Lady Parts: Biblical Women and the Vagina Monologues

Description

Description: How might women in the Bible tell their stories if they were prompted to do so by Eve Ensler’s controversial play, The Vagina Monologues? This collection imagines some answers to that question. The monologues herein are written by a variety of authors, including scholars, undergraduates, clergy, and laywomen; the content of the narratives reflects this variety, being at times faithful or irreverent, tragic or even funny. All seek to give twenty-first-century voices to women in canonical texts–including the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical books, and New Testament–who are often speechless, nameless, or otherwise marginalized. Not for the faint of heart, these monologues not only end the silences but also add flesh and bone to characters whose experiences have too easily been justified, metaphorized, or altogether ignored. By naming the torn places in these women’s stories, this volume invites readers to encounter both the biblical characters and their contemporary interpreters with an attitude of compassionate listening. Our hope is that such compassionate listening may contribute not only to more just readings of sacred texts, but also to the mission of Eve Ensler and V-Day to end global violence against women and girls. Endorsements: “”Roaring off the page and whispering through the cracks, authentic struggles with God are laid bare in these midrashic monologues. Through the fourfold feminist hermeneutic of suspicion, resistance, remembrance, and reconstruction, the Word is made flesh again and again by women with the courage to bring real-world concerns to their readings of Scripture. May their witness contribute to an end to violence against women and girls!”” –Darryl W. Stephens, Assistant General Secretary for Advocacy and Sexual Ethics, General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, United Methodist Church “”In this exciting collection of monologues, the authors expand the voices of biblical women and, in so doing, find a way to speak things that are regularly deemed unspeakable in Judeo-Christian tradition: they graphically describe their experiences of sexuality, embodiment, and trauma; they remember and resist religion’s collusion with women’s submission, suffering, and silencing; and they express their religiosity comingled with anger, longing, and fraught relationships. This is certainly a book that would make Eve Ensler proud.”” –Kristi Upson-Saia, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Occidental College “”If truth be told, many women in biblical stories are often depicted simply as vaginas–mute and willing vessels of the Lord or husbands. The sometimes graphic retellings in this book take this portrayal seriously, but give voice to the silenced site of suffering and delight. Lady Parts issues an eloquent and poignant denunciation of sexual violence, challenging and engaging both the imagination and the heart.”” –Melody D. Knowles, Associate Professor of Old Testament, McCormick Theological Seminary “”Female sexual bodies and reproductive organs are, literally, a basic requirement for societal survival. And yet, and especially so in patriarchal societies such as the Bible’s and also (regrettably still) ours in the West, those bodies, those organs, are not directly spoken about and are kept silent by and in the normative culture. In this book such body parts and their biblical owners are endowed with voices, dignity, and agency. The stories ‘they tell are imaginative and at times fanciful, but always poignant and touching. Thus hidden, silent female body parts become whole, living women. Read, laugh, and cry in equal measure. Be empowered; enjoy.”” –Athalya Brenner, Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Universiteit van Amsterdam About the Contributor(s): Kathryn D. Blanchard is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Alma College in Michigan. She is the author of The Protestant Ethic or the Spirit of Capitalism (Cascade, 2010). Jane S. Webster is Professor of R