Unspeakable Things Unspoken

The story of the raped and murdered woman of Judges 19 and the civil war and mass marriage that ensue in chapters 20-21 are hardly favorite tales of the Hebrew Bible. The chapters have often been dismissed as little more than an anachronistic epilogue, an awkward amalgamation of earlier stories or a ""text of terror,"" proof of patriarchal oppression. This book argues that, far from being a clumsy collage, Judges 19-21 is a carefully narrated tale that chronicles the descent of a nation into extreme individualism and fragmentation. In dialogue with continental philosopher Luce Irigaray, it will uncover the dynamics of identity formation and how differential constructions of identity of the One and the Other yield patterns of victimization and justification of violence. This literary-philosophical reading will bring out silences and missed possibilities for the subjectivity of women, whilst also shedding light on the victimization of men within the logic of totalitarian identity constructions. The end of Judges therefore offers a theological conclusion to the book as a whole and opens up avenues for thought on theological anthropology, understandings of identity and gender, and a theological commentary on violence.

""Judges 19-21, the story of the Levite's concubine and ensuing civil war, represents a kind of nadir in the Old Testament. Yet its issues of violence (especially against women) and victimization are enduring realities. So how should this material be understood as a sacred text? Isabelle Hamley finds valuable resources in the work of Luce Irigaray for a fresh reading of the biblical text and for a fresh conceptualization of how best to appropriate it in the context of Christian faith. This is an important contribution to contemporary biblical interpretation.""
--Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology & Biblical Interpretation, Durham University.

""This powerful, scholarly reading of a very difficult text is written with rigorous argument, yet always with an eye towards the wider implications for how we identify and call out gender-based violence. Hamley makes excellent use of the work of Irigaray on 'othering' to produce a compelling and significant reading of Judges 19-21.""
--Jenni Williams, Tutor in Old Testament, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford

""This is a close reading of a text which we can be tempted to overlook because of what it covers--gang rape, murder, forced marriage, and civil war. Reverend Dr. Isabelle Hamley brings the rigor and depth you'd expect from an academic, tackling these chapters head on, along with prophetic insight as she explores the questions Judges 19-21 pose for us today. I wholeheartedly commend this work not just as an important contribution to the study of the Old Testament, but as an encouragement to all of us to discover what the whole of the Bible has to tell us about who we are and how we live.""
--Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury


Isabelle M. Hamley is currently Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, having previously held posts at St John's College Nottingham and the University of Nottingham.