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Re: Ezra-Neh



>one cannot argue from a general view of women to the _absolute_
inability of women to take part in the creation of the canon. As you note
itself, the "general view" did not prevent Hulda....<

Even if we charitably assume that Huldah had a hand in the writing of "D"
(though I doubt it), it's worth contrasting the enormous number of named
and unnamed male prophets in the bible with the handful of women named:
Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and I suppose No'adiah, for whatever she was worth.

There's a word for this:  tokenism.  Maybe the culture "did not prevent
Huldah" -- but it sure as heck prevented the vast majority of women from
achieving the spiritual and intellectual levels to which their I.Q. could
have led them, had they been given the opportunity.

There is a large body of religious feminist writing on this and related topics,
which apparently remains unknown to many traditionally-minded scholars.  This
is a pity -- if they would read these writings, they would learn things of
great importance that had never previously crossed their minds.... and the
world of scholarship would be the better for it.

Judith Romney Wegner