Background
Tikva Frymer-Kensky was born in 1943, in West Side, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031, United States
Frymer-Kensky earned a Bachelor of Arts in ancient world studies from City College of New York in 1965.
3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States
Frymer-Kensky earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in Bible-Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1965.
New Haven, CT 06520, United States
Frymer-Kensky earned a Master of Arts in West Semitics in 1967, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Assyriology and Sumerology in 1977 from Yale University.
Photo of Tikva Frymer-Kensky
Photo of Tikva Frymer-Kensky
(Exploring the rich and powerful symbols of religion and c...)
Exploring the rich and powerful symbols of religion and culture that have shaped Western thought, In the Wake of the Goddesses shows how conceptions of gender and sexuality developed and changed from the goddesses of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the one God of Biblical monotheism.
https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Goddesses-Culture-Biblical-Transformation/dp/0449907465/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-4
1992
(This book, developed from a popular symposium sponsored b...)
This book, developed from a popular symposium sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society and the Smithsonian Institution, offers readers exciting, new ways to deepen their appreciation and understanding of Biblical texts. Four outstanding scholars Phyllis Trible, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Pamela J. Milne, and Jane Schaberg look closely at a number of prominent women in the Bible, including Eve, Miriam, and Mary Magdalene, as well as the men to whom they relate.
https://www.amazon.com/Feminist-Approaches-Bible-Jane-Schaberg-ebook/dp/B00B54JU6K/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-3
1994
(A warm and gentle guide for expectant mothers celebrates ...)
A warm and gentle guide for expectant mothers celebrates many of the experiences of pregnancy with wise and humorous advice culled from a variety of religious traditions.
https://www.amazon.com/Motherprayer-Pregnant-Womans-Spiritual-Companion/dp/1573225533/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-7
1995
(Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic and ...)
Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic and unprecedented shift in Jewish - Christian relations, including signs of a new, improved Christian attitude towards Jews. Christianity in Jewish Terms is a Jewish theological response to the profound changes that have taken place in Christian thought. The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which features the main essay, written by a Jewish scholar, that explores the meaning of a set of Christian beliefs. Following the essay are responses from a second Jewish scholar and a Christian scholar. Designed to generate new conversations within the American Jewish community and between the Jewish and Christian communities, Christianity in Jewish Terms lays the foundation for better understanding.
https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Jewish-Radical-Traditions-Paperback-ebook/dp/B00CW0M702/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-6
2000
(Reading the Women of the Bible takes up two of the most s...)
Reading the Women of the Bible takes up two of the most significant intellectual and religious issues of our day: the experiences of women in a patriarchal society and the relevance of the Bible to modern life.
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Women-Bible-Interpretation-Stories/dp/0805211829/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-1
2004
(Each of the 30 essays here delves into a topic that gives...)
Each of the 30 essays here delves into a topic that gives us much food for thought: the Bible as interpreted through ancient Near-Eastern creation myths, flood myths, and goddess myths; gender in the Bible; the feminist approach to Jewish law; comparative Jewish and Christian perspectives on the Hebrew Bible; biblical perspectives on ecology; creating a theology of healing; feminine God-talk. The volume concludes with the author's own original prayers in the form of poetic meditations on pregnancy and birthing. This book is unique, not only because it is the only volume in the JPS Scholar of Distinction series written by a woman, but also because Frymer-Kensky's personal and forthright voice resonates so clearly throughout each piece. Scholars and students of the Bible, Jewish studies, and women's studies will surely find this to be a one-of-a-kind collection.
https://www.amazon.com/Studies-Feminist-Criticism-Scholar-Distinction/dp/0827607989/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-5
2006
(The latest in the JPS Bible Commentary series, 2011 Natio...)
The latest in the JPS Bible Commentary series, 2011 National Jewish Book Award Winner, Barbara Dobkin Award in Women’s Studies The moving story of Ruth, with its themes of loyalty, loving-kindness, and redemption, is one of the great narratives of the Bible. Socially, the Israelites were aware of their responsibility to protect the weak and unprotected among them. Redemption secures the life of the people as a community, not just as individuals. In this story, Boaz fills the familial obligation to marry the widow of a deceased relative who never was able to father children, both to continue the family line and protect an otherwise vulnerable woman.
https://www.amazon.com/JPS-Bible-Commentary-Ruth/dp/082760744X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=tikva+frymer+kensky&qid=1606139481&sr=8-2
2011
Tikva Frymer-Kensky was born in 1943, in West Side, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Frymer-Kensky earned a Bachelor of Arts in ancient world studies from City College of New York in 1965, a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in Bible-Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1965, a Master of Arts in West Semitics in 1967, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Assyriology in 1977 and Sumerology from Yale University.
