Faculty Publications
Publication Date
2016
Language
eng
Language
heb
Disciplines
Biblical Studies | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Religion
Abstract
The Hebrew Bible lacks a term for androgyny or hermaphroditism. The term tumtumim, which identifies persons of indeterminate or “hidden” sex, appears later in rabbinic texts. Nevertheless, sexual fluidity, ambiguity, intersexed persons, and persons with a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics appear in the Genesis creation stories and prophetic texts. While gender transgression is relevant to the general discussion, this entry from The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies: Oxford Biblical Studies Online focuses primarily on ancient understandings, namely those presented in the Hebrew Bible, of those of “both sexes.”
Document Type
Published Version
Rights
This material was originally published in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies, part of Oxford Biblical Studies Online, edited by Julia M. O'Brien, and has been reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. For permission to reuse this material, please visit http://global.oup.com/academic/rights.
Original Citation
Jennifer J. Williams
Androgyny/hermaphroditism: Hebrew Bible.
In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies: Oxford Biblical Studies Online, edited by Julia M. O'Brien
2016, Oxford University Press
http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/article/opr/t998/e21
DigitalCommons@Linfield Citation
Williams, Jennifer J., "Androgyny/Hermaphroditism: Hebrew Bible" (2016). Faculty Publications. Published Version. Submission 4.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/relsfac_pubs/4
Included in
Biblical Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons
Comments
This article is the publisher-created version, also considered to be the final version or the version of record. It includes value-added elements provided by the publisher, such as copy editing, layout changes, and branding consistent with the rest of the publication.