Reinvestigating Rahab with Dr. Kimberly Russaw

In the book, Revisiting Rahab: Another Look at the Woman of Jericho, Dr. Kimberly Russaw explores Rahab’s story using a variety of exegetical lenses. She asks questions about language, identity, negotiation, power, and rhetoric.

In this webinar presentation Russaw will consider what may have been the story behind the story found in Joshua 2 as a site of forensic investigation.

Specifically, participants will explore the story of Rahab, paying attention to an important gap in the evidence that is often overlooked when interpreters focus on Rahab’s designation as a prostitute (Hebrew, zonah).

Two new questions guide this investigation:

1) Why is Rahab living apart from her bet ‘ab – the Hebrew term translated, ‘house of the father’: and

2) How does Rahab (who does not seem to have a husband to provide for her) sustain herself?

‍