Tikva Frymer-Kensky was a visiting associate professor at the University of Michigan and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She served as an assistant professor of Near Eastern studies from 1971 to 1982, before becoming the director of biblical studies at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1988. In 1995 she joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Divinity School as a professor of Hebrew Bible and the history of Judaism.
Frymer-Kensky's areas of specialization include, in addition to Bible studies, Assyriology and Sumerology, Jewish studies, and women and religion. Her 1992 work, In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth attracted widespread attention and critical acclaim. The work traces the shift in the Middle East from polytheism, which included the worship of goddesses, to monotheism; it examines changes in the role of women and questions whether the religious experience would be different for women were the deity defined as female.
Motherprayer: The Pregnant Woman's Spiritual Companion (1995) is a collection of biblical interpretations, prayers, ancient Sumerian incantations, and meditations that draw from more recent Jewish and Christian traditions. Intended as a spiritual guide for mothers-to-be, the work follows the stages of pregnancy through birth. Though rooted in Frymer-Kensky's scholarly research, it found a wide audience outside academia.
Frymer-Kensky was editor, with David Novak, Peter Ochs, David Fox Sandmel, and Michael A. Signer, of Christianity in Jewish Terms (2000). This collection of essays examines aspects of Christianity that renounce antisemitism and that view Judaism as a spiritual path compatible with that of Christianity. She also served as editor, with Victor H. Matthews and Bernard M. Levinson, of Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (1998). Her later work involves a commentary on Ruth and further investigation of biblical theology.
She was also the English translator of From Jerusalem to the Edge of Heaven by Ari Elon. At the time of her death in 2006, she was working on The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth, a book on biblical theology.
(Each of the 30 essays here delves into a topic that gives...)
2006(Exploring the rich and powerful symbols of religion and c...)
1992(The latest in the JPS Bible Commentary series, 2011 Natio...)
2011(This book, developed from a popular symposium sponsored b...)
1994(Reading the Women of the Bible takes up two of the most s...)
2004(Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic and ...)
2000(A warm and gentle guide for expectant mothers celebrates ...)
1995Frymer-Kensky examined biblical stories about women, asking why a text from a deeply patriarchal and male-centered society has so many stories about women. She did not consider the well-known and much-discussed women of the Bible but instead focuses on four groups of women: the victors, the victims, the virgins, and those with prophetic gifts. She noted that unlike other ancient Near Eastern literature, the Bible does not present women as inherently inferior in character, although it does present them as subordinate to men. Frymer-Kensky argued that this view of women as subordinate but not inferior became the model for Jews' understanding of their subjugation by other nations.
Frymer-Kensky's areas of specialization included Assyriology and Sumerology, biblical studies, Jewish studies, and women and religion.
As a scholar, Frymer-Kensky challenged her students to study deeply and obtain mastery of their subjects; any less was insufficient. In her writing, she modeled both rigor and relevance. Her feminism was deeply grounded in the ancient world and, as a Jew, she used that extensive knowledge to argue for monotheism and dialogue between Christians and Jews, to give voice to ancient women, and to advocate for the amending of halakha. She wrote in order to bring us the ancient and to create a more just present.
Tikva was a member of the American Journalism Review and Society of Biblical Literature.
Frymer-Kensky was known for her warmth and also her staunch commitment to interreligious dialogue and understanding as well as for her scholarship.
Quotes from others about the person
"She was unique. I don't know of another scholar in the world who combined as she did mastery of Assyriology with sustained attention to feminist readings in the service of biblical theology. Hers was a capacious intellect, and all her work was inflamed by her deep passion for the material both in its original context and in ours. This combination made her a remarkably compelling scholar and teacher, and one whose absence is deeply felt already." - Richard Rosengarten
Tikva was married to Allan Kensky. The couple had a son Eitan Kensky, and a daughter Meira Kensky.