Weems, author of Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision Reckoned with in fact and that the lived experiences of black women (and other marginalized communities) get equal time around the hermeneutical table. Times in which we live, with exceptional skill in Womanist Midrash Wil Gafney makesĬertain that women’s voices in Hebrew Scripture are not erased, are heard, and are Sure, every interpretation ofīiblical texts is a combination of the stories themselves and the location, interests, andīiases of the person or groups reading the stories. Reconstituted the biblical (and the modern!) world order. Inspiration of midrashic sages) to question and, best of all, fill in blanks to read womenīack into Scripture as divine agents who resisted, persisted, subverted, disrupted, and (combining seriously impressive scholarship, a black womanist reading lens, and the With silence, Gafney deftly deploys what she refers to uniquely as a womanist midrash Inspired by the tradition of rabbinic sages to provide explanatory comments, expansive additions, illustrative anecdotes, and legendary stories to interpret texts fraught Male biblical writers themselves and centuries of ensuing (largely male) commentary. Voices, perspective, and contributions of women have been silenced or erased by Lots of places exist in Scripture where the names, Praise for the Print Edition Wherever there is space in Hebrew Scripture, Wil Gafney is hell-bent on filling it. Logos Research Subscription for Schools.Then, reading both the widow and judge through African American stereotypes (Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, Cool Black Male, Master-Pastor, and Foolish Judge) that are used to degrade, debase, and control, and reading them into and in light of the parable, Dickerson demonstrates how the parable calls into question these stereotypes thereby producing new liberative readings.

Likewise, rather than simply reading the judge as one 'who neither feared God nor had respect for people' (Luke 18:2), Dickerson argues that the judge is both an ideal man and one who compromises standards of ancient masculinity. Rather than simply reading the widow as the model for 'one who prays always and does not lose heart' (Luke 18:1), Dickerson shows that read in the context of Luke's wider narrative, the widow, domesticated and robbed both of her agency and moral ambiguity, is more likely demanding vengeance instead of justice. By putting historical criticism and reception history into dialogue with womanist biblical hermeneutics, Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes offers a provocative reading of Jesus' parable about a widow who confronts a judge and obtains what she seeks by means of physical threat. Biblical narratives are not simply sacred stories for religious communities: They are stories that provide transformative insight into cultural biases.

Womanist Midrash by Wilda C. Gafney