5 Minute Bible

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Browsing Posts in Gender

Dr Stavrokopoulou holding a replica of the Kuntillet Ajrud ostracon (from the article on which I am commenting)

The Daily Mail (a UK tabloid newspaper) carried an article “Why the BBC’s new face of religion believes God had a WIFE1 It caused a flurry among the Twittering classes, and on Facebook, and even among the biblioblogs (though in the latter group most dismissed the article saying: What can you expect from a British Tabloid?)

Actually the article is by Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou a member of the Society for Old Testament Study with a DPhil from Oxford and a job at Exeter University. So in this podcast I’ll take her article seriously, but use it to ask whether and how it matters why one reads.

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  1. Yes, the capitals were in the original, for some reason… []

After looking at Direct speech in biblical narratives and especially how the manner of speaking characterises Boaz and Naomi in the book of Ruth and a side glance at the question of whether Ruth’s very arrival at Boaz’ field was chance or not (in Chance or Providence?) I’d like now to suggestthat thinking more deeply about how Ruth is portrayed in chapter 2 can add a sharpness and richness to the story. There is little of direct theological significance to this exercise, but in terms of the sort of reading Scripture as a way of exploring ourselves and our world (that Julia and I have been extoling in Reading Novels, Reading the Bible and Hard Times for Bible Readers respectively) this sort of nuance can be highly significant!

The work referred to in the podcast is: Crapon de Caprona, Pierre. Ruth la Moabite : essai. Genève: Labor et Fides, 1982.