Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible [Paperback]

Celina Spiegel (Editor), Christina Buchmann (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1995

"Essays of considerable literary erudition and sophistication that... dislodge dull stereotypes to enable both women and men readers to see the Bible with fresh eyes."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
As the one work that has held moral and religious sway over the Judeo-Christian tradition for thousands of years, the Bible is unsurpassed in world literature. For women, its meaning is particularly complex; traditionally, the Bible has been used to keep women in their place, but it has also been a book of enduring inspiration. Out of the Garden marks a new stage in women's relations to the Bible: this is the first collection of essays in which women read and respond to the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity--free to explore what is really relevant to women's lives.
Drawing on their own experiences and interests, Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, Phyllis Trible, Rebecca Goldstein, June Jordan, Ursula K. Le Guin, and twenty-one other writers boldly, imaginatively--and sometimes reproachfully--address the Old Testament stories, characters, and poetry that mean the most to them. Thoughtful, challenging, and playful, these beautifully written essays explore the Bible in fresh new ways. Out of the Garden reclaims the Bible for women and shows readers that the Bible is a source we can return to again and again.
"A many-splendored achievement...This grand collection is a bold revitalization of our relation to our tradition. It offers the reader the gorgeously varied company of strongly delineated temperaments as they take on the compelling, threatening figures of our imaginative forebears."
--Harold Bloom
Author of The Book of J and The Western Canon

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Writers as diverse as Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, and Barbara Grizzuti Harrison take on the Bible with generally fascinating results. The editors' task was to bring the oft-neglected feminine perspective (that is, the perspective of both the original, biblical players and contemporary women writers) to the fore. The result of this effort runs the gamut, from theologian Phyllis Trible's scholarly essay on Jezebel and the prophet Elijiah, to Patricia J. Williams' very personal account of the adoption of her son in the context of the story of pharaoh's daughter claiming the baby Moses. As to be expected, there is unevenness here, both in the choice of subject matter and in the quality of the writing, but overall, the selections are thought provoking and even disturbing, in the best sense of that word. The most interesting lesson, perhaps, especially for those not familiar with the scriptures, is how sparingly women are described in the Bible. Their absence, as Rachel M. Brownstein notes in her essay, invites "projection, identification, embroidery." These 27 essays provide just that and in the process give women much to ponder. Ilene Cooper --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

A group of really smart women give astute readings of the Bible that, for the most part, subscribe to neither religious nor feminist orthodoxies. Happily, what Daphne Merkin, in her irreverent and surprising reading of The Song of Songs, calls the ``contemporary jargon- infused orthodox-feminist redactor...er, reader'' is virtually absent here. The 28 contributors to this volume are Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic, and they offer varied (and sometimes provocatively conflicting) insights into characters and events in the Old Testament. They are most successful when, in the best tradition of biblical interpretation, they fill in the gaps in the sometimes spare narrative, closely questioning the motives and morals of the actors (male and female, human and divine) and uncovering the messages embedded in the text. The pieces range from the personal (e.g., Rebecca Goldstein's urgent childhood quest to know why Lot's wife looked back), to the rigorously analytical (e.g., Ilana Pardes's structuralist paralleling of the sibling strife between Rachel and Leah with that between Jacob and Esau), to the political (e.g., Patricia J. Williams links Pharaoh's daughter saving the baby Moses, and thus thwarting the attempted genocide of the Jews, with contemporary questions of race, family, government intrusion into reproductive issues). Bchmann, a doctoral candidate in English literature (Univ. of California, Berkeley), refrains from the modern impulse to condemn Isaiah's portrait of God as ``savage and extravagant''; Lore Segal accepts the contradictions of a God who often changes his mind (``how else could one God encompass everything?''). Among the few less convincing entries are attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of biblical bad girl Delilah (by Fay Weldon, who seems to have little use for the Bible altogether) and Putnam senior editor Spiegel's evaluation of Queen Esther and her predecessor, Vashti, as feminist role models. A rewarding anthology by women who take the Bible seriously and on its own terms, as a literary, ethical, and spiritual expression. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449910172
• ISBN-13: 978-0449910177
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Claiming God for Themselves Too: Women Write About the Bible, April 9, 2000

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"neeterskeeter27" (http://www.neeterskeeter.com/new) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible (Paperback)

Throughout history, religion has been man's domain: written by and for him alone. Christianity and Judaism are just two more example of male-centered religious theory. Right? Maybe. But "Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible" is a startling wake-up call, and it is a powerful voice for those who feel that women (as well as the feminist movement) can find their own places within the Bible. The combination of essays provided here are strongly convincing in the argument that they present: women are important figures in the Bible, and it was written with them in mind, too. An important factor in the book is that its essays are written by women with a wide diversity of religious backgrounds, from many sects of Protestanism, to Catholicism, to Judaism. This is a powerful message of unity for women, and for religion. Many of the essays shine as personal examples of the Bible touching women's lives. Patricia J. William's personal essay was especially moving, because she tied in her own life experience with a Bible story; specifically, that of the adoption of Moses. If women can relate the Bible and the Christian and Jewish religions to their own lives, is this not important evidence in itself that they are not excluded in these theories' teachings and reachings? The only problem with this book is its tendency to make wild interpretations of Christianity and Judaism, and sometimes it is questionable whether more than the one author writing the essay could ever see a feminist message in a particular passage or story. However, this does not take away from the book's resounding message, that women should not be discouraged from claiming Christianity and Judaism as their own as men have done since its conception. "Out of the Garden" is an important book to add to any feminist theology collection, or to read in order to find out just how the Christianity of men can be looked at from the perspective of many different women.