TheBible, Gender, and Reception History: The Case of Jobs Wife investigatesthe fleeting appearance in the Bible of Jobs wife and its impact on theimaginations of readers throughout history. It begins by presenting keyinterpretive gaps in the biblical text concerning Job and his wife, explainingthe way gender studies offers guiding principles with which the author engagesa reception history of their marriage. After analyzing Job and his wife withinmedieval Christian theology of Eden, the author identifies ways in which Jobswife visually aligns with medieval images of Satan. The volume explores portrayalsof Job and his wife in publications on marriage and gender roles in thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries, moving onto an investigation of WilliamBlakes sharp artistic divergence from the common tradition in his representationof Jobs wife as a shrew. In the exploration of societal portrayals of Job andhis Wife throughout history, this book discovers how arguments about marriageintertwine with not only gender roles, but also, with political, social, andhistorical movements.
