Sarah: Mother of Nations - Softcover

Schneider, Tammi J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082641625X ISBN 13: 9780826416254

Publisher: Continuum, 2004

Synopsis

Sarah, the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac in Genesis, is a central biblical character because of her role in the establishment of the people later called Israel. In recent years the image of Sarah has not fared well in scholarship, where she is depicted as petty, indulgent, and self-absorbed, and as the oppressor of Hagar. This study examines Sarah and her role in Genesis to understand how women function in the biblical text, how the biblical writers constructed women's roles, and how this affects a modern reading of the Hebrew Bible.

Tammi J. Schneider is Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She also co-directs the renewed excavations at Tel el-Far'ah (South) in Israel. She is the project director at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity and serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Schools of Oriental Research. She recently published Judges in the Berit Olam series and is the editor for the Ancient Near East section of Religious Studies Review.

About this title

About the Author

Tammi J. Schneider is Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She also co-directs the renewed excavations at Tel el-Far'ah (South) in Israel. She is the project director at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity and serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Schools of Oriental Research. She recently published Judges in the Berit Olam series and is the editor for the Ancient Near East section of Religious Studies Review.

Review

"This feminist literary study focuses on the importance of Israel'sfirst matriarch, and recognizes her neglect by many biblical scholars.Sarah laughed when God promised her a child at age ninety and she wouldcertainly smile at Tammi Schneider's ability to give her back herrightful place in biblical history."—Naomi Steinberg, DePaul University (Naomi Steinberg)

Schneider’s provocative study prompts readers to rethink many of our assumptions concerning the matriarch, Sarah. Her probing narrative analysis challenges past portrayals of Sarah as the petulant and short-sighted wife of the founding patriarch of biblical tradition who so frequently stands as an obstacle to the establishment of the covenant between G-d and Abraham. Instead, Schneider argues that G-d chooses Sarah just as surely as Abraham, and that Sarah must be recognized for her key role in establishing the covenant between G-d and Israel. Her study has important implications for rethinking the role of women in relation to our understandings of biblical covenant in both Judaism and Christianity. Marvin A. SweeneyProfessor of Hebrew Bible, Claremont School of TheologyProfessor of Religion, Claremont Graduate UniversityBoard Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center for Preservation and Reseach, Claremont (Marvin A. Sweeney)

"Schneider hasn'tdiscovered some long-lost archaeological treasure or extrabiblical text. Sheworks with the same raw material, the same Masoretic Hebrew text that biblicalscholars have had all along. But she takes every sentence and sits with it,thinks about it, turns it this way and that, considering everything with an eyetoward what it says of Sarah. And what seems almost magical is the way thecharacter of Sarah emerges from Schneider's painstaking labors. Schneider alsodoes a masterful job of opening up a variety of interpretive possibilities.Without trivializing the importance of seeking answers, she helps the readersee the many places where there is simply no way to definitively choose amongthe available options. Equally important, she helps us see that the Bibledoesn't necessarily portray figures like Abraham as moral paragons, despitewhat we might recall from childhood Bible stories or even what we might gatherfrom parts of the Christian Scriptures. Perhaps the most important lesson ofthis book for Friends is the opportunity it affords to participate in agenuine, informed "close reading" of some important Hebrew Scriptual stories.Schneider ends up seeing Sarah (and Abraham) in quite a different light frommost commentaries...Schneider's book is a worthy conversation partner in oursitting with the text as we sit with one another, "waiting on the Lord" and afresh Word of the Spirit" — FriendsJournal, November 2005 (Friends Journal)

'In just over 120 pages this is quite a tour de force, but the author manages to keep her readers' attention through clearly structured chapters which ultimately invite us to take another look at those familiar stories ourselves.'

'This is a small and relatively specialized book, but it is an important contribution to feminist hermeneutics and to biblical scholarship in general.'

Epworth Review (Natalie K. Watson)

mention of book (Hebrew Studies)

"This is a small and relatively specialized book, but it is an important contribution to feminist hermeneutics and to biblical scholarship in general. It shows that much more work is needed by feminist scholars in terms of commentating on the actual text. It indicates that feminist hermeneutics has an important contribution to make to the rereading of those texts which have shaped our thinking of what it means to be children of Abraham." - Epworth Review

"This feminist literary study focuses on the importance of Israel'sfirst matriarch, and recognizes her neglect by many biblical scholars.Sarah laughed when God promised her a child at age ninety and she wouldcertainly smile at Tammi Schneider's ability to give her back herrightful place in biblical history."—Naomi Steinberg, DePaul University (Sanford Lakoff)

“Schneider hasn’tdiscovered some long-lost archaeological treasure or extrabiblical text. Sheworks with the same raw material, the same Masoretic Hebrew text that biblicalscholars have had all along. But she takes every sentence and sits with it,thinks about it, turns it this way and that, considering everything with an eyetoward what it says of Sarah. And what seems almost magical is the way thecharacter of Sarah emerges from Schneider’s painstaking labors. Schneider alsodoes a masterful job of opening up a variety of interpretive possibilities.Without trivializing the importance of seeking answers, she helps the readersee the many places where there is simply no way to definitively choose amongthe available options. Equally important, she helps us see that the Bibledoesn’t necessarily portray figures like Abraham as moral paragons, despitewhat we might recall from childhood Bible stories or even what we might gatherfrom parts of the Christian Scriptures. Perhaps the most important lesson ofthis book for Friends is the opportunity it affords to participate in agenuine, informed “close reading” of some important Hebrew Scriptual stories.Schneider ends up seeing Sarah (and Abraham) in quite a different light frommost commentaries...Schneider’s book is a worthy conversation partner in oursitting with the text as we sit with one another, “waiting on the Lord” and afresh Word of the Spirit” – FriendsJournal, November 2005 (Friends Journal)

'In just over 120 pages this is quite a tour de force, but the author manages to keep her readers' attention through clearly structured chapters which ultimately invite us to take another look at those familiar stories ourselves.'

'This is a small and relatively specialized book, but it is an important contribution to feminist hermeneutics and to biblical scholarship in general.'

Epworth Review (Sanford Lakoff)

mention of book (Sanford Lakoff)

Edition details

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 082641625X
• ISBN 13: 9780826416254
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 160