Beyond Feminist Biblical Studies

In today’s postfeminist, post-structuralist milieu, feminist biblical studies—despite its now well-established place in the discipline—can seem out on a limb, too narrowly concerned with the interests of women: women in the text, women in history, women readers. Its connections with studies in masculinities, with queer theories, with lesbian and gay studies may appear thin and flimsy. As the current terminology shifts perceptibly to ‘gender criticism’, this book examines the continued place of feminist biblical studies within the discipline. This book evaluates whether the time has come for feminist biblical scholars to resist more strongly than ever the threats of a diluted feminist agenda and feminist politics, the erasure of women’s concerns from public consciousness, the loss of autonomy for feminist space? Or whether it is now time to make a definite shift and abandon the language of ‘feminism’ in favour of an approach that is inclusive of the newer critical voices emerging from trans- and intersex studies, testing the extent to which 'feminist biblical studies' can examine the construction of heterosexuality and make the apparatus of biblically prescribed heteronormativity an object of critical study.