Author: Julianna Kaye Smith, Earlham School of Religion - ORCID

Abstract: »Stories of sexual violence are central to the Hebrew Bible. This dissertation examines three of those stories found in Gen 34, Gen 19 and Judg 19–20 through a feminist critical lens. The analysis of the three stories focuses on the politics of sexual violence at play in each of them. It argues that a primary function of these stories is marking out social boundaries betweenvarious communities. Furthermore, the dissertation traces the reception of the three stories in early Jewish literature. It finds that early Jewish writers recognized the boundary-setting function of the stories and engaged with them in their own contexts to explore communal boundaries. The dissertation demonstrates that the biblical and early Jewish writers’ use of stories of sexual violence as boundary markers is rooted in a larger phenomenon, historical and modern, of using stories of sexual violence to mark out boundaries.« (Source: Thesis)

Contents:

	Abstract of the Dissertation (p. ii)
	Acknowledgements (p. vii)
	Vita (p. ix)
	0. Introduction (p. 1)
		0.1 The Corpus (p. 3)
		0.2 The Outline (p. 3)
	1. Methodology (p. 7)
		1.1 Terminology (p. 8)
			1.1.1 Sexual Violence (p. 8)
			1.1.2 The Language of Boundaries (p. 10)
		1.2 Theorizing Sexual Violence (p. 12)
			1.2.1 The Politics of Sexual Violence (p. 12)
			1.2.2 The Politics of Sexual Violence: Case Studies (p. 21)
			1.2.3 Representation of Sexual Violence (p. 35)
		1.3 Feminisms and Method (p. 37)
		1.4 Masculinity Studies (p. 45)
		1.5 Innerbiblical Discourse (p. 49)
		1.6 Reception History (p. 52)
		1.7 Conclusion (p. 60)
	2. The Dinah Story and Its Reception (p. 62)
		2.1 MT Genesis 34 (p. 63)
			2.1.1 Dating and Context (p. 63)
			2.1.2 Overview of MT Genesis 34 (p. 70)
			2.1.3 Debating Sexual Violence in MT Genesis 34 (p. 74)
			2.1.4 The Politics of Sexual Violence in MT Genesis 34 (p. 83)
		2.2 LXX Genesis 34 (p. 93)
		2.3 Early Reception (p. 98)
			2.3.1 Reversals and Permeable Boundaries (p. 98)
			2.3.2 Establishing the Boundaries, Building the Walls (p. 120)
				2.3.2.1 Highlighting Otherness and Vilifying the Other (p. 127)
				2.3.2.2 Collective Culpability (p. 133)
				2.3.2.3 Divine License for Revenge and Absolving Violence against the Other (p. 137)
		2.4 Conclusion (p. 140)
		2.5 Excursus: Dinah in The Aramaic Levi Document? (p. 141)
		2.6 Excursus: Just the Facts (p. 144)
		2.7 Excursus: What Happened Afterward? (p. 145)
	3. The Sodom Story and Its Reception (p. 147)
		3.1 MT Genesis 19 and The Sodom Tradition (p. 148)
			3.1.1 Dating and Context (p. 148)
			3.1.2 Overview of MT Genesis 19 (p. 153)
			3.1.3 MT Sodom & Gomorrah Tradition Outside of Genesis (p. 156)
			3.1.4 Framing Genesis 19 (p. 158)
			3.1.5 The Politics of Sexual Violence (p. 159)
		3.2 LXX Genesis 19 (p. 166)
		3.3 Early Reception (p. 168)
			3.3.1 Those Inhospitable Foreigner-Haters: Wisdom of Solomon and Josephus (p. 169)
			3.3.2 Judgment for the Proud: 3 Maccabees 2:5 & Sirach 16:7–10 (p. 172)
			3.3.3 Crossing Boundaries: Watchers, Giants, and Sodom (p. 175)
			3.3.4 Sexual Sin and Boundary Crossing (p. 181)
				3.3.4.1 A Turn in the Conversation on Sexual Sin: Philo (p. 183)
			3.3.5 Connecting Genesis 19 and Judges 19–20: Pseudo-Philo and Testament of Benjamin (p. 186)
		3.4 Conclusion (p. 188)
		3.5 Excursus: Qumran (p. 189)
			3.5.1 4Q172 (4QCommentaries on Unidentified Texts) (p. 189)
			3.5.2 4Q177 (4QCatena A, 4QMidrash on Eschatology b or 4QEschatological Commentary B) (p. 190)
			3.5.3 4Q180 (4QAges of Creation A or 4QPesher on the Periods) (p. 192)
			3.5.3 4Q252 (4QCommentary on Genesis A) (p. 193)
			3.5.4 3Q14 (3QUnclassified Frgs. ar) (p. 195)
			3.5.6 1Q20/1QapGen (Genesis Apocryphon) (p. 196)
		3.6 Excursus: 2 Enoch (p. 197)
	4. The Story of The Concubine and Its Reception (p. 198)
		4.1 MT Judges 19–20 (p. 199)
			4.1.1 Dating and Context (p. 199)
			4.1.2 Overview of MT Judges 19–20 (p. 205)
			4.1.3 Excursus: A Gibeah Tradition (p. 209)
			4.1.4 The Tie That Binds (p. 211)
			4.1.5 The Politics of Sexual Violence (p. 215)
		4.2 LXX Judges 19–20 (p. 221)
		4.3 Early Jewish Literature (p. 227)
			4.3.1 Josephus: It Was Bad, But Not That Bad (p. 228)
			4.3.2 Pseudo-Philo and Exogamy (p. 234)
		4.4 Conclusion (p. 238)
		4.5 Excursus: Testament of Benjamin, Sodom and Gibeah (p. 239)
	5. Conclusion (p. 240)
	Bibliography (p. 243)

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