Published: 2002, Schocken

This book takes up two of the most significant intellectual and religious issues of our day: the experiences of women in a patriarchal society and the relevance of the Bible to modern life. Frymer-Kensky examines the story of Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel; of Dinah, Tamar, Deborah, Ruth and Jezebel; of biblical women young and old, married and single, named and anonymous. She considers them individually and collectively, and she discovers four patterns that emerge from within their lives: woman as victor, as victim, as bride/wife and as voice of God.

A product of serious scholarship, the book also enables us to consider what relevance these stories have for today's women, whose lives are in many ways different from the stories of our Biblical ancestors. Frymer-Kensky succeeds in illuminating with equal intensity the world of the Bible and our contemporary culture.

About the Author

Tikva Frymer-Kensky is a professor of Hebrew Bible at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. She is the author of many works of Biblical scholarship and spirituality , including In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth and Motherprayer: The Pregnant Woman's Spiritual Companion. She lives in New York City and Chicago.

Online Resources

An article by Tikva Frymer-Kensky in Bible Review.

A review by Judith Hauptman in The Forward

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Sarah and Hagar: a poem

Ruth and Naomi: a poem

Talmudic Anecdotes about Assertive Women