Helpmates, Harlots, and Heroes: Women's Stories in the Hebrew Bible » (1st Edition)

This book focuses on biblical stories about women, collected in one volume, paraphrases and interprets them from multiple and diverse scholars and in addition highlights the benefits and problems of the stories for contempory women.

Library Journal

Bellis (divinity, Howard Univ.) massages every ounce of meaning from the question, Who are these women of the Old Testament? Bellis is a master of the tools of biblical interpretation, with considerable skills in Semitic languages. Drawing on contemporary scholarship, both feminist and ``womanist'' (the ``banner under which black feminists celebrate their unique identity''), she compares modern interpretation of well-known figures like Rachel and Rebekah (``active and strong women'') and the also-rans like Susanna and especially Judith (``one of the strongest heroes in all Jewish literature''). Above all, Bellis is a teacher; this work contains religious education aids, including discussion questions and extensive notes and bibliographies. Truly a labor of love, this work is highly recommended for religion and women's studies collections, seminaries, and churches.-- Sandra Collins, SLIS, Univ. of Pittsburgh