Date of Award

1995

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Religious Studies

Keywords

Religion, Biblical Studies.

Supervisor

Amore, R.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

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 'delightful' or 'whimsical', it is regarded as a fine example of a short story with full and complete characters. Naomi's perseverance, Ruth's faithfulness, as well as the deity's providence are examples of this view. The book is seen as one of only a few remnants of women's 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.

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