Deuteronomy: Volume 5 (Wisdom Commentary Series, 5). This item is unavailable.Deuteronomy: Volume 5 (Wisdom Commentary Series, 5)

2026 Catholic Media Association Third Place Award, Scripture – Series

Deuteronomy, the final book of the Torah, is ostensibly addressed to males but it does not mean it lacks a concern for women. In this commentary on Deuteronomy, Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos provides serious feminist engagement with the complete text, paying specific attention to the effect it may have on women’s perspectives, and considers ways the text highlights female presence or absence. 

In this commentary, van Wijk-Bos encourages readers to question not only the patriarchal practices reflected in Deuteronomy, but also modern misogynist and androcentric assumptions that they may bring to the world of the text. Divided into eleven sections, Deuteronomy offers insight for our present time, as well as an opportunity to hear new voices, examine cultural and gender-biased interpretations, and draw other conclusions to open up new avenues of understanding God and ourselves.   

Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos, a native of The Netherlands, taught as professor of Old Testament at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary from 1977 to 2017. She serves the Presbyterian Church as an ordained pastor and is deeply engaged with issues of equity in terms of gender and race. Born in occupied Europe during the Shoah, she is committed to an analysis of Christian-Jewish relations and improvement of these relations, especially in terms of a Christian reading of Scripture. Her commentaries on the Former Prophets appeared in 2021. She assists Rabbi David Ariel-Joel in teaching Torah at the Temple in Louisville and is co-writing a volume with him: Set Apart: Josef and His Family (Smyth & Helwys, forthcoming).

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).