- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Illustrations
- Introduction
-
PART ONE Reading Ruth - “All that You Say, I Will Do”: A Sermon On the Book of Ruth
- Beginning with Ruth: An Essay on Translating
- Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth
- The Book of Ruth As Comedy: Classical and Modern Perspectives
-
PART TWO Reading Ruth's Readers - Transfigured Night: Midrashic Readings of the Book of Ruth
- Dark Ladies and Redemptive Compassion: Ruth and the Messianic Lineage In Judaism
- Ruth Amid the Gentiles
-
PART THREE Reimagining Ruth - Ruth Speaks in Yiddish: the Poetry of Rosa Yakubovitsh and Itsik Manger
- Ruth
- Printing the Story: the Bible in Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts
-
PART FOUR Translating and Reading the Song of Songs - Translating Eros
- “I Am Black and Beautiful”
- Reading the Song Iconographically
- Unresolved and Unresolvable: Problems in Interpreting the Song
-
PART FIVE Reading the Song's Readers - Entering the Holy of Holies: Rabbinic Midrash and the Language of Intimacy
- Intradivine Romance: The Song of Songs in the Zohar
- The Love Song of the Millennium: Medieval Christian Apocalyptic and the Song of Songs
- The Body of the Text and the Text of the Body: Monastic Reading and Allegorical Sub / Versions of Desire
- The Female Voice: Hildegard of Bingen and the Song of Songs
- The Harlot and the Giant: Dante and the Song of Songs
-
PART SIX Reimagining the Song - In the Absence of Love
- Song? Songs? Whose Song?: Reflections of a Radical Reader
- Honey and Milk Underneath Your Tongue: Chanting a Promised Land
- “Where has Your Beloved Gone?”: The Song of Songs in Contemporary Israeli Poetry
- Contributors
- Index
- Index of Scriptural Citations
Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth
Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth
- Chapter:
- (p.20) Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth
- Source:
- Scrolls of Love
- Author(s):
André LaCocque
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
It is essential that one reads Ruth in the light of a complex social environment that in many ways the book is reacting against. This means taking into account the status of women in ancient Israel and, more broadly, the ancient Near East. It also means considering the status of foreigners within these same surroundings. Both issues become especially intense in a tale whose title character is both female and foreign. In general, it can be said that from the point of view of sociology and religion, a woman's condition was marked by her dependency on men, especially in the realms of the cult and warfare. The book also highlights the difficult choices made by the teller of Ruth's tale. Against the odds, she created a heroine who refutes the prejudice against Moabites and presents an image of strength in vulnerability.
Keywords: Ruth, social environment, women, ancient Near East, Moabites, strength, vulnerability, Israel, sociology, religion
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Illustrations
- Introduction
-
PART ONE Reading Ruth - “All that You Say, I Will Do”: A Sermon On the Book of Ruth
- Beginning with Ruth: An Essay on Translating
- Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth
- The Book of Ruth As Comedy: Classical and Modern Perspectives
-
PART TWO Reading Ruth's Readers - Transfigured Night: Midrashic Readings of the Book of Ruth
- Dark Ladies and Redemptive Compassion: Ruth and the Messianic Lineage In Judaism
- Ruth Amid the Gentiles
-
PART THREE Reimagining Ruth - Ruth Speaks in Yiddish: the Poetry of Rosa Yakubovitsh and Itsik Manger
- Ruth
- Printing the Story: the Bible in Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts
-
PART FOUR Translating and Reading the Song of Songs - Translating Eros
- “I Am Black and Beautiful”
- Reading the Song Iconographically
- Unresolved and Unresolvable: Problems in Interpreting the Song
-
PART FIVE Reading the Song's Readers - Entering the Holy of Holies: Rabbinic Midrash and the Language of Intimacy
- Intradivine Romance: The Song of Songs in the Zohar
- The Love Song of the Millennium: Medieval Christian Apocalyptic and the Song of Songs
- The Body of the Text and the Text of the Body: Monastic Reading and Allegorical Sub / Versions of Desire
- The Female Voice: Hildegard of Bingen and the Song of Songs
- The Harlot and the Giant: Dante and the Song of Songs
-
PART SIX Reimagining the Song - In the Absence of Love
- Song? Songs? Whose Song?: Reflections of a Radical Reader
- Honey and Milk Underneath Your Tongue: Chanting a Promised Land
- “Where has Your Beloved Gone?”: The Song of Songs in Contemporary Israeli Poetry
- Contributors
- Index
- Index of Scriptural Citations