Wisdom Commentary Wisdom Commentary: Judith

There are many ancient Jewish stories that feature women, but in the book of Judith the woman fully dominates. This volume achieves every goal of the Wisdom Commentary series! This beautifully written introduction to Judith is a treat; great reading for students, scholars, religious professionals, and a general audience, as well. In keeping with the series, the authors bring a feminist and an intersectional approach, but manage also to include literary and comparative studies and art history. This book is as engaging as its subject matter!

Koosed and Seesengood offer the best of what feminist criticism has to offer in this eminently readable commentary on the book of Judith. Masculinity studies, gender theory, and queer theory are all skillfully deployed to illuminate the shifting performances of gender at the center of this book. The result is a nuanced, provocative, and fascinating analysis of the book of Judith. Readers will especially benefit from the authors’ suspicion of easy resolutions for this complex narrative featuring a wealthy, pious, seductive, and slave-owning heroine.

This sophisticated commentary illuminates the textual issues and clarifies the historical from the literary. Not your grandmother's commentary, and suitable for readers who want their worlds widened.