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Many readers are convinced that the Psalms are hopelessly “masculine,” especially given that seventy-three of the 150 psalms begin with headings linking them to King David. In this volume, Denise Dombkowski Hopkins sets stories about women in the Hebrew Bible alongside Psalms 42-89 as “intertexts” for interpretation. The stories of women such as Hannah, Rahab, Tamar, Bathsheba, Susanna, Judith, Shiphrah, Puah, and the Levite’s concubine can generate a different set of associations for psalm metaphors than have traditionally been put forward. These different associations can give the reader different views of the dynamics of power, gender, politics, religion, family, and economics in ancient Israel and in our lives today that might help to name and transform the brokenness of our world.
Denise Dombkowski Hopkins is Woodrow and Mildred Miller Professor of Biblical Theology and Hebrew Bible at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. She has authored Journey through the Psalms (Chalice Press, 2002) and (with Michael Koppel) Grounded in the Living Word: The Old Testament and Pastoral Care Practices (Eerdmans, 2010). She and Michael Koppel have co-chaired the Bible and Practical Theology section in the Society of Biblical Literature for six years. The mother of two, she holds PhD and MA degrees from Vanderbilt University and a BA from Syracuse University.
