Katherine Southwood | University of Oxford (original) (raw)
Monographs by Katherine Southwood
Cambridge University Press, 2017
In this book, Katherine E. Southwood offers a new approach to interpreting Judges 21. Breaking aw... more In this book, Katherine E. Southwood offers a new approach to interpreting Judges 21. Breaking away from traditional interpretations of kingship, feminism, or comparisons with Greek or Roman mythology, she explores the concepts of marriage, ethnicity, rape, and power as means of ethnic preservation and exclusion. She also exposes the many reasons why marriage by capture occurred during the post-exilic period. Judges 21 served as a warning against compromise - submission to superficial unity between the Israelites and the Benjaminites. Any such unity would result in drastic changes in the character, culture, and values of the ethnic group 'Israel'. The chapter encouraged post-exilic audiences to socially construct those categorised as 'Benjaminites' as foreigners who do not belong within the group, thereby silencing doubts about the merits of unity.
This book offers a fresh reflection on the intermarriage crisis within Ezra 9-10. Numerous issues... more This book offers a fresh reflection on the intermarriage crisis within Ezra 9-10. Numerous issues, such as ethnicity, religious identity, purity, land, kinship, and migration, orbit around the central problem of intermarriage. These issues are explored in terms of their modern treatment within anthropology, and this information is used to generate a more informed, understanding of the chapters within Ezra. The intermarriage crisis in Ezra is pivotal for our understanding of the postexilic community. As the evidence from anthropology suggests, the social consciousness of ethnic identity and resistance to the idea of intermarriage which emerges from the text point to a deeper set of problems and concerns, most significantly, relating to the complexities of return-migration.This book argues that the sense of identity which Ezra 9–10 presents is best understood by placing it within the larger context of a return migration community who seek to establish exilic boundaries when previous familiar structures of existence have been rendered obsolete by decades of displaced existence outside the land. The complex view of ethnicity presented through the text may, therefore, reflect the ongoing ideology of a returning separatist group. The textualization of this group’s tenets for Israelite identity, and for scriptural exegesis, facilitated its perpetuation by preserving a charged nexus of ideas around which the ethnic and religious identities of later communities could orbit. The multifaceted effects of return-migration may have given rise to an increased focus on ethnicity through ethnicity being realized in exile but only really being crystallized in the homeland.
Job’s Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising, 2020
This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job’s body in pain and on the reactions of ... more This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job’s body in pain and on the reactions of his friends to explore the moral and social world reflected in the language and the values that their speeches betray.
A key contribution of this monograph is to highlight how the perspective of illness as retribution is powerfully refuted in Job’s speeches and, in particular, to show how this is achieved through comedy. Comedy in Job is a powerful weapon used to expose and ridicule the idea of retribution. Rejecting the approach of retrospective diagnosis, this monograph carefully analyses the expression of pain in Job focusing specifically on somatic language used in the deity attack metaphors, in the deity surveillance metaphors and in the language connected to the body and social status. These metaphors are analysed in a comparative way using research from medical anthropology and sociology which focuses on illness narratives and expressions of pain.
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising will be of interest to anyone working on the Book of Job, as well as those with an interest in suffering and pain in the Hebrew Bible more broadly.
Commentary by Katherine Southwood
1517 Media eBooks, Sep 1, 2016
Papers by Katherine Southwood
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Literature and Theology, Jun 27, 2019
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling... more This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling in order to draw attention to the signicance of those writing the literature—those who, through narrating categories textually, retain the power to establish and to perpetuate self-designa-tions and classications of Others. The present study is divided into two sections; initially, the relationship between ethnicity and labelling will be surveyed. Subsequently, the insights provided within this initial section will be applied to some of the labels specied in Ezra 9–10 and their signicance for discerning the impact of ethnicity in Ezra determined. Since there is not space to consider every label in detail, special attention will be given to the labels and titles thorough which the intermarriage crisis is introduced...
Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period, 2011
Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10An Anthropological Approach, 2012
Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10An Anthropological Approach, 2012
The Bible & Critical Theory, 2022
Co-authored with James W. Southwood, Specialist Clinical Psychologist. Contemplating the ideas o... more Co-authored with James W. Southwood, Specialist Clinical Psychologist.
