From Booklist
Writers as diverse as Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, and Barbara Grizzuti Harrison take on the Bible with generally fascinating results. The editors' task was to bring the oft-neglected feminine perspective (that is, the perspective of both the original, biblical players and contemporary women writers) to the fore. The result of this effort runs the gamut, from theologian Phyllis Trible's scholarly essay on Jezebel and the prophet Elijiah, to Patricia J. Williams' very personal account of the adoption of her son in the context of the story of pharaoh's daughter claiming the baby Moses. As to be expected, there is unevenness here, both in the choice of subject matter and in the quality of the writing, but overall, the selections are thought provoking and even disturbing, in the best sense of that word. The most interesting lesson, perhaps, especially for those not familiar with the scriptures, is how sparingly women are described in the Bible. Their absence, as Rachel M. Brownstein notes in her essay, invites "projection, identification, embroidery." These 27 essays provide just that and in the process give women much to ponder. Ilene Cooper


From Kirkus Reviews
A group of really smart women give astute readings of the Bible that, for the most part, subscribe to neither religious nor feminist orthodoxies. Happily, what Daphne Merkin, in her irreverent and surprising reading of The Song of Songs, calls the ``contemporary jargon- infused orthodox-feminist redactor...er, reader'' is virtually absent here. The 28 contributors to this volume are Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic, and they offer varied (and sometimes provocatively conflicting) insights into characters and events in the Old Testament. They are most successful when, in the best tradition of biblical interpretation, they fill in the gaps in the sometimes spare narrative, closely questioning the motives and morals of the actors (male and female, human and divine) and uncovering the messages embedded in the text. The pieces range from the personal (e.g., Rebecca Goldstein's urgent childhood quest to know why Lot's wife looked back), to the rigorously analytical (e.g., Ilana Pardes's structuralist paralleling of the sibling strife between Rachel and Leah with that between Jacob and Esau), to the political (e.g., Patricia J. Williams links Pharaoh's daughter saving the baby Moses, and thus thwarting the attempted genocide of the Jews, with contemporary questions of race, family, government intrusion into reproductive issues). Bchmann, a doctoral candidate in English literature (Univ. of California, Berkeley), refrains from the modern impulse to condemn Isaiah's portrait of God as ``savage and extravagant''; Lore Segal accepts the contradictions of a God who often changes his mind (``how else could one God encompass everything?''). Among the few less convincing entries are attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of biblical bad girl Delilah (by Fay Weldon, who seems to have little use for the Bible altogether) and Putnam senior editor Spiegel's evaluation of Queen Esther and her predecessor, Vashti, as feminist role models. A rewarding anthology by women who take the Bible seriously and on its own terms, as a literary, ethical, and spiritual expression. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
"By turns witty, erudite, probingly serious and sparklingly irreverent, these essays refresh our readings of the Bible, and deepen our vision of foundational feminist figures. A wonderfully thought-provoking and readable collection."EVA HOFFMANAuthor of EXIT INTO HISTORYThis is the first collection of essays in which women read and respond to the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity--reclaiming the Bible for women and showing readers that the Bible is a source we can return to again and again. Drawing on their own epxeriences and interests, Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, Phyllis Trible, Rebecca Goldstein, June Jordan, Ursula Le Guin, and twenty-one other writers boldly imaginatively--and sometimes reproachfully--address the Old Testament stories, characters, and poetry that mean the most to them. As with all great works of literature, it is a book that changes as we change, a garden in its own right whose pleasures are there for the taking, as are its surprises and thorny byways.


From the Inside Flap
"By turns witty, erudite, probingly serious and sparklingly irreverent, these essays refresh our readings of the Bible, and deepen our vision of foundational feminist figures. A wonderfully thought-provoking and readable collection."
EVA HOFFMAN
Author of EXIT INTO HISTORY
This is the first collection of essays in which women read and respond to the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity--reclaiming the Bible for women and showing readers that the Bible is a source we can return to again and again. Drawing on their own epxeriences and interests, Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, Phyllis Trible, Rebecca Goldstein, June Jordan, Ursula Le Guin, and twenty-one other writers boldly imaginatively--and sometimes reproachfully--address the Old Testament stories, characters, and poetry that mean the most to them. As with all great works of literature, it is a book that changes as we change, a garden in its own right whose pleasures are there for the taking, as are its surprises and thorny byways.

ANNOTATION

Marking a new stage in women's relations to the Bible, these thoughtful, challenging, sometimes playful essays, written by Louise Erdrich, Ursula K. LeGuin, Elizabeth Swados, and 25 other female writers of the first rank, will enchant the audience that helped make The Book of J a phenomenon.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Essays of considerable literary erudition and sophistication that... dislodge dull stereotypes to enable both women and men readers to see the Bible with fresh eyes."
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
As the one work that has held moral and religious sway over the Judeo-Christian tradition for thousands of years, the Bible is unsurpassed in world literature. For women, its meaning is particularly complex; traditionally, the Bible has been used to keep women in their place, but it has also been a book of enduring inspiration. Out of the Garden marks a new stage in women's relations to the Bible: this is the first collection of essays in which women read and respond to the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity—free to explore what is really relevant to women's lives.
Drawing on their own experiences and interests, Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, Phyllis Trible, Rebecca Goldstein, June Jordan, Ursula K. Le Guin, and twenty-one other writers boldly, imaginatively—and sometimes reproachfully—address the Old Testament stories, characters, and poetry that mean the most to them. Thoughtful, challenging, and playful, these beautifully written essays explore the Bible in fresh new ways. Out of the Garden reclaims the Bible for women and shows readers that the Bible is a source we can return to again and again.
"A many-splendored achievement...This grand collection is a bold revitalization of our relation to our tradition. It offers the reader the gorgeously varied company of strongly delineated temperaments as they take on the compelling, threatening figures of our imaginative forebears."
—Harold Bloom
Author of The Book of J and TheWestern Canon

FROM THE CRITICS

BookList - Ilene Cooper