On the Cutting Edge: The Study of Women in the Biblical World: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza

These essays in honor of Professor Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza come from international feminist scholars indebted to her ground-breaking achievements in the areas of biblical studies, feminist thought and social justice. The contributors represent a wide variety of backgrounds, commitments, methodologies, talents and interests. They are united here by their appreciation for Schussler Fiorenza as a scholar, teacher, mentor, colleague and friend. The spectrum is full of vitality, with important convergences and intersections. It exemplifies what Schussler Fiorenza has called 'critical collaboration': women thinking together and creating together. This Festschrift is unique in that it celebrates the work of women in the field. On the Cutting Edge is indexed in H.W. Wilson's Essay and General Literature Index.

Table of Contents:
Editors' Introduction Esther Fuchs, "Points of Resonance" Alice Bach, "Women's Altars: Lived Religion from Now to Then" Jane Schaberg, "Magdalene Christianity" Elizabeth A. Castelli, "The Ekklesia of Women and/as Utopian Space: Locating the Work of Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza in Feminist Utopian Thought" Pushpa Joseph, "Trail Blazers: Schussler Fiorenza and Soares Prabhu - A Comparative Study" Athalya Brenner, "Some Reflectons on Violence Against Women and the Image of the Hebrew God: The Prophetic Books Revisited" Joan E. Taylor, "The Women 'Priests' of Philo's De Vita Contemplativa: Reconstructing the Thereapeutae" Tal Ilan, "Paul and Pharisee Women" Adele Reinhartz, "The Happy Holy Family in the Jesus Film Genre" Tina Pippin, "Wisdom's Deviant Ways" Ute Eisen, "Boundary Transgression and the Extreme Point in Acts 10:1-11:18" Sheila Briggs, "Slavery and Gender" Antoinette Clark Wire, "Rising Voices: The Resurrection Witness of New Testament Non-Writers" Alicia Suskind Ostrker, "Jephthah's Daughter: A Lament"

About the Author :
Jane Schaberg is Professor of Religious Studies and Women's Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy. She is the author of The Illegitimacy of Jesus, and an editor of On the Cutting Edge: The Study of Women in the Biblical World. As an acknowledged expert on Mary Magdalene, she has appeared in the Washington Times, on CNN and in Newsweek. Jane Schaberg is also a contributor to Secrets of Mary Magdalene Edited by Dan Burstein and Arne J. de Keijzer, with an introduction by Elaine H. Pagels. Esther Fuchs is Professor, Program of Judaic Studies and Department of Near East Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Review :
"This book is aptly titled: the essays it contains are cutting edge in many respects and appropriately dedicated to a cutting edge feminist biblical scholar, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. A collection of fourteen essays written by American and international scholars in critical collaboration on feminist biblical interpretation, this diverse and scholarly book pays tribute to Schüssler Fiorenza by expanding upon her thoughts, by diverging from them, by using her ideas to develop new avenues of thought - all expressions of appreciation and gratitude for the critical theory she has developed." -Review of Biblical Literature, July 2004 "Stronger than many an edited volume, the book is unified by Elisabeth's underlying presence.  It is also remarkably consistent in the quality of its contributions despite the diversity of its content and its contributors, their social locations, motivations, and precise expertise.  In my opinion, the book is well worth a read and would be a valuable contribution to a Women's Studies or a Women and Religion seminar." -Alice L. Laffey, Horizons, Vol. 34, No. 2, Fall 2007