Contemplating the ideas of Job and comedy in the same sentence, if this is even possible, will inevitably raise questions regarding genre and tone. In this article, we will initially discuss the reasons why resistance might emerge to the idea of comedy in Job. We will then go on to consider various theories concerning comedy. Finally, we will explore the ways in which comedy is helpful for analyzing and interpreting Job. The key contribution of this article is to highlight how comedy helps audiences to recognize the lack of empathy in the advice given to Job by his friends and reveals the problematic nature of their retribution-centered advice. This is an important and instructive pedagogical tool for audiences: through the swift changes between what is deeply tragic and what is comedic, the audience’s emotional engagement with Job increases. Through watching the friends’ lack of empathy, the audience have the pedagogical space to call into question their own attitudes and values when faced with the pain of others. This opens up a space for the audience’s self-reflection and growth by enabling them to critique, rather than assume the authority of, well-established traditions. It opens up space for the audience’s subjectivity and for attunement towards recognizing the pain of others.
Cambridge University Press, 2017
In this book, Katherine E. Southwood offers a new approach to interpreting Judges 21. Breaking aw... more In this book, Katherine E. Southwood offers a new approach to interpreting Judges 21. Breaking away from traditional interpretations of kingship, feminism, or comparisons with Greek or Roman mythology, she explores the concepts of marriage, ethnicity, rape, and power as means of ethnic preservation and exclusion. She also exposes the many reasons why marriage by capture occurred during the post-exilic period. Judges 21 served as a warning against compromise - submission to superficial unity between the Israelites and the Benjaminites. Any such unity would result in drastic changes in the character, culture, and values of the ethnic group 'Israel'. The chapter encouraged post-exilic audiences to socially construct those categorised as 'Benjaminites' as foreigners who do not belong within the group, thereby silencing doubts about the merits of unity.
This book offers a fresh reflection on the intermarriage crisis within Ezra 9-10. Numerous issues... more This book offers a fresh reflection on the intermarriage crisis within Ezra 9-10. Numerous issues, such as ethnicity, religious identity, purity, land, kinship, and migration, orbit around the central problem of intermarriage. These issues are explored in terms of their modern treatment within anthropology, and this information is used to generate a more informed, understanding of the chapters within Ezra. The intermarriage crisis in Ezra is pivotal for our understanding of the postexilic community. As the evidence from anthropology suggests, the social consciousness of ethnic identity and resistance to the idea of intermarriage which emerges from the text point to a deeper set of problems and concerns, most significantly, relating to the complexities of return-migration.This book argues that the sense of identity which Ezra 9–10 presents is best understood by placing it within the larger context of a return migration community who seek to establish exilic boundaries when previous familiar structures of existence have been rendered obsolete by decades of displaced existence outside the land. The complex view of ethnicity presented through the text may, therefore, reflect the ongoing ideology of a returning separatist group. The textualization of this group’s tenets for Israelite identity, and for scriptural exegesis, facilitated its perpetuation by preserving a charged nexus of ideas around which the ethnic and religious identities of later communities could orbit. The multifaceted effects of return-migration may have given rise to an increased focus on ethnicity through ethnicity being realized in exile but only really being crystallized in the homeland.
Job’s Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising, 2020
This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job’s body in pain and on the reactions of ... more This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job’s body in pain and on the reactions of his friends to explore the moral and social world reflected in the language and the values that their speeches betray.
A key contribution of this monograph is to highlight how the perspective of illness as retribution is powerfully refuted in Job’s speeches and, in particular, to show how this is achieved through comedy. Comedy in Job is a powerful weapon used to expose and ridicule the idea of retribution. Rejecting the approach of retrospective diagnosis, this monograph carefully analyses the expression of pain in Job focusing specifically on somatic language used in the deity attack metaphors, in the deity surveillance metaphors and in the language connected to the body and social status. These metaphors are analysed in a comparative way using research from medical anthropology and sociology which focuses on illness narratives and expressions of pain.
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising will be of interest to anyone working on the Book of Job, as well as those with an interest in suffering and pain in the Hebrew Bible more broadly.
1517 Media eBooks, Sep 1, 2016
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2020
Literature and Theology, Jun 27, 2019
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling... more This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling in order to draw attention to the signicance of those writing the literature—those who, through narrating categories textually, retain the power to establish and to perpetuate self-designa-tions and classications of Others. The present study is divided into two sections; initially, the relationship between ethnicity and labelling will be surveyed. Subsequently, the insights provided within this initial section will be applied to some of the labels specied in Ezra 9–10 and their signicance for discerning the impact of ethnicity in Ezra determined. Since there is not space to consider every label in detail, special attention will be given to the labels and titles thorough which the intermarriage crisis is introduced...
Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period, 2011
Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10An Anthropological Approach, 2012
Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10An Anthropological Approach, 2012
The Bible & Critical Theory, 2022
Co-authored with James W. Southwood, Specialist Clinical Psychologist. Contemplating the ideas o... more Co-authored with James W. Southwood, Specialist Clinical Psychologist.
