A Feminist Companion to Tobit and Judith extends the work of the hugely influential and respected Feminist Companion series, which continues to set the standard for feminist approaches to the Hebrew Bible and related texts. In the present volume Athalya Brenner-Idan (with Helen Efthimiadis-Keith) draws together a range of scholarly commentators and addresses the core issues relating to feminist interpretations of the two texts at hand. The volume examines attitudes to gender, identities, exile, social mores, beliefs, clothing, food and drink, personal relationships, and biblical reception. The contributors are: Beverly Bow and George Nickelsburg, Athalya Brenner-Idan, Ora Brison, Helen Efthimiadis-Keith, Renate Egger-Wenzel, Beate Ego, Emma England, Jennifer Glancy, Jan Willem van Henten, Naomi Jacobs, Amy-Jill Levine, Pamela Milne, and Barbara Schmitz.

Table of ContentsAbbreviationsATHALYA BRENNER-IDAN (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)IntroductionPart ITOBIT: ON RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, GENDER AND FOOD1. Redrawing the Boundaries: A New Look at 'Diaspora as Metaphor: Bodies and Boundaries in the Book of Tobit'AMY-JILL LEVINE (Vanderbilt University Divinity School, USA) 2. Jewish self-Awareness, Religious Identity and Acts of Resistance in the Book of TobitRENATE EGGER-WENZEL (University of Salzburg, Austria)3. Patriarchy with a Twist: Men and Women in TobitBEVERLY BOW (Cleveland State University, USA) AND GEORGE W. E. NICKELSBURG, (University of Iowa, USA)3a. Does the 'Twist' point to Heterarchy? A Response to Bow and NickelsburgATHALYA BRENNER-IDAN4. The Banishment of the Demon in Tobit: Textual Variants as a Result of EnculturationBEATE EGO (Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany)4a. A Self-Response to 'Textual Variants'BEATE EGO (Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany)5. Seen and Heard, but Hardly Eating: Female Consumption in the Book of TobitNAOMI S. S. JACOBS6. Food and Death: an Autobiographic Perspective on Tobit according to One Woman's Binge-Eating Disorder HELEN EFTHIMIADIS-KEITH (University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa)Part IIWHAT CAN WE DO WITH JUDITH?7. What Shall We Do with Judith? A Feminist Assessment of a Biblical 'Heroine'PAMELA J. MILNE (University of Windsor, UK)7a. Self-Response: What Would I Do with Judith Now?PAMELA J. MILNE (University of Windsor, UK)8. Judith, Feminist Ethics and Feminist Biblical/Hebrew Bible InterpretationHELEN EFTHIMIADIS KEITH (University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa)9. The Function of the Speeches and Prayers in the Book of JudithBARBARA SCHMITZ (University of Dortmund, Germany)10. Judith: More than a Pious Widow Turned Femme Fatale?ORA BRISON (University of Tel Aviv, Israel)11. Judith The SlaveholderJENNIFER GLANCY (University of Richmond, VA, USA)12. Clothing Seduces: Did You Think It Was Naked Flesh that Did It?ATHALYA BRENNER-IDAN (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and University of Tel Aviv, Israel)13. Words and Deeds: Seduction and Power in Judith and in Death ProofJAN WILLEM VAN HENTEN (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)14. Violent Superwomen: Super Heroes or Super Villains? Judith, Wonder Woman and Lynndie EnglandEMMA ENGLAND (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)14a. Second Thoughts on Female Terrorists and More: A Self-Response to 'Violent Women'EMMA ENGLAND (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)