Deuteronomy, the final book of the Torah, is ostensibly addressed to males but it does not mean it lacks a concern for women. In this commentary on Deuteronomy, Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos provides serious feminist engagement with the complete text, paying specific attention to the effect it may have on women’s perspectives, and considers ways the text highlights female presence or absence.

In this commentary, Wijk-Bos encourages readers to question not only the patriarchal practices reflected in Deuteronomy, but also modern misogynist and androcentric assumptions that they may bring to the world of the text. Divided into eleven sections, Deuteronomy offers insight for our present time, as well as an opportunity to hear new voices, examine cultural and gender-biased interpretations, and draw other conclusions to open up new avenues of understanding God and ourselves.

Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and professor emerita of Hebrew Bible at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her publications include Reformed and Feminist and Reimagining God (Westminster John Knox Press 1991 and 1995). With Rabbi David Ariel-Joel she is co-writing Set Apart: Josef and his family (forthcoming Smyth & Helwys).