Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen : Women in Judges and biblical Israel (Anchor Bible Reference Library)

Rating:
Summary: Challenging reading - but worth it!
Review: Reading this work by Ackerman opened a whole new world to me: the rich variety of women in the Book of Judges. I must admit that I had never really noticed before that almost all of the women in Genesis and in Exodus acted mainly to preserve the life of a male or the continuation of a male lineage. (For example, all those wonderful women in the early chapters of Exodus - Shiphrah, Puah, Miriam, Jochebed, the daughter of the king - were trying to save the life of Moses). But in Judges we encounter a feast of women of all sorts of different types. I must also confess that at times I found Ackerman's interpretations very challenging - both intellectually and spiritually, but the benefits gained by reading this book were worth the challenges.