Judith (Hermeneia)

by Lawrence M. Wills

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2019

Overview

Judith tells the story of a beautiful Jewish woman who enters the tent of an invading general, gets him drunk, and then slices off his head, thus saving her village and Jerusalem. This short novella was somewhat surprisingly included in the early Christian versions of the Old Testament and has played an important role in the Western tradition ever since. This commentary provides a detailed analysis of the text’s composition and its meaning in its original historical context, and thoroughly surveys the history of Judith scholarship. Lawrence M. Wills not only considers Judith’s relation to earlier biblical texts—how the author played upon previous biblical motifs and interpreted important biblical passages—but also addresses the rise of Judith and other Jewish novellas in the context of ancient Near Eastern and Greek literature, as well as their relation to cross-cultural folk motifs. Because of the popularity of Judith in art and culture, this volume also addresses the book's history of interpretation in paintings, sculpture, music, drama, and literature. A number of images of artistic depictions of Judith are included and discussed in detail.

Key Features

• Surveys the history of Judith scholarship
• Considers Judith’s relation to earlier biblical texts
• Provides a detailed analysis of the text’s composition and its meaning

Product Details

• Title: Judith
• Author: Lawrence M. Wills
• Series: Hermeneia (Herm)
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 530
• Resource Type: Commentary
• Topic: Deuterocanon

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About Lawrence M. Wills

Dr. Lawrence Wills combines studies in Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and New Testament as a way of addressing religious and social interaction in the ancient world and today. Published in each of these fields, he continues to write and teach on their interrelations, and is active in the Society of Biblical Literature in a number of interdisciplinary areas. Professor Wills’ book, Jewish Novels in the Ancient World, was named an Outstanding Academic Book of 1995 by CHOICE magazine for academic librarians. His present research involves two different areas: identity and the construction of the “other” in biblical texts, both the outside other based on ethnicity or religion and the internal other defined by race, gender, class, or ability, and also the social world of popular literary genres in Judaism and Christianity. Education: AB, Harvard College; MTS, ThD, Harvard Divinity School. Current positions: EDS faculty, 1994-present. Past positions: Director of Language Studies, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Harvard Divinity School; Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament Recent publications include: Ancient Jewish Novels: An Anthology from the Greco-Roman Period (Toby) (Oxford); The Quest of the Historical Gospel: Mark, John and the Origins of the Gospel Genre (Routledge); The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Myth and Poetics) (Cornell); Jew in the Court of the Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends (Harvard Dissertations in Religion, No. 26) (Augsburg/Fortress); “The Depiction of the Jews in Acts” in the Journal of Biblical Literature; and “Judith” commentary in The New Interpreter’s Bible. Areas of interest and research: The social history of ancient Judaism and early Christianity, Jewish and Christian literature in the ancient world, and religion and critical theory.