Un-Straightening Boaz in Ruth Scholarship


Scholarly interpretations of Boaz’s sexuality in the book of Ruth largely assume that Boaz experiences sexual desires for Ruth specifically and for women generally. This essay will highlight the heterosexual bias that has commonly framed scholarly interpretations of Boaz and that imposes heterosexua...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Hegemonic Masculinities in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Traditions
Main Author: Krutzsch, Brett 1979- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2015
In: Biblical interpretation
Year: 2015, Volume: 23, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 541-552
IxTheo Classification:FD Contextual theology
HB Old Testament
NCF Sexual ethics
Further subjects:B Boaz
 Ruth
 queer

Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Scholarly interpretations of Boaz’s sexuality in the book of Ruth largely assume that Boaz experiences sexual desires for Ruth specifically and for women generally. This essay will highlight the heterosexual bias that has commonly framed scholarly interpretations of Boaz and that imposes heterosexual attraction into the text. This essay illustrates that Boaz’s sexuality, far from an obvious aspect of the text, is largely produced through interpretive imagination. Although some scholars have questioned Ruth’s sexuality and her relationship with Naomi, Boaz’s sexuality has largely remained under-analyzed, leaving in place the assumption that the text is clear about his desires for women.

ISSN:1568-5152
Contains:In: Biblical interpretation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685152-02345p04