This volume brings gender studies to bear on Micah's powerful rhetoric, interpreting the book within its ancient and modern contexts. Julia M. O'Brien traces resonances of Micah's language within the Persian Period community in which the book was composed, evaluating recent study of the period and the dynamics of power reflected in ancient sources. Also sampling the book's reception by diverse readers in various time periods, she considers the real-life implications of Micah's gender constructs. By bringing the ancient and modern contexts of Micah into view, the volume encourages readers to reflect on the significance of Micah's construction of the world. Micah's perspective on sin, salvation, the human condition, and the nature of YHWH affects the way people live-in part by shaping their own thought and in part by shaping the power structures in which they live. O'Brien's engagement with Micah invites readers to discern in community their own hopes and dreams: What is justice? What should the future look like? What should we hope for?
"O'Brien accomplishes an exegetical feat. Her Micah commentary offers fresh, lucid, and sensitive exposition that documents why feminist interpretation matters."
Dr. Susanne Scholz, PhD, Professor of Old Testament
"Micah is details and exceptionally well written, organized, presented, informed that will be greatly appreciate by clergy, student, and non-specialist general readers alike."
Willis M. Buhle, The Midwest Book Review
"The offer of the Wisdom Commentary, with its accent on feminist reading, is welcome and much needed. Julia O'Brien...shows how the question of gender justice and injustice permits us to see clearly so much in the prophetic text that we have otherwise missed. Her work is a remarkable advance in our reading of the prophet."
