Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of Illustrations xi
4. Introduction xiii
5. PART ONE: READING RUTH
6. “All That You Say, I Will Do”: A Sermon on the Book of Ruth 1
7. Beginning with Ruth: An Essay on Translating 9
8. Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the Book of Ruth 20
9. The Book of Ruth as Comedy: Classical and Modern Perspectives 31
10. PART TWO: READING RUTH’S READERS
11. Transfigured Night: Midrashic Readings of the Book of Ruth 45
12. Dark Ladies and Redemptive Compassion: Ruth and the Messianic Lineage in Judaism 59
13. Ruth amid the Gentiles 75
14. PART THREE: REIMAGINING RUTH
15. Ruth Speaks in Yiddish: The Poetry of Rosa Yakubovitsh and Itsik Manger 87
16. Printing the Story: The Bible in Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts 122
17. PART FOUR: TRANSLATING AND READING THE SONG OF SONGS
18. Translating Eros 149
19. “I Am Black and Beautiful” 162
20. Reading the Song Iconographically 172
21. Unresolved and Unresolvable Problems in Interpreting the Song 185
22. PART FIVE: READING THE SONG’S READERS
23. Entering the Holy of Holies: Rabbinic Midrash and the Language of Intimacy 199
24. Intradivine Romance: The Song of Songs in the Zohar 214
25. The Love Song of the Millennium: Medieval Christian Apocalyptic and the Song of Songs 228
26. Monastic Reading and Allegorical Sub/Versions of Desire 244
27. The Female Voice: Hildegard of Bingen and the Song of Songs 255
28. The Harlot and the Giant: Dante and the Song of Songs 268
29. PART SIX: REIMAGINING THE SONG
30. In the Absence of Love 281
31. Song? Songs? Whose Song? Reflections of a Radical Reader 294
32. Honey and Milk Underneath Your Tongue: Chanting a Promised Land 306
33. “Where Has Your Beloved Gone?” The Song of Songs in Contemporary Israeli Poetry 315
34. Notes 331
35. Contributors 369
36. Index 373
37. Index of Scriptural Citations 377