Religion and Female Body in Ancient Judaism and Its Environments

The volume publishes papers read at the ninth International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books, Budapest, 2012. The title of the conference and the issuing volume covers an, on the one hand, extremely important and, on the other hand, regrettably neglected aspect particularly of the ancient Jewish and Christian traditions. Traditional manifestations of both Judaism and Christianity are predominantly masculine theological constructions. Despite their harsh masculine orientation, however, neither Judaism nor Christianity lacks elaboration on the female principle. When an ancient author chooses female imagery in order to make his message more emphatic, the female body as such forms an integral part of their metaphors. The contributions in this volume explore this phenomenon within the literature of early Judaism, and within its broad environments.

"The volume is an interesting presentation of Hungarian scholarship. The publication is recommended to all those interested in the Deuterocanonical and generally intertestamental literature."
Zdzislaw J. Kapera in: The Polish Journal of Biblical Research 17 (2018), 168-170

"The volume is diverse and interesting and sheds light on the ancients’ complex attitude towards the female body. It is recommended to all those interested in gender and the ancient Near East."
Yael Shemesh in: Biblische Notizen / Biblical Notes. Neue Folge 175 (2017), 146-147

"Il volume curato da Xeravits si presenta dunque come un’ottima sintesi su un tema di grande attualità anche negli studi biblici."
Vincenzo Cuffaro in: Rivista Biblica 4 (2017), 605-611

"Those interested in the ancient portrayal of women or anthropology more broadly will find this volume helpful."
Jason Maston in: Religious Studies Review 43/3 (2017), 280-281