Contemplating the ideas of Job and comedy in the same sentence, if this is even possible, will inevitably raise questions regarding genre and tone. In this article, we will initially discuss the reasons why resistance might emerge to the idea of comedy in Job. We will then go on to consider various theories concerning comedy. Finally, we will explore the ways in which comedy is helpful for analyzing and interpreting Job. The key contribution of this article is to highlight how comedy helps audiences to recognize the lack of empathy in the advice given to Job by his friends and reveals the problematic nature of their retribution-centered advice. This is an important and instructive pedagogical tool for audiences: through the swift changes between what is deeply tragic and what is comedic, the audience’s emotional engagement with Job increases. Through watching the friends’ lack of empathy, the audience have the pedagogical space to call into question their own attitudes and values when faced with the pain of others. This opens up a space for the audience’s self-reflection and growth by enabling them to critique, rather than assume the authority of, well-established traditions. It opens up space for the audience’s subjectivity and for attunement towards recognizing the pain of others.
Mixed Marriages: Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period, 2011
This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling... more This essay examines the categories used within Ezra 9–10 against the dynamics of ethnic labelling in order to draw attention to the signicance of those writing the literature—those who, through narrating categories textually, retain the power to establish and to perpetuate self-designa-tions and classications of Others. The present study is divided into two sections; initially, the relationship between ethnicity and labelling will be surveyed. Subsequently, the insights provided within this initial section will be applied to some of the labels specied in Ezra 9–10 and their signicance for discerning the impact of ethnicity in Ezra determined. Since there is not space to consider every label in detail, special attention will be given to the labels and titles thorough which the intermarriage crisis is introduced...
Journal of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, 2022
Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible, Apr 25, 2023
The T & T Clark Handbook of Anthropology and the Hebrew Bible., 2022
Society of Old Testament Study Book List , 2012
This article is a review of ‘Ben Sira on Family, Gender, and Sexuality’ by Balla, Ibolya. (Berlin... more This article is a review of ‘Ben Sira on Family, Gender, and Sexuality’ by Balla, Ibolya. (Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2011).
Society of Old Testament Study Book List , 2012
This article is a review of ‘Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach’... more This article is a review of ‘Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach’ by Lau, Peter H. W. (Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2011).
Society of Old Testament Study Book List , 2012
This article reviews ‘The Holy Seed has been Defiled: The Interethnic Marriage Dilemma in Ezra 9-... more This article reviews ‘The Holy Seed has been Defiled: The Interethnic Marriage Dilemma in Ezra 9-10’ by Johnson, Willa M., Hebrew Bible Monographs, 33 (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011).
Society of Old Testament Study Book List, 2013
This is a review of ‘Resolviendo: Narratives of survival in the Hebrew bible and in Cuba today’ b... more This is a review of ‘Resolviendo: Narratives of survival in the Hebrew bible and in Cuba today’ by Garcia-Alfonso, C., Studies in Biblical Literature, 132. Pp. xii + 119. (New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2010).
Society for Old Testament Study Book List , 2017
This article is a review of ‘Dismembering the Whole: Composition and Purpose of Judges 19-21’ by ... more This article is a review of ‘Dismembering the Whole: Composition and Purpose of Judges 19-21’ by Edenburg, C., Ancient Israel and its Literature, 24 (Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2016).
Society for Old Testament Study Book List , 2017
This article reviews ‘Reading Ruth in the Restoration Period: A Call for Inclusion’ by Jones III... more This article reviews ‘Reading Ruth in the Restoration Period: A Call for Inclusion’ by Jones III, E. A., (Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies, 604; Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2016).
Society for Old Testament Study Book List , 2017
This article is a review of ‘Political Trauma and Healing: Biblical Ethics for a Postcolonial Wor... more This article is a review of ‘Political Trauma and Healing: Biblical Ethics for a Postcolonial World’ by Mark G Brett. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016).
Society for Old Testament Study Book List , 2018
This is a review of ‘Wholeness & Holiness: Medicine, Disease, Purity and the Levitical Priesthood... more This is a review of ‘Wholeness & Holiness: Medicine, Disease, Purity and the Levitical Priesthood’ by Michael Glasby. (Apostolos Old Testament Studies. London: Apostolos Publishing, 2017).
