" . . . an important contribution to current literary concerns with the ideologies of texts . . . " —Society of Old Testament Study Book List " . . . she points the way into as yet little-explored territory, broadly engaging literary theory as well as ideological criticism . . . she moves beyond both narrowly historical and exclusively text-centered criticism . . . " —Theology Today " . . . Bal has given us both a coruscating feminist critique of biblical scholarship and a fund of provocative exegetical insights . . . required reading for anyone who wants to know where serious biblical scholarship is heading." —Shofar