Women and Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary Approaches eds. by Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Paul A. Holloway, and James A. Kelhoffer (review)

This collection of essays is devoted to the religious experiences of women in antiquity, as few scholars have set out to study the religious lives of ancient Mediterranean women within a comparative context. In this volume “Classicists rub elbows with scholars of Judaism and Christianity; the world of Greek curse tablets, Alexandrian grave epigrams and Roman philosophers are brought cheek to jowl with those of the apostles and church fathers” (1f.). The volume stems from Women in the Religious and Intellectual Activity of the Ancient Mediterranean World: An Interdisciplinary and International Conference in Honor of Adela Yarbro Collins, held in March 2009 at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and The Ohio State University. The “Introduction” (1–7) by the editors notes that:

The study of women in the ancient world has made tremendous strides in recent decades. What was at first groundbreaking in the (male-dominated) world of scholarship has now become integral to a proper understanding of the social, political, economic, religious, and family life of ancient cultures. The study of women in the ancient world was initiated by feminist scholars; now it is embraced by scholars from a wide variety of methodological and hermeneutical perspectives. Thanks to much fine work in this area, we now understand much more thoroughly than in previous generations past the roles that gender constructions, more generally, and women, in particular, played in ancient religions.

(p. 1)

It further introduces and assesses the twenty-one essays which appear in three thematic sections: Narrative, Ritual, and Logos.

Part one contains essays on various narratives that may or may not have women as their central focus, but in some way concern issues of gender and women: L. Alexander, “The Virgin and the Goddess: Women and Religion in the Greek Romance” (11–37); P. D. Ahearne-Kroll, “The Portrayal of Aseneth in Joseph and Aseneth: Women’s Religious Experience in Antiquity and the Limitations of Ancient Narratives” (39–58); M. R. D’Angelo, “Roman Imperial Family Values and the Gospel of Mark: The Divorce Sayings (Mark 10:2–12)” (59–83); J. A. Kelhoffer, “A Tale of Two Markan Characterizations: The Exemplary Woman Who Anointed Jesus’ Body for Burial (14:3–9) and the Silent Trio Who Fled the Empty Tomb (16:1–8)” (85–98); T. Karlsen Seim, “Motherhood and the Making of Fathers in Antiquity: Contextualizing Genetics in the Gospel of John” (99–123); C. K. Rothschild, “Embryology, Plant Biology, and Divine Generation in the Fourth Gospel” (125–151); J. W. van Henten, “Blaming the Women: Women at Herod’s Court in Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 15.23–231” (153–175); R. Doran, “To Bear or Not To Bear: The Argument for Abstinence in the Greek Gospel of the Egyptians” (177–188); C. R. Moss, “Blood Ties: Martyrdom, Motherhood, and Family in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas” (189–208) and J. F. Hultin, “A New Web for Arachne and a New Veil for the Temple: Women and Weaving from Athena to the Virgin Mary” (209–223). This section could have done with a chapter on the women in Luke-Acts or, more specifically, in the canonical infancy narratives (cf. the promising comments on Mary by L. Alexander, p. 34). The role of women in the Pastoral Epistles would also have yielded interesting perspectives (briefly treated on pp. 353f.).

Part two is devoted to women and gender in ancient religions and ritual. In “Victimology: Or, How to Blame Someone for an Untimely Death” (227–240), F. Graf deals with untimely death and one specific ancient reaction to it, namely the charge of sorcery. Both victims and perpetrators were often women, although not always. Graf’s main sources are inscriptions on stone which were set up at graves which have been neglected in research on magic and sorcery in the ancient world. He concludes...