Sunday, February 11, 2007

Women's Rights in Old Testament Times

The full text of "Women's Rights in Old Testament Times" is now
online. Here is a description from the publishers website:
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Women's Rights in Old Testament Times
JAMES R. BAKER

Old Testament women were often as tough-minded and strong-willed as
their male counterparts, and many were able to work the religious and
secular law to their advantage. Baker unravels the labyrinth of
Aramean, Assyrian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Egyptian, Hittite, Sumerian,
and Hebrew culture and interprets arcane biblical narratives in light
of legal custom. He considers women in business; surrogate sexual
partners and slave-husband counterparts to men's slaves and
concubines; inheritance rights of daughters; and metronomic marriage,
in which the wife provided land, occupation, and family for a less
well-situated husband. He makes many of the Old Testament stories
understandable for the first time and renders several object lessons
taught in Sunday School obsolete, though he also bolsters others and
provides grist for further discussion.

---
James R. Baker is a Salt Lake City attorney and free-lance writer who
has studied at Brigham Young University, York University, and Hebrew
University.

The full text is available here:
http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/old/intro.htm

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