Why Ask My Name?: Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative

Rating:
Summary: How is an angel like a wise woman?
Review: This intriguing book makes astonishingly fresh observations on biblical characters as familiar as Adam and Moses, and gave me new insights into stories I thought I already knew by heart. It also brought to my attention characters in less well-known, fascinating and sometimes horrifying tales from Judges and Kings, sparking me to go back and read those books, which I had known only from Bowdlerized Hebrew school versions. Though Why Ask My Name is a scholarly and carefully annotated book, based on close reading of the Hebrew text, it is never pedantic and is fun to read. It makes a strong case for the importance and effects of naming or leaving unnamed and the centrality of this process to to literature in general, and the Bible in particular. It would be a good resource for someone charged with preparing a d'var Torah, and for anyone interested in storytelling.