Full Text - Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses

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tation is made relevant to both the modern practising Hindu and the objective
Western student/scholar. Such topics as the Hindu Temple, the festival calendar,
the social order, the religious role of the renouncer, the six orthodox systems of
Hinduism, reform and politics are outlined in this section in some detail.
Klostermaier concludes his study with some interesting remarks in his discussion of Hinduism as a world religion in modern times. He says, for example, that
&dquo;it would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the
twenty-first century&dquo; (p. 413). The rationale behind this rather striking statement
is Hinduism’s lack of ideology and its reliance on intuition. The process, it is
argued, is already in motion, as, for example, in the work of intellectuals and
writers who have found Hindu ideas convincing and who identify them with their
personal beliefs (p. 414).
This book is full of information with excellent notes and an extensive bibliography. One whole chapter is devoted to Hindu chronology and there is a glossary
of terms. This latter is helpful in that original terms appear throughout the text in
order more accurately to represent Hinduism (p. 27). Numerous charts, line
drawings and photographs illustrate the material presented in the written text.
By way of comment I offer the following. In an attempt to dispel what the
author perceives as misconceptions with respect to Hinduism, traditional scholarship routinely comes under fire. Klostermaier is harsh in his judgment, particularly of scholars who have a tendency to reduce Hinduism as a &dquo;case&dquo; to be studied
rather than an expression of human nature (p. 14). A second area of concern is
the book’s lack of detailed information on the beliefs and practices of Hindu
women. Given that this study is intended to be &dquo;a
recognizable likeness&dquo; (p. 11)
one would expect to find more description of the
religion of Hindu women. To be
fair, Klostermaier seems aware of the problem, so in his discussion of sacred
scripture and the question of inclusive language, he says, &dquo;Since a great deal of
traditional Hinduism is quite patently patriarchal, it is no use to apply inclusive
language&dquo; (p. 166). Though women are mentioned in this book, they are treated
under the usual headings as, for example, in his discussion of marriage (p. 177-
80).
To conclude, A Survey of Hinduism is an excellent source of information and
provides its readers with an interpretation of Hindu beliefs and practices based on
extensive research and a studied immersion in the Hindu tradition. The inclusion
and explanation of popular religion and the voice given to the South Indian
religion experience is praiseworthy. Klostermaier has a respect and admiration
for Hinduism not always characteristic of scholars in this field.
Leona Anderson
University of Regina
Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel
Peggy L. Day, editor
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989. xiv + 209 p.
This collection of 11 essays, focussing on a number of the women characters or
female images in the Hebrew Bible, is edited by Peggy L. Day of the University of
Winnipeg. The unifying theme of the collection is found in the basic assumption
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that gender is a significant aspect of social identity and, therefore, that an examination of the story, role or function of these women figures using a gender
nuanced approach is an essential aspect of understanding the biblical texts and the
communities which produced them. The essays do not represent a shared theological stance with regard to the value or relevance of such biblical texts. Rather,
they focus on adapting and applying to the field of biblical studies feminist critical
approaches developed in the secular humanities and social sciences. Each of the
writers puts forward theoretical propositions and uses particular methods which
have been developed in a wide range of disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, history, classics, folklore studies and women’s
studies.
Following the editor’s introduction, the individual studies are: Jo Ann Hackett,
&dquo;Rehabilitating Hagar: Fragments of an Epic Pattern&dquo;; Susan Tower Hollis, &dquo;The
Woman in Ancient Examples of the Potiphar’s Wife Motif, K2111&dquo;; Susan
Niditch, &dquo;Eroticism and Death in the Tale of Jael&dquo;; Peggy L. Day, &dquo;From the Child
is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah’s Daughter&dquo;; Phyllis Bird, &dquo;’To Play
the Harlot’: An Inquiry into an Old Testament Metaphor&dquo;; Mary Joan Winn
Leith, &dquo;Verse and Reverse: The Transformation of the Woman, Israel, in Hosea
1-3&dquo;; Susan Ackerman, &dquo;’And the Women Knead Dough’: The Worship of the
Queen of Heaven in Sixth-Century Judah&dquo;; Paula S. Hiebert, &dquo;’Whence Shall
Help Come to Me?’ The Biblical Widow&dquo;; Carol A. Newsom, &dquo;Woman and the
Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom: A Study of Proverbs 1-9&dquo;; Sidnie Ann White,
&dquo;Esther: A Feminine Model for Jewish Diaspora&dquo;; and Eileen Schuller, &dquo;Women
of the Exodus in Biblical Retellings of the Second Temple Period.&dquo;
Carol Newsom’s discussion of Proverbs 1-9 serves as an illustration of how a
feminist critical approach can illuminate a text. Newsom focusses on the symbolic
system set up by the image of the strange women and the female personification of
Wisdom. In this text the author summons the reader to take the subject position of
a son who is being counselled by his father. Newsom maintains that this
&dquo;interpellation&dquo;-the call to take a subject position in relation to a particular
discourse and the acceptance of that summons-is never ideologically neutral.
