Haggai and Malachi

Stacy Davis (PhD, University of Notre Dame, 2003) is associate professor of religious studies and chair of gender and women’s studies at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN. She teaches courses in religious conversion, Jewish and Christian interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, Torah, and Prophets. Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, and president emerita of Catholic Theological Union (the first woman who held 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 president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Luke 1–9 and Luke 10–24, co-authored with Shelly Matthews (WCS 43A, 43B; Liturgical Press, 2021); and At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Paulist, 2023).Carol J. Dempsey, OP is professor of biblical studies at the University of Portland, Oregon, with special expertise in Old Testament and prophets. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America, and has authored several books including Jeremiah: Preacher of Grace, Poet of Truth (Liturgical Press, 2007) and Reading the Bible, Transforming Conflict.

• ContentsList of Abbreviations    ixList of Contributors    xiForeword: “Tell It on the Mountain”—or, “And You Shall Tell Your Daughter [as Well]”    xiii Athalya Brenner-IdanEditor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary:“She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25)    xviiBarbara E. Reid, OPAuthor’s Introduction:Haggai, Malachi, and Feminist Studies in Masculinity    xxxviiHaggai 1:1-15    The Art of Persuasion    1Haggai 2:1-9    God as “The Man”    15Haggai 2:10-19    Ritual Uncleanness without a Marriage Metaphor    23Haggai 2:20-23    The Personal as Political as Theological    33Malachi 1:1-5    God Is Love?    41Malachi 1:6–2:9    Divine Masculinity Under Attack   49Malachi 2:10-16    Is God a Girl?    59Malachi 2:17–3:5    Divine Masculinity Restored    71 Malachi 3:6-12    (Don’t) Give Until It Hurts    81Malachi 3:13–4:3    Warning: God Will Reign    93Malachi 4:4-6    Who Has the Last Word?    101Afterword    A Feminist Rhetorical Critical Comment    107Haggai Works Cited   109Malachi Works Cited    113Index of Scripture References    119Index of Subjects    123

"Stacy Davis's commentary on Haggai and Malachi offers readers a feminist approach to two deeply masculinist texts, both of which are prophetic responses to post-exilic Judaism."James Zeitz, Catholic Books Review