Who Is to Blame for Judges 19?

The horrific text of Judges 19 is puzzling, especially to Chinese Christians who read the Chinese Union Version. This dominant translation of the Bible seems to place the blame for the tragedy on the concubine, which in turns legitimizes violence against women. Using tools of narrative, intertextual, and ideological criticism, Tsoi reveals an anti-Levite rhetoric in the text that has been neglected by translators. An examination of the translation context suggests that an anti-concubinage agenda in the social context of Republican China might have contributed to the bias in the translation, resulting in more than a century of misinterpretation among Chinese Christians.

About the author

Grace Kwan Sik Tsoi is academic dean and lecturer of Old Testament at Chinese Theological College Australia at Sydney.

Product details

• Authors: Grace Kwan Sik Tsoi
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 29.06.2022
• EAN: 9781666722383
• ISBN: 978-1-66672-238-3
• No. of pages: 234
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 235 mm x 17 mm
• Weight: 496 g
• Series: Contrapuntal Readings of the Bible in World Christianity
• Subject: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works