Reading Marginally: Feminism, Deconstruction, and the Bible (review)

General Book Reviews 167 themselves represented in the biblical canon, the right to reject Torah in part or in its entirety? William H. C. Propp Judaic Studies University of California, San Diego Reading Marginally: Feminism, Deconstruction, and the Bible, by David Rutledge. Biblical I~terpretation Series, 21. London: E. J. Brill, 1996. 234 pp. $76.25. Rutledge's main purpose is to argue that a certain kind of deconstructive reading practice "is indispensable to feminist readings of biblical texts" (p. 3). Rutledge has entered territory in the so-called "culture wars" that few men, if any, dare to tread. Since the relationship between deconstructive practices and the different forms of feminism has not yet been clarified, Rutledge's first problem is to bring together three diverse fields of study-feminism, deconstruction, and biblical studies-into an harmonious encounter. His second problem, as he recognizes, is that he is a male who is writing about what reading practices feminists should be using in biblical studies. What gives him any right to speak for feminism? Rutledge's answer is forthright. He argues that since the 1960s feminism has broadened into several discourses that have constructed him "as a speaking/writing subject." Since his own subjectivity has been partially constructed on the basis of feminist discourses, Rutledge considers himself to be a "legitimate participant" in them (p. 4). One of the most important things that Rutledge does, therefore, is to counter a form of identity politics in biblical studies that retreats into a self-serving individualism by touting one's own experience. Rutledge grants that although a focus on one's own experience may be temporarily necessary, it is politically useless. The kind of feminist criticism that he proposes, therefore, is one that looks for coalitions and recognizes the communal effects of identity and power. Most importantly, it is a feminist criticism that-like deconstruction-"undermines the identity/difference dualism . . . in patriarchal thought and society, and which subverts the logic of rationality and objectivity in favour ofmore diffuse, undecidable structures of value and meaning" (p. 219). It would be misleading to suggest that countering a solipsistic identity politics constitutes most of the book, but it is probably the most important rhetorical and political move that Rutledge makes within biblical studies. Rutledge not only exposes the political ineffectiveness of an individualistic identity politics, but in explaining deconstruction, he exposes silly stereotypes about it as well (e.g., that a text call be read in any way that one chooses). Rutledge primarily uses the readings of Jacques Derrida to make it clear that deconstruction is not as much a theory 168 SHOFAR Spring 1999 Vol. 17, No.3 readings of Jacques Derrida to make it clear that deconstruction is not as much a theory as it is a reading practice. Derridean deconstruction takes very seriously the linguistic and semantic structures of whatever text is being read. The goal is to expose both the text and its interpretive history (which is part of "the text") as a construction. Rutledge correctly emphasizes that for Derrida this kind of reading is both an ethical and a political act, primarily because it shows that both a text's structure and its readings could have been done "otherwise." For Rutledge, Derridean deconstructive reading practice is akin to Rabbinic midrash, particularly in its close reading ofthe text, in its penchant for fmding gaps and inconsistencies, and, most important, in showing the different possibilities ofexplaining a text. Rutledge is careful to say that the Rabbis were not proto-deconstructionists. However, as an hermeneutic that did not sanction monolithic interpretations of a text to the exclusion of other readings, Rabbinic midrash has much in common with both deconstruction and feminism in its potential to undermine patriarchy. Rutledge brings the three reading practices together in an exemplary reading of Genesis 2:4b-3:24. In this reviewer's opinion, Rutledge's reading of Genesis clearly shows that a feministdeconstructionist -midrashic reading practice could enhance political possibilities for marginalized voices in biblical studies. Rutledge's book is obviously an ambitious undertaking, perhaps overly so. He has five main chapters that broadly range over these topics: "Feminist, Religion and the Biblical Text"; "The Concept of 'Woman...