Full Description
To be human means to resist dehumanization. In the darkest periods of human history, men and women have risen up and in many different voices said this one thing: "Do not treat me like this. Treat me like the human being that I am." Claiming Her Dignity explores a number of stories from the Old Testament in which women in a variety of creative ways resist the violence of war, rape, heterarchy, and poverty. Amid the life-denying circumstances that seek to attack, violate, and destroy the bodies and psyches of women, men, and children, the women featured in this book absolutely refuse to succumb to the explicit, and at times subtle but no less harmful, manifestations of violence that they face.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1. Resisting the Violence of War 1
1. Understanding Collective Violence 1
2. Rizpah's Lament (2 Samuel 21) 4
3. Abigail's Hospitality (1 Samuel 25) 17
4. Rizpah's and Abigails of "These Modern Days" 31
Chapter 2. Resisting the Violence of Rape 34
1. The Terrorizing Reality of Rape 34
2. Tamar's Cry (2 Samuel 13) 38
3. Susanna's Prayer 50
4. A World without Rape 64
Chapter 3. Resisting the Violence of Patriarchy Heterarchy 67
1. From Patriarchy to Heterarchy 67
2 The Daughter of Jephthah's Elegy (Judges 11) 71
3. The Daughters of Zelophehad's Resolve (Numbers 27) 84
4. Smashing Patriarchy? 99
Chapter 4. Resisting the Violence of Precarity 102
1. Poverty as the Worst Form of Violence 102
2. Hagar's Tears (Genesis 16, 21) / Sarah's Laughter (Genesis 18, 21) 106
3. Ruth, Naomi, and Tamar's Resilience 121
4. Transforming Narratives, Transforming Communities 133
Conclusion 137
1. Telling Stories 137
2. Memory 139
3. Salvation 141
4. Agency 144
5. Complexity 148
6. Hope 151
Postscript 153
Author and Subject Index 157
Scripture Index 163
