The relationship of the Strange Woman and Woman Wisdom, separate but inseparable in Proverbs 1-9, is the book's analytic starting point, becoming a hermeneutical lens for viewing other texts of strangeness-of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and cultic activity. Wisdom and strangeness mark the narratives of Samson and Solomon, while priestly literature sets strangeness against holiness. Miriam and Dinah, sisters of cultic eponyms Aaron and Levi, are Israelite women defiled or unclean, made strange. Priestly and wisdom constructions of gendered strangeness intersect, illuminating the ideologies of identity that develop in the postexilic period and that shape the beginnings of the biblical canon.

Author Biography

Claudia V. Camp is Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University and was on the steering committee of the Seminar. She is currently co-general editor of the LHBOTS series, as well as the author or editor of 4 books and numerous articles.