Society for Old Testament Study Book List , 2018
This article is a review of ‘How Things Feel: Biblical Studies, Affect Theory, and the (Im)person... more This article is a review of ‘How Things Feel: Biblical Studies, Affect Theory, and the (Im)personal’ by Maia Kotrosits. (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
Society for Old Testament Study Booklist , 2019
This article reviews ‘Inside the Whirlwind: The Book of Job through African Eyes’ by Jason A Cart... more This article reviews ‘Inside the Whirlwind: The Book of Job through African Eyes’ by Jason A Carter. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2017).
Society for Old Testament Study Booklist , 2019
This is an article reviewing ‘Style and Context of Old Greek Job’ by Marieke Dhont. (Leiden; Bost... more This is an article reviewing ‘Style and Context of Old Greek Job’ by Marieke Dhont. (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2017)
Modern Believing , 2021
This article is a review of ‘Gender-Play in the Hebrew Bible: The Ways the Bible Challenges Its G... more This article is a review of ‘Gender-Play in the Hebrew Bible: The Ways the Bible Challenges Its Gender Norms’ by A. B. Kalmanofsky (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2017).
Review of Biblical Literature, 2021
This article is a review of ‘Ethical God-Talk in the Book of Job: Speaking to the Almighty’ by Wi... more This article is a review of ‘Ethical God-Talk in the Book of Job: Speaking to the Almighty’ by William C. Pohl IV (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2020).
Church Times, 2022
This article is a review of Review of ‘God: An Anatomy’ by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Picador: Lon... more This article is a review of Review of ‘God: An Anatomy’ by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Picador: London, 2021).
Society for the Old Testament Book List, 2022
This article is a review of ‘Black/Africana Studies and Black/Africana Biblical Studies’ by Abrah... more This article is a review of ‘Black/Africana Studies and Black/Africana Biblical Studies’ by Abraham Smith (Leiden: Brill, 2021).
Society for Old Testament Study Booklist , 2022
This is an article reviewing ‘Israel and Judah Redefined: Migration, Trauma and Empire in the Six... more This is an article reviewing ‘Israel and Judah Redefined: Migration, Trauma and Empire in the Sixth Century BCE’ by C. L Crouch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Journal for the Society of Old Testament Study, 2010
This article is a review of ‘A Theocratic Yehud?’ by Jeremiah W. Cataldo.
The Journal of Theological Studies , 2010
This article reviews ‘‘Let the Little Children Come to Me’: Childhood and Children in Early Chris... more This article reviews ‘‘Let the Little Children Come to Me’: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity’ by Cornelia Horn and John Martens.
The Journal of Theological Studies, 2010
This is an article reviewing Review of ‘Judaism: The First Phase’ by Joseph Blenkinsopp.
Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2011
This is a review of Review of ‘Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative with its Anci... more This is a review of Review of ‘Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative with its Ancient Audience.’ By Esler, Philip, F. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2011).
Liverpool Studies in Ancient History series
Co-edited with Karolina Sekita. Under contract.
Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series
Co-edited with Stuart Weeks and Hugh Williamson for the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Stu... more Co-edited with Stuart Weeks and Hugh Williamson for the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (T&T Clark). Under Contract.
Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel
Co-edited special volume with Alex Kirk. Proposal Accepted. In preparation.
Hebrew Studies, 2019
Co-edited Special volume with Casey Strine.
Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 2018
Co-edited with Martien Halverson-Taylor. For the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies se... more Co-edited with Martien Halverson-Taylor. For the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (T&T Clark).
Notions of women as found in the Bible have had an incalculable impact on western cultures, influencing perspectives on marriage, kinship, legal practice, political status, and general attitudes. Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible is drawn from three separate strands to address and analyse this phenomenon. The first examines how women were conceptualized and represented during the exilic period. The second focuses on methodological possibilities and drawbacks connected to investigating women and exile. The third reviews current prominent literature on the topic, with responses from authors.
With chapters from a range of contributors, topics move from an analysis of Ruth as a woman returning to her homeland, and issues concerning the foreign presence who brings foreign family members into the midst of a community, and how this is dealt with, through the intermarriage crisis portrayed in Ezra 9-10, to an analysis of Judean constructions of gender in the exilic and early post-exilic periods. The contributions show an exciting range of the best scholarship on women and foreign identities, with important consequences for how the foreign/known is perceived, and what that has meant for women through the centuries.
Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series , 2022
Co-edited with Holly Morse. Contracted for the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies seri... more Co-edited with Holly Morse. Contracted for the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (T&T Clark.
The contributors provide fresh insight into the context surrounding the composition and reception of the Psalms, the relationships between the Psalms, and of early audiences who engaged with the material. Close attention is also paid to specific interpretative problems which emerge in the Psalms, both linguistic and theological.