Wisdom Commentary Series | WC (5 vols.)

by Song-Mi Suzie Park; Lisa Wolfe; Warren Carter; Barbara E. Reid

and

2 more

Publisher:

Liturgical Press

, 2019–2021

Overview

A Significant Milestone in the History of Feminism and the Study of Scripture. The Wisdom Commentary series is the first scholarly collaboration to offer detailed feminist interpretation of every book of the Bible. The fifty-eight volume collection makes the best of current feminist biblical scholarship available in an accessible format to aid preachers and teachers in their advancement toward God’s vision of dignity, equality, and justice for all.

The aim of this commentary is to provide feminist interpretation of every section of the Bible, in serious, scholarly engagement with the whole text from a feminist perspective. A central concern is how the text is heard and understood by men and women today. At the same time, this commentary aims to be faithful to the ancient text.

Key Features

• Includes feminist biblical interpretation by both pioneers in the field and the younger generation of scholars
• Provides diverse voices of scholars offering other perspectives from that of the main author
• “Translation Matters” raise questions about problematic translations

Benefits of Logos Edition

In the Logos edition, these volumes are enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

2 Kings

• Author: Song-Mi Suzie Park
• Series Editor: Barbara E. Reid, OP
• Series: Wisdom Commentary (WC)
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 408

The Second Book of Kings-a book whose very title seems to assert the prerogative of male rule-is in fact filled with fascinating female characters as well as issues related to gender. In this commentary, Song-Mi Suzie Park argues that an interrogation of the masculinity of YHWH, Israel’s deity, functions as the driving force behind the narrative in 2 Kings. While the sufficiency of YHWH's masculinity is affirmed by his military and reproductive prowess, it is also challenged and deconstructed through the painful defeats that end the book. Through a series of close readings, Park elucidates how the story of Israel’s monarchic past in 2 Kings unfolds through a process of continual reformulation of masculinity and femininity in relation to YHWH and Israel.

2 Kings is an especially fraught book of the Bible. The overwhelming masculinity of YHWH is traced throughout the text. But the chapters make clear that such imagery is tenuous at best, inviting the reader to reimagine other influences that shape the narrative and thus might reshape concepts of the divine.

—Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Song-Mi Suzie Park (PhD, Harvard University, 2010) serves as the associate professor of Old Testament at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where she teaches courses on literary approaches to the biblical text, families, and issues of gender and sexuality. She is the author of Hezekiah and the Dialogue of Memory (Fortress Press, 2015) as well as several articles and essays.

Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes)

• Author: Lisa M. Wolfe
• Series Editor: Barbara E. Reid, OP
• Series: Wisdom Commentary (WC)
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 280

Qoheleth, also called Ecclesiastes, has been bad news for women throughout history. In this commentary Lisa Wolfe offers intriguing new possibilities for feminist interpretation of the book’s parts, including Qoheleth’s most offensive passages, and as a whole. Throughout her interpretation, Wolfe explores multiple connections between this book and women of all times, from investigating how the verbs in the time poem in 3:1-8 may relate to biblical and contemporary women alike, to noting that if 11:1 indicates ancient beer making it thus reveals the women who made the beer itself. In the end, Wolfe argues that, by struggling with the perplexing text of Qoheleth, we may discover fruitful, against-the-grain reading strategies for our own time.

Lisa Wolfe is quick to acknowledge that the book of Qoheleth is not an easy read for feminists. Yet her ability to engage Qoheleth's questioning of orthodoxy with a feminist questioning of Qoheleth lays the groundwork for a rich commentary that uncovers ancient and modern religious absurdities about hierarchy, gender, and class. Through the process Wolfe begins to create a place in Qoheleth for women—both ancient and modern.

—Thomas B. Dozeman, Professor of Old Testament, United Theological Seminary

Lisa M. Wolfe is professor of Hebrew Bible, Endowed Chair, at Oklahoma City University (OCU) and also teaches for Saint Paul School of Theology, OCU campus. Lisa is ordained in the United Church of Christ and preaches and teaches regularly in the community and across the country. Her Bible study DVDs, "Uppity Women of the Bible," and companion commentary Ruth, Esther, Song of Songs and Judith, were published in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In 2018 she received the Distinguished Faculty Award for the OCU Honors Program and the University Outstanding Faculty Award.

