Lamentations
Pages
162
Publisher
Liturgical Press
Published
7/15/2017
ISBN-13
9780814681541
Though the five poems of Lamentations undoubtedly refer to the Babylonian siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, the multiple voices that narrate unspeakable suffering and labor to make sense of the surrounding horror do so at women's expense.
In the opening chapters, a prevailing metaphor of Jerusalem as a woman (Woman Zion) portrays a weeping widow, abandoned and alone, who soon becomes the target of blame for the downfall of the city and its inhabitants. Vague sexual improprieties craft the basis of her sinfulness, seemingly to justify her immense suffering as punishment. The damning effect of such a metaphor finds company in subsequent accounts of women, young girls, and mothers-all victims of the destruction recorded therein. But this feminist interpretation of Lamentations does not stop at merely documenting the case against women; it also demonstrates how such texts can serve as sources of strength by lifting up portraits of courageous resistance amid the rubble of misogynist landscapes.
In the opening chapters, a prevailing metaphor of Jerusalem as a woman (Woman Zion) portrays a weeping widow, abandoned and alone, who soon becomes the target of blame for the downfall of the city and its inhabitants. Vague sexual improprieties craft the basis of her sinfulness, seemingly to justify her immense suffering as punishment. The damning effect of such a metaphor finds company in subsequent accounts of women, young girls, and mothers-all victims of the destruction recorded therein. But this feminist interpretation of Lamentations does not stop at merely documenting the case against women; it also demonstrates how such texts can serve as sources of strength by lifting up portraits of courageous resistance amid the rubble of misogynist landscapes.
Collections
This book appears in the following featured collections.
- Commentaries by Female Scholars by John Dyer
Reviews
ThomasCreedy
September 16, 2023
September 16, 2023
This is a commentary that blends theologically concerning trajectories and conclusions with very helpful questions and suggestions. It challenged me to read the Bible differently – in the case of Lamentations to take particularly seriously the feminine personification of Zion – but also to remember that the Bible (in my view) is not to be used by us, but to speak to and shape us. I think this commentary offers a helpful perspective, but is ultimately flawed by it’s lack of clarity about who God is, what feminism is at the moment, and how we might understand what a woman is. The format is logical and workmanlike – even if the introductory pages before the commentary gets going are overlong (and could have been more normally paginated). I’ll need to read more volumes from the same series to make more technical comments, but overall I’d give it 4/5.
[Full Review]
ThomasCreedy
September 16, 2023
September 16, 2023
This is a commentary that blends theologically concerning trajectories and conclusions with very helpful questions and suggestions. It challenged me to read the Bible differently – in the case of Lamentations to take particularly seriously the feminine personification of Zion – but also to remember that the Bible (in my view) is not to be used by us, but to speak to and shape us. I think this commentary offers a helpful perspective, but is ultimately flawed by it’s lack of clarity about who God is, what feminism is at the moment, and how we might understand what a woman is. The format is logical and workmanlike – even if the introductory pages before the commentary gets going are overlong (and could have been more normally paginated). I’ll need to read more volumes from the same series to make more technical comments, but overall I’d give it 4/5.