Romans
Wisdom Commentary, Vol. 46
Christian A. Eberhart
Liturgical Press, 2025
ISBN 9780814681701
Hardcover, 520 pp.
9.2 X 6.4 X 1.7 inches | 2.0 pounds
Can a feminist interpretation of Romans discover anything new? In this volume, Christian Eberhart pays special attention to the fact that Paul entrusted Phoebe, a gentile woman, with the task of delivering the letter to Rome. There, she would have been the person who recited it aloud and by heart in front of various audiences. Yet as the leader of a congregation in Corinth, Phoebe had likely also been involved in the process of composing the letter, as some passages reveal. This multifaceted engagement of a woman gives new meaning to the vision of human society in Romans that celebrates the full participation of women and men, Jews and gentiles, weak and strong, and free and slave.
Christian A. Eberhart is professor of religious studies at the University of Houston, Texas. He is also director of the religious studies program and former chair of the department of comparative cultural studies at the same institution. His books include Kultmetaphorik und Christologie: Opfer- und Sühneterminologie im Neuen Testament (2013), What a Difference a Meal Makes: The Last Supper in the Bible and in the Christian Church (2016), Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement in Early Judaism and Christianity: Constituents and Critique (co-edited with H.L. Wiley, 2017), and The Sacrifice of Jesus: Understanding Atonement Biblically (second ed. 2018).
Mary Ann Beavis is professor emerita of religion and culture at St. Thomas More College (Saskatoon, Canada). She received MA degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Notre Dame; she holds a PhD from Cambridge University (UK). Her areas of interest and expertise include Christian origins, feminist biblical interpretation, Christianity and Goddess spirituality, and religion and popular culture. She is the author of several single-author and edited books as well as many peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews.
Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the president of Catholic Theological Union and the first woman to hold the position. She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was also president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014-2015.