Mark

• Author: Warren Carter
• Series Editor: Barbara E. Reid, OP
• Series: Wisdom Commentary (WC)
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 584

This reading of Mark’s Gospel engages this ancient text from the perspective of contemporary feminist concerns to expose and resist all forms of domination that prevent the full flourishing of all humans and all creation. Accordingly, it foregrounds the Gospel’s constructions of gender in intersectionality with the visions, structures, practices, and personnel of Roman imperial power. This reading embraces a rich tradition of feminist scholarship on the Gospel, as well as masculinity studies, particularly pervasive hegemonic masculinity. Its politically engaged discussion of Mark’s Gospel provides a resource for clergy, students, and laity concerned with contemporary constructions of gender, power, and a world in which all might experience fullness of life.

This Mark commentary fits well in the purpose of the series. It shows the author’s familiarity with feminist biblical scholarship, offers a good balance between surveying previous scholarship and trying to contribute to the discussion, and tries to find a middle way in sorting out the various options there are for interpreting a particular passage.

—Louvain Studies

Warren Carter is the LaDonna Kramer Meinders Professor of New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the author of eighteen books and is a regular presenter at scholarly conferences and in church contexts.

Luke 1–9

• Author: Barbara E. Reid, OP, and Shelly Matthews
• Series Editor: Barbara E. Reid, OP
• Series: Wisdom Commentary (WC)
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Pages: 408

Because there are more women in the Gospel of Luke than in any other gospel, feminists have given it much attention. In this commentary, Shelly Matthews and Barbara Reid show that feminist analysis demands much more than counting the number of female characters. Feminist biblical interpretation examines how the female characters function in the narrative and also scrutinizes the workings of power with respect to empire, to anti-Judaism, and to other forms of othering. Matthews and Reid draw attention to the ambiguities of the text-both the liberative possibilities and the ways that Luke upholds the patriarchal status quo-and guide readers to empowering reading strategies.

Many commentators have lifted up the Lukan narratives and themes as evidence that women's experiences are taken seriously in scripture. These authors do not dispute that, but they suggest that there are more questions than answers here, more ambiguity and variety than often acknowledged in these commonly used texts. It is a refreshing reality check.

—Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Shelly Matthews holds a ThD from Harvard Divinity School and is professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas. She is the general editor for the SBL Press series Early Christianity and Its Literature and the cofounder and cochair of the SBL Program Unit Racism, Pedagogy and Biblical Studies. Her books include Perfect Martyr: The Stoning of Stephen and the Construction of Christian Identity (Oxford University Press, 2010) and The Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction and Study Guide: Taming the Tongues of Fire (T&T Clark, 2017). She is currently writing a monograph under the working title A Feminist Guide to Early Christian Resurrection: Justice, Authority, Presence.

Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the president of Catholic Theological Union and the first woman to hold the position. She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was also president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Wisdom’s Feast: An Invitation to Feminist Interpretation of the Scriptures (Eerdmans, 2016) and Abiding Word: Sunday Reflections on Year A, B, C (3 vols.; Liturgical Press, 2011, 2012, 2013).

2 Corinthians

• Author: Antoinette Clark Wire
• Series Editor: Barbara E. Reid, OP
• Series: Wisdom Commentary (WC)
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 400

When 2 Corinthians is read as a whole in the early manuscripts, we hear a distraught and defensive Paul, struggling to recover the respect of the Corinthians that he assumed in 1 Corinthians. Scholars have supplied a recent visit gone awry to explain this, but Wire argues that the Corinthians have not kept the restrictions Paul laid down in his earlier letter. It is Paul who has changed. No longer able to demand that they imitate his weakness as he embodies Jesus' death, he concedes and even celebrates that they embody Jesus’ power and life and thereby demonstrate the effectiveness of his work among them.

With special attention to the women in Corinth who pray and prophesy, Wire looks at each part of 2 Corinthians through three feminist lenses: a broad focus on all bodies within the tensions of the ecosystem as Paul sees it; a mid-range focus on the social, political, and economic setting; and a precise focus on his argument as evidence of an interaction between Paul and the Corinthians. When Paul ends with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the partnership of the Holy Spirit,” the Corinthians have pressed him to reshape his message from “yes but” and “no” to “yes,” from a tenacity of qualifiers and subordinations to an overflow of encouragements.

From its style and register, the commentary is well suited for an academic/homiletical audience, being able to hold its own against other commentaries of this sort, not least because it addresses itself to a particular set of standpoints and social outcomes. Wire is extremely competent. I will use this volume next time I teach on 2 Corinthians.

—Journal for the Study of the New Testament

Antoinette Clark Wire is Robert S. Dollar Professor Emerita of New Testament Studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union where she has taught since 1973. Dr. Wire is a graduate of Yale Divinity and Claremont Graduate School. Raised in China by missionary parents, she has lived her adult life largely in California.