Helpmates, Harlots, and Heroes, Second Edition: Women's Stories in the Hebrew Bible

by Alice Ogden Bellis

This best-selling book, now revised and updated, shares the work of many feminist biblical scholars who have examined women's stories for several years. These stories are powerful accounts of women in the Old Testament--stories that have profoundly affected how women understand themselves as well as men's perception of them. Here, Alice Bellis shares the research of feminist biblical scholarship during a quarter of a century, which renders a vast amount of refreshing, exciting, sometimes disturbing material.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, History, Old Testament, Christianity, School, Judaism

575 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

a lot of thought provoking data in this one. thoroughly enjoyed even if it was for school

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is the Hebrew Bible sexist? or, in the most positive way of reading the stories where women are featured or included, is the Bible at least decidedly androcentrist? And, if so, do the stories told therein have any authority or application for women today? Have they adversely affected the way women view themselves?

Perhaps it is only the male commentators who, down through the ages, have bred into our bones interpretations that show women in the Bible chiefly as helpmates (very much the second sex), as harlots, often as victims and sometimes, though very rarely, as heroes.

Bellis, a Semitic language and Old Testament (OT) scholar at Howard University Divinity School, sets out to explore these issues.

She manages to look at every woman's story in the OT in chronological order, summarize the new and sometimes radical interpretations that feminist and womanist Biblical scholars have given these stories, and then provide some commentary of her own - commenting when she thinks a particular interpretation may not be supported by the facts of the story itself or bringing us back to commonsense when a particular interpretation seems to be too far afield, overly influenced by a particular political point of view. Each section is followed by a series of questions suitable for group discussion, and by an excellent bibliography.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in and/or troubled by (furious at?) the way women are depicted in the OT. It's not only that they are depicted poorly but it's also usual that their point of view is simply ignored. Bellis gives us the factual story. She doesn't claim that all the stories can be "redeemed," i.e. made relevant or palatable to our modern sensibilities. Nevertheless it's enlightening and sometimes hopeful to see how various feminist and womanist scholars derive new meanings from these texts. Her book is scholarly enough but not difficult.


Bellis defines for us in her introductory chapter the modern methods of interpretation Biblical scholars use in looking at the stories: literary criticism, culturally cued literary reading, historical inquiry, and so forth. By the end of her book, you may find yourself agreeing more with one method than with the others.

[Sharon Buchbinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye-opening, feminist review of women's stories in the Hebrew Bible. The author employs the latest critical thinking in feminist literature while simultaneously reminding the reader of the realities of women's lives in that era, as well as the fact that men wrote the bible. Within the context of this framework, these stories shimmer and reform into a new knowledge. The author reminds everyone about where we have come from with respect to women's roles and rights, where we are now with respect to arguments about owning our own bodies, and poses the question, "How shall women fare in the future?"

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen. This was a great book in terms of its content, just not its writing. I usually don't expect my textbooks to be the most superb works of literature, but most are pretty good. This book felt like the author was just learning how to string words together to form sentences. The content is incredible--a critical, all-encompassing look at how women have been portrayed in the Bible and how that has influenced how women are conceived of in society, with lots of commentary from the author and various sources--but I can't get past the writing. Short, choppy sentences, with nearly no variation in sentence length. Why have a comma when you can have a period? It almost forces you to read what would otherwise be an engaging book in a robot-like, monotone voice. I would have loved to love this book because it's so interesting, but it could have been so much better.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not that helpful.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting feminist take on stories we all know. I enjoyed Bellis’s perspective.

[Stefano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una bella presentazione delle donne della Bibbia. Un taglio nettamente femminista. Talvolta alcuni aspetti di queste presentazioni lasciano perplessi... Forse la psicologia di una donna americana del XX secolo non aiuta tanto a capire una donna che ha vissuto 2500 anni fa... Oppure basta essere una donna per capire cosa pensa o sente qualunque donna? Mah?

[Grete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A survey of scholarship on biblical women.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great analysis of the characters we all think we know. Ms. Ogden-Bellis does a great job of tipping the stories upside down, asking the reader to consider things from a new angle.

[Sola.scriptura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of resources and a possibility to see different views on the women characters in the OT.

[Suzanne Hess]

DNF.