Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 33:4 (Fall 2019)
Article: Book Review "Vindicating The Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, And Marginalized Women Of The Bible" Edited By Sandra L. Glahn (Kregel Academic, 2017)
Author: Jeff David Miller

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PP 33:4 (Fall 2019) p. 28

Book Review
Vindicating The Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified,
And Marginalized Women Of The Bible Edited By Sandra L. Glahn (Kregel Academic, 2017)

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller is editor of Priscilla Papers and teaches Bible at Milligan College in eastern Tennessee.

“We must revisit what the Scriptures say about some Bible women we have sexualized, vilified and/or marginalized. Because, above all, we must tell the truth about what the text says” (16). So writes editor Sandra Glahn in the preface to this volume. Glahn teaches media arts and worship at Dallas Theological Seminary. She holds a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas. She is author or co-author of more than twenty books, including several volumes in The Coffee Cup Bible Study Series. She contributes to Engage, Bible.org’s blog for women in Christian leadership. Glahn’s articles in the journal Bibliotheca Sacra will be of particular interest to readers of Priscilla Papers.1

Vindicating the Vixens is a collection of fourteen essays. It is divided into three sections and introduced by a brief explanation of the interpretive approaches to be expected in the collection. The contributors, all evangelical, include ten women and six men, bringing together perspectives that include experiences in Australia, Eastern Europe, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, and Scotland, as well as across the United States. Eleven of the sixteen teach at and/or graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary.

The first section gathers essays on the five women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Carolyn Custis James writes on Tamar (building on her book, Lost Women of the Bible [Zondervan, 2008]). James presents Tamar as a victim of abuse who rises above, successfully restoring family honor by endangering herself. A highlight of this chapter is its summary of the destructive nature of patriarchy and primogeniture, including their negative impact on many men. This lead essay gives broad consideration to literary and canonical connections and contexts. The second essay, by Eva Bleeker on Rahab, reads almost like a sermon and thus demonstrates a claim Glahn makes in the preface, that the several contributions vary in tone and style (17). Marnie Legaspi’s chapter on Ruth has an even more informal tone. A strength of her chapter is its assessment of Ruth’s actions in the threshing floor scene as virtuous obedience rather than a sexual advance. Sarah Bowler’s chapter on Bathsheba is, for my own preferences and needs, the section’s most helpful essay. It leans heavily on narrative criticism and is strong on both ends of the interpretive spectrum—scholarly foundations...

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