Romans: Volume 46 (Wisdom Commentary Series, 46)

Can a feminist interpretation of Romans discover anything new? In this volume, Christian Eberhart pays special attention to the fact that Paul entrusted Phoebe, a gentile woman, with the task of delivering the letter to Rome. There, she would have been the person who recited it aloud and by heart in front of various audiences. Yet as the leader of a congregation in Corinth, Phoebe had likely also been involved in the process of composing the letter, as some passages reveal. This multifaceted engagement of a woman gives new meaning to the vision of human society in Romans that celebrates the full participation of women and men, Jews and gentiles, weak and strong, and free and slave.

Mary Ann Beavis is professor emerita of religion and culture at St. Thomas More College (Saskatoon, Canada). She received MA degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Notre Dame; she holds a PhD from Cambridge University (UK). Her areas of interest and expertise include Christian origins, feminist biblical interpretation, Christianity and Goddess spirituality, and religion and popular culture. She is the author of several single-author and edited books as well as many peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Barbara E. Reid, OP, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan and holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She is president emerita and Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP, Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union. She is author of more than a dozen books including the two-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke, co-authored with Shelly Matthews, in the Wisdom Commentary series (Liturgical Press, 2021), for which she is also general editor.