Introduction by Carol J. Dempsey, OP

Distinct in thought and content, The Oxford Handbook on Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, 2021) is a shimmering diamond that expands the academic horizon. Divided into four parts (Part I: “The Impact of Globalization on Feminist Biblical Studies”; Part II: “The Impact of Neoliberalism on Feminist Biblical Interpretation”; Part III: The Impact of [Digital] Media Cultures on Feminist Biblical Exegesis”; Part IV: The Emergence of Intersectional Feminist Readings”), the volume’s 37 essays showcase the contributions of diverse scholars, female, male, trans, straight, or queer working and writing around the world. Exploring all kinds of exegetical, hermeneutical, and methodological venues and representing a broad spectrum of ideas, the Handbook focuses not only on biblical texts but also on cross-cultural comparative works, media and novelistic appropriations, and cultural adaptations of the Hebrew Bible. The interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, interreligious, and artistic readings of biblical texts link feminist, womanist, queer, and gender-just biblical scholarship to geopolitics, classism, racism, heteronormativity, homophobia, phallogocentrism, sexual violence, and environmental degradation. The sheer breadth of the work has caught the attention of the scholarly community which prompted the SBL “Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible” and “Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible” to sponsor a joint review panel with presentations offered by Carol J. Dempsey, OP, Rachel Adelman, Shelley Birdsong, and Holly Morse. Susanne Scholz delivered an insightful response. The following papers capture the lively conversation among scholars who celebrate new avenues in feminist biblical scholarship.