Ruth

Alice L. Laffey (1944-2023) taught the Old Testament for thirty-five years at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, before retiring in May 2016. She was the author of many articles as well as Introduction to the Old Testament: A Feminist Perspective (Fortress, 1988), Appreciating God’s Creation through Scripture (Paulist, 1997), The Pentateuch: A Liberation-Critical Reading (Fortress, 1998), and 1–2 Kings in the New Collegeville Bible Commentary series (Liturgical Press, 2012). Mahri Leonard-Fleckman is an assistant professor of Hebrew Bible in the Religious Studies Department at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is a contributor to Give Us This Day (Liturgical Press), the co-author of The Book of Ruth in the Wisdom Commentary Series (Liturgical Press), and the author of The House of David: Between Political Formation and Literary Revision (Fortress Press). Mahri facilitates a lectionary-based Bible study at her home parish of St. John’s in Worcester.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).

• ContentsList of Abbreviations   viiList of Contributors   xiForeword “Tell It on the Mountain”—or, “And You Shall Tell Your Daughter [as Well]”   xiiiAthalya Brenner-IdanEditor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: “She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25)   xviiBarbara E. Reid, OPAuthors’ Introduction   xxxviiAcknowledgments   xciRuth 1  Finding Alternatives   1Ruth 2  Gleaning   55Ruth 3  Searching for Rest   97Ruth 4  Persevering in Loyalty   129Afterword   163Bibliography   165Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings   177Index of Subjects   185

"Laffey and Leonard-Fleckman have produced a thoroughly researched, readable, and engaging commentary on the book of Ruth. The authors guide the reader through a variety of opinions, whether from the enlightening `contributing voices' included throughout or from the occasional disagreements of the lead authors themselves. It is refreshing to see diverse views presented without competition, revealing, without the usual one-upmanship of academic discourse, a rich layering of interpretive possibilities."Caroline Johnson Hodge, College of the Holy Cross