Noah is the surviving prophet in a drowning world - Jonah is the drowning prophet in a world redeemed. One story (Noah) ends with the sending of a dove and begins with the saving of many animals. The other begins with the sending of a "dove" (Jonah) and ends with a verse about saving many animals. I won't spoil the adventure of discovering with Klitsner the intricate inversion of theme and language that creates this theological dialogue between the stories. Yet, the whole treatment is greater than the sum of its parts. The author picks up on the way in which the Jonah story redeems the Noah story and with it the chance for human triumph with its stubborn hopeful "perhaps?" over the gravity and despair of our presumed fate. What links the various essays in the book is the tight literary analysis and its striking methodology of reading texts as "intertextually" related. Stories are seen as sequels that mine and undermine prior tales. No longer seen as ancient statements of monolithic messages, these stories echo into other stories and eventually resound beyond the pages of the Bible. The result is a highly relevant approach to Bible reading that ultimately invites the reader into an ongoing moral and theological symposium. Most of the book is dedicated to a rereading of various women's narratives in the Bible -from Eve and Sarah, and Rebecca and Rachel of Genesis to Deborah and Hannah, and Mrs. Manoach. Here too, to the satisfaction of traditionalists and feminists alike, the stories are read with a respect for the original stories together with a mindfulness of the ways in which later stories subvert and elevate the status of Biblical women in an ongoing conversation about biblical woman's relationship to self, to man, and to God. Be prepared for a ride. Very highly recommended. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book for beginners and experts,
By Martin Lockshin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other (Hardcover)
I very much enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it enthusiastically. Judy Klitsner combines classical Jewish close readings of biblical narratives with deep modern literary insights. The results are often astonishing. I learned much from this book--both from Klitsner's skill at interweaving seemingly unrelated biblical texts and from the timely lessons she draws from these juxtapositions. She finds surprisingly modern attitudes in the Bible about the relationships between women and men, humans and God.Readers do not require background in Hebrew or in Biblical Studies to appreciate Klitsner's work. But even experts in the field will find much new and of value in the book. |
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible > Bible Studies > Old Testament > Commentaries
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible > Bible Studies > Old Testament > Criticism & Interpretation
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Sacred Writings > Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) > Commentaries
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Sacred Writings > Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) > Criticism & Interpretation
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
