Moving from ancient and medieval sources to contemporary appropriations of the Sarah and Hagar story, the authors begin with an overview of the three religions---from their scriptural beginnings to their contemporary questions. They then explore how the story was developed after its canonization, in rabbinic interpretations, in the stories of Islam, and in the teachings of the early church fathers. Finally, they present contemporary womanist and feminist perspectives. Timely, relevant, and provocative, this book provides an entree into interreligious discussion and understanding.
In addition to Phyllis Trible and Letty Russell, contributors include Elizabeth A. Clark, Riffat Hassan, Adele Reinhartz, Miriam-Simma Walfish, and Delores Williams.
Phyllis Trible is University Professor of Biblical Studies at Wake Forest University Divinity School and Baldwin Professor Emerita of Sacred Literature, Union Theological Seminary, New York. She is the author of Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narrative and God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality.
Letty M. Russell is Professor Emerita of Theology, Yale Divinity School. She is the author of Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church and coeditor of Dictionary of Feminist Theologies and Inheriting Our Mothers' Gardens: Feminist Theology in Third World Perspective.
