Troubling Topics, Sacred Texts: Readings in Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Qurʾan

Description

Abrahamic scriptures serve as cultural pharmakon, prescribing what can act as both poison and remedy. This collection shows that their sometimes veiled but eternally powerful polemics can both destroy and build, exclude and include, and serve as the ultimate justification for cruelty or compassion. Here, scholars not only excavate these works for their formative and continuing cultural impact on communities, identities, and belief systems, they select some of the most troubling topics that global communities continue to navigate. Their analysis of both texts and their reception help explain how these texts promote norms and build collective identities. Rejecting the notion of the sacred realm as separate from the mundane realm and beyond critical challenge, this collection argues--both implicitly and sometimes transparently--for the presence of the sacred within everyday life and open to challenge. The very rituals, prayers, and traditions that are deemed sacred interweave into our cultural systems in infinite ways. Together, these authors explore the dynamic nature of everyday life and the often-brutal power of these texts over everyday meaning. Preface Contents List of Previous Publications Introduction Part I: Gender & Sexuality Introduction to Gender & Sexuality Destabilizing Gender, Reproducing Maternity: Mary In The Qurʾān Same-Sex Desire and Theological Anthropology in the New Testament: The Case of Romans 1:18–32 Unexpected Roles: Examining Ancient Gender Construction in the Joseph Narrative Part II: Body & Appearance Introduction to Body & Appearance Disability and Advocacy in the Book of Job The Contradictory/Complementary Roles of Clothing in the Qurʾān: Grace, Metaphors, Morals, and Fashion “Wast Naked” A Biblical Scruple Part III: Women & Feminism Introduction to Women & Feminism Intertextuality Sheds Light on the Text of Judges 19, the Concubine of Gilead: The Case of Genesis 24 Women and Guile in the Qurʾān and Tafsīr: A Close Study of Verse Q12:28 Two-Faced and of Two Minds: A Jewish Feminist Reading the Rabbis Reading the Creation of Humanity Embracing Female Submission to Exercise Maternal Authority: How Biblical Literalism Fueled White Evangelical Women’s Anti-Civil Rights Activism The Reality of Female Despondency in the Book of Esther Part IV: Death & Mourning Introduction to Death & Mourning The ʿAḳedah, Binding of Isaac, and Shoah Enigmas The Language of Lament: Unlocking the Potentials of Biblical Despair Death and Dying in the Qurʾan The Book of Job and Romantic Theodicy Suicide and Compassion in Judaic Writings Part V: Life & Humor Introduction to Life & Humor Divine immanence and the realized liturgical eschatological vision in sūrat al-Fatḥ (Q 48) Excess and Deficiency: Troubling Over Wealth and Discipleship in Luke-Acts “Cursed be Haman?”: Haman as a Victim in the 14th Century Parody Massekheth Purim Ethnicity, Miracle, and Lepers in Luke: Inner Texture Analysis Of Luke 17:11–19 Figurations of the Hierarchy for Life and Death in the Letters of Paul Part VI: Crime & Punishment Introduction to Crime & Disobedience The Impact of Crime on Communities: A Conversation Between Biblical and Rabbinic Sources Hagioprepēs: The Rationalizing of Saintly Sin and Atrocities “Let Every Person Be Subject”: The Reception of Romans 13 in Modern Biblical Studies and Theology (Letaʿarafu لتعا رفو(ا , “ That you may Know one Another”: The Qurʾan as an Intertext in the Works of Mohja Kahf Contributors Index of Scriptures General Index