Through the vocative and imperative address of the father, the reader is interpellated within the context of the patriarchal family as symbol of the authority
structure of Wisdom. While the father lays claim to the abstract notions of
righteousness, justice and equity, he denounces rival discourses, the primary
symbol of which is the strange woman, a woman outside the confines of the
patriarchal family and implicitly a threat to it. The father’s discourse not only
perpetuates his authority as head of the patriarchal family unit but it also urges the
son to replicate the patriarchal family so that, in time, he will take his place as the
authoritative family figure. Because in this discourse the self is defined as male,
woman is the primary image of otherness; woman is thus available to become a
symbol for the boundaries. On one hand, the father identifies the strange woman
with the ultimate frontier, death, thus placing her at the symbolic margin between
patriarchal man and chaos; the strange woman is the gate to Sheol. On the other
hand, Wisdom, also personified as female, resides on another margin, the gate to
heaven. Day notes in her introduction that Newsom’s analysis contains a caution to
those who may wish to embrace the &dquo;positive&dquo; figure of female Wisdom: she, like
495
her antithesis the strange woman, is the symbolic product of a world view within
which the male is normative and central.
Biblical scholars will find this volume contains ideas important for the study of
the texts being examined. Although the essays explore issues presented by
Hebrew or Near Eastern materials in a technical manner they are clearly written
and should be accessible to senior undergraduate students.
Donna Runnalls
McGill
University
Le livre des psaumes traduit et
Léopold Sabourin
interprété
Montréal, Bellarmin; Paris, Cerf, 1989.
631 p.
Le livre s’ouvre par une introduction au psautier (p. 23-76) qui contient bien des donn6es que l’on trouvera aussi dans la plupart des bons ouvrages sur les psaumes.
Cette introduction situe le livre des psaumes dans son milieu, donne une vue
d’ensemble de ses caract6ristiques litt6raires et de sa theologie. Parmi les themes
les plus int6ressants, il faut signaler les titres des psaumes, les psaumes et le culte,
et 1’eschatologie. En ce qui concerne le rapport des psaumes au culte,1’auteur, sans
adh6rer aux theses de 1’ecole «Myth and Ritual», reconnait avec discernement
divers motifs mythiques dans le psautier. Quant a la croyance en l’immortalit6, il a
cru devoir suivre les interpr6tations bien connues de M. Dahood que pour les Ps
69,28-29 (p. 322) et 140,14 (p. 586). Malheureusement, il evite tres souvent de se
prononcer et nous laisse simplement dans I’ambiguft6 (voir par exemple son
interpretation aux Ps 16,11; 37,37; 41,12-13; 139,24; 143,10).
Comme l’indique le sous-titre, «traduit et interpreter, la deuxieme partie du
livre (p. 77-619) nous presente une traduction et une breve interpretation de
chacun des 150 psaumes du psautier. Les notes qui suivent la traduction, 6crit
Sabourin, «visent pour 1’essentiel ~ lajustifier et ne constituent pas un &dquo;commentaire&dquo; proprement dit, meme si elles peuvent contribuer beaucoup ~ d6gager le
sens original de la composition» (p. 16).
Pourtant sa traduction m’a laisse plus d’une fois quelque peu insatisfait. Je
passerai rapidement sur quelques points de d6tails. Est-il satisfaisant, pour une
recherche dont l’objectif est de justifier la traduction, de laisser le terme maskil
introduit pour la simple raison qu’il est difficile d’en definir le sens (voir les Ps
32,1; 42,1; 44,1; etc.)? On me permettra de repondre par la negative. 11 me semble
également injustifiable de ne pas incorporer dans la traduction le terme selâh,
«pause», qui revient 71 fois, pour la simple raison qu’on n’a pas encore clarifie
avec certitude son role a l’int6rieur des psaumes (voir les Ps 3,3.5.9; 4,3.5; etc.).
Dans sa traduction, 1’auteur fait souvent appel ~ l’ougaritique pour r6soudre
certaines difficult6s de 1’hebreu biblique. A ce sujet, il a le m6rite d’avoir r6ussi à
d6gager pour les lecteurs francophones le plus significatif des trois tomes portant sur le psautier de M. Dahood. N6anmoins, sa traduction n’est pas toujours
convaincante. Je me permettrai ici de faire deux remarques. Premierement, dans
les Ps 5,9 et 69,28, il m’apparait nettement abusif de traduire le mot sedagah,
«justice», par «p£turage ». Deuxiemement, I’auteur ne tient pas toujours suffisam-