{"product_id":"sarah-the-priestess-the-first-matriarch-of-genesis-9780804008433","title":"Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe only source in which Sarah is mentioned is the Book of Genesis  which contains very few highly selective and rather enigmatic stories dealing with her. On the surface  these stories tell us very little about Sarah  and what they do tell is complicated and confused by the probability that it represents residue surviving from two different written sources based on two independent oral traditions. Nevertheless  the role which Sarah plays  in the Genesis narratives  apears to be a highly energetic one  a role so active  in fact  that it repeatedly overshadows that of her husband.  In a patriarchal environment such as the Canaan of Genesis  the situation is discordant and problematic. Dr. Teubal suggests that the difficulty is eliminated  however  if we understand that Sarah and the other matriarchs mentioned in the narratives acted within the established  traditional Mesopotamian role of priestess  of a class of women who retained a highly privileged position vis-a-vis their husbands.  Dr. Teubal shows that the Sarah tradition represents a nonpatriarchal system struggling for survival in isolation  in the patriarchal environment of what was for Sarah a foreign society. She further indicates that the insistence of Sarah and Rebekah that their sons and heirs marry wives from the old homeland had to do not so much with preference for endogamy and cousin marriage as with their intention of ensuring the continuation of their old kahina-tradition against the overwhelming odds represented by patriarchal Canaan.  The only source in which Sarah is mentioned is the Book of Genesis  which contains very few highly selective and rather enigmatic stories dealing with her. On the surface  these stories tell us very little about Sarah  and what they do tell is complicated and confused by the probability that it represents residue surviving from two different written sources based on two independent oral traditions. Nevertheless  the role which Sarah plays  in the Genesis narratives  apears to be a highly energetic one  a role so active  in fact  that it repeatedly overshadows that of her husband.  In a patriarchal environment such as the Canaan of Genesis  the situation is discordant and problematic. Dr. Teubal suggests that the difficulty is eliminated  however  if we understand that Sarah and the other matriarchs mentioned in the narratives acted within the established  traditional Mesopotamian role of priestess  of a class of women who retained a highly privileged position vis-a-vis their husbands.  Dr. Teubal shows that the Sarah tradition represents a nonpatriarchal system struggling for survival in isolation  in the patriarchal environment of what was for Sarah a foreign society. She further indicates that the insistence of Sarah and Rebekah that their sons and heirs marry wives from the old homeland had to do not so much with preference for endogamy and cousin marriage as with their intention of ensuring the continuation of their old kahina-tradition against the overwhelming odds represented by patriarchal Canaan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45928938143797,"sku":"ByrdShop_0804008434","price":242.27,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780804008433.jpg?v=1787749155","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/sarah-the-priestess-the-first-matriarch-of-genesis-9780804008433","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}