In Search of Portrayals of Valiant Women in the Hebrew Narratives

Naomi and Ruth

The biblical book of Ruth: A feminist literary reading.

The book of Ruth has been widely accepted as being a positive text for and about women in the Hebrew Bible. Frequently described as being \u27delightful\u27 or \u27whimsical\u27, it is regarded as a fine example of a short story with full and complete characters. Naomi\u27s perseverance, Ruth\u27s faithfulness, as well as the deity\u27s providence are examples of this view. The book is seen as one of only a few remnants of women\u27s experience recorded in the patriarchal book of the Hebrew Bible. Through careful re-reading, I revealed hidden complexities contained within this text. In the process, inconsistencies of the characters, including the character of the deity, and the unresolved and ambivalent ending of the story were examined. This process led to an examination of the purpose and composition of the text. I dis-assembled the story to reveal possible origins of the present text. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the process of closely re-reading a well-known text to discover if previous assumptions of the positive portrayal of women were valid. Using a close re-reading influenced by feminist assumptions, I showed that this approach could yield different interpretations of the text. At the same time, I demonstrated the utility of this process for other scriptural texts.Dept. of Religious Studies. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1995 .R35. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0547. Adviser: Roy C. Amore. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1995