Overview

The U.S. Declaration of Independence of 1776 decreed that all men were created equal and were endowed by their Creator with “certain unalienable Rights.” Yet, U.S.-born free and enslaved Black people were not recognized as citizens with “equal protections under the law” until the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. Even then, White supremacists impeded the equal rights of Black people as citizens due to their beliefs in the inferiority of Black people and that America was a nation for White people. White supremacists turned to biblical passages to lend divine justification for their views. A Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging from an Outsider Within analyzes select biblical narratives including Noah’s curse in Genesis 9, Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21, Mother in Israel in Judges 5, and Jezebel, Phoenician Princess and Queen of Israel in 1 and 2 Kings, to demonstrate how these narratives were first used by ancient biblical writers to include some and exclude others as members of the nation of Israel and then appropriated by White supremacists in the antebellum and early twentieth century periods to do the same in America. The book analyzes the simultaneously intersecting and interconnecting relations between race, gender, class, and sexuality and biblical narratives to construct boundaries between “us versus them,” particularly the politicization of motherhood to deny certain groups’ inclusion.

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9781978706996

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Reviews

A Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging is a vital contribution to biblical studies. Thoroughly researched, carefully argued, and lucidly written, the book adeptly moves between biblical texts and their tangled histories of interpretation, with particular attention to race, gender, and power. Lovelace shows us why these biblical stories matter now, more than ever. A necessary read, not just for womanists and feminists, but for all biblical readers interested in justice, interpretation, and the politics of meaning. --Rhiannon Graybill, Weinstein & Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Richmond Mothers and motherhood have always been political issues, and in this clearly argued book, Lovelace raises up known and little known biblical mothers and their voices. She pushes us to listen to these biblical women and their modern generation by making real world connections. Centered in an intersectional womanist theory of theology, ethics, sociology, and critical race theories, along with womanist lived experiences, Lovelace invites the reader to do a deep dive into often murky waters, and she serves as a competent navigator. Her command of the politics of race in the biblical pasts and the present provides a necessary resource for biblical scholarship and teaching. --Tina Pippin, Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and Religion, Agnes Scott College

Author Information

Vanessa Lovelace is associate dean and associate professor of Hebrew Bible Old Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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