
Godzdogz
The blog of the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars, Oxford.
Built on the four pillars of our Dominican life – preaching, prayer, study, and community – Godzdogz offers many resources for exploring the Catholic Faith today.
Read more.
Women in the Old Testament: Deborah
Thursday, July 26, 2012

Women in the Old Testament: Rahab the prostitute
Monday, July 23, 2012
Joshua 2:1-24, 6:17-25. (See also Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31 & James 2:25.) Read more
Women in the Old Testament: Miriam
Saturday, July 21, 2012
We meet the sister of Moses three times in the course of the Pentateuch: her first appearance is perhaps her best known, when she keeps watch over the baby Moses in his basket in the Nile, and then volunteers her own and the baby’s mother as a wet nurse when Pharaoh’s daughter decides to adopt him. The girl is not in fact named at this point (Ex 2: 4-8), but tradition has identified her with Miriam, the sister of Moses, whom we come across in two more episodes later on in the story of the Exodus. Read more
Ordinations at Blackfriars 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
There are certain joyful occasions in our community life which might seem to rival even the great feasts of Easter, Christmas and Pentecost. Last Saturday, 7 July 2012, was such an auspicious day. Read more
Women in the Old Testament: Dinah
Monday, July 09, 2012
The dramatic story of Dinah is one where hermeneutics will have much to say for our understanding of what really happened. First, let us begin with the narrative as we find it in New Jerusalem Bible translation.
Dinah is the daughter of Jacob. We read in Genesis chapter 34 that Dinah went out to visit some of the women of the region, but the story suddenly takes a dramatic turn as Shechem meets Dinah:
‘Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, headman of the region, saw her, seized her and forced her to sleep with him. He was captivated by Dinah daughter of Jacob; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her heart.’ (Gn. 34.2-3, NJB)
Shechem then wanted to marry the girl, but as the brothers of Dinah heard of this, they laid plans to betray him, saying that in order to accept the marriage, he and all his men need to be circumcised. On the third day, still suffering from the circumcision, two of the brothers of Dinah, Simeon and Levi, slaughtered all the men in the town, and ‘they took all their children and wives captive and looted everything to be found in the houses’ (Gn 34.29). When Jacob opposed to his sons, seeing that they had jeopardised the relation to the peoples in the region, Simeon and Levi answered: ‘Should our sister be treated like a whore?’ (v. 31)
The story is often interpreted as being about the relation between Israel and the surrounding peoples, and the Israelites’ attempt to establish social boundaries for marriage. In this view, the main concern in the relation between Shechem and Dinah is more a question of formally social acceptance than of violation. Since sexual intercourse should only find place within the marital bonding, it is shameful for an unmarried woman like Dinah to have sex. We end up with a story about an inner conflict in Israel, where we find on one side those who advocate an inclusive perspective to the surrounding people where mutual respect, cooperation and bonding is advocated (represented by Jacob and Dinah herself -- the fact that Dinah stays in the house of Shechem may indicate that she freely chooses to stay with him (v. 29)). On the other side, we find separatist tendencies which fight against intermarriage by all means, as the dramatic outcome of the story shows.
It may all sound plausible, but the key question remains: What really happened in the first contact between Shechem and Dinah? The interpretation we have presented seems to tone down the violation committed against Dinah to a degree where this is no longer the real issue. Against such an interpretation, Susanne Scholz, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology, US, presents an alternative interpretation with a closer reading of the first verses of chapter 34. Here it is no longer a question of various viewpoints on intermarriage among the Israelites. It is a story about a rape.
In an article called ‘What “Really” Happened to Dinah’ (see link below), Scholz analyses closely the Hebrew language which brings her to a very different way of expressing the original text. Here, we do not find the ambiguity that might be read into the first translation we have looked at. After Shechem has seen Dinah, the story continues:

And he took her, and he laid her, and he raped her,
And he stayed close to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob,
And he stayed close to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob,
and he lusted after the young woman,
and he tried to soothe her.
(Gn. 34.2-3, translated by Susanne Scholz)
Here, we are confronted with a story of a raw and brutal rape, followed by desire, lust and an attempt at manipulation, where the rapist finally forces her to stay in his house. The following story is then a response to the injustice committed to Dinah, and the radical revenge underlines the severity of the initial crime. Shechem cannot buy his way out of the rape he has committed, and the brothers argue that if they accept the marriage, Dinah will be treated like a whore.
There is no time to go further into the various arguments for the different interpretations. But I believe we should reflect on one aspect that is just as relevant in our contemporary time that it is in this story: it is remarkable to observe how easy we turn our focus from the initial violation that sets of this story, turning the assault into something hardly significant at all. Even in the first translation, an injustice has definitely been committed. Still, we lose sight of the story of Dinah, forgetting what she has gone through, and when we try to bring her back in the front of the narrative, there seems to be many creative arguments opposing to it, both by biblical scholars and by ourselves.
We find the same when it comes to the question of rape in our time. A recently released survey (see link below) reveals dramatic figures: statistics shows that one in 20 women in England and Wales say they have been raped at least once since they were 16. Now, the interesting thing is that this shockingly high number of violation is often met with the question: ‘Yes, but this is surely not only street assaults?’ No, the report shows that most attacks have been carried out in their home by someone they knew. Nearly half of the rapes involved a husband or boyfriend. And so what? A rape is an extreme violation of basic human rights, no matter how, no matter who. There is reason to raise a warning to a tendency which undermines the dignity of the women and of humanity. The narratives of such situations found in story of Dinah may help us to reflect critically on a culture that too easily accepts this kind of injustice in our society.
Susanne Scholz: ‘What “Really” Happened to Dinah’
DailyMail article 7th July 2012: One in 20 women are rape victims
Read more
1
Follow us
Recent posts
- An Oasis for the Soul | A Place in the Sky
- Dangerous prayer
- An Oasis for the Soul | Refreshment, Light and Peace
- Stations of the Cross at Blackfriars
- But for Wales, Richard?
- New Lenten Series: An Oasis for the Soul
- Is God calling you to be a Dominican Friar?
- The crumbs alone are enough
- Take nothing for the journey, except a staff
- He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; …whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Tags
- About (29)
- Advent (180)
- Advent Art (9)
- Advent2008 (20)
- Advent2009 (28)
- Advent2010 (20)
- Albert Elias Robertson (50)
- Almsgiving (3)
- An Oasis for the Soul (2)
- Andy Opsahl (8)
- Apostolate (6)
- Areopagus (15)
- Art of the Redemption (10)
- Ascension (3)
- Assisted dying (2)
- A-Z of Paul (28)
- A-Z of the Mass (28)
- Baptism (2)
- Beatitudes (7)
- Bede Mullens (30)
- Biblical Beasts (23)
- Bioethics (2)
- Blackfriars (13)
- Bruno Clifton (1)
- Catherine of Siena (3)
- Catholic Social Teaching (8)
- Chant (12)
- Christ (4)
- Christian Life (24)
- Christmas (15)
- Christmas2009 (9)
- Christmas2010 (10)
- Christmas2011 (2)
- Christmas2012 (3)
- Christmas2013 (1)
- Christmastide (3)
- Christopher Wetzel (7)
- Church around the World (8)
- Comment (8)
- Community (193)
- Compline (3)
- Confession (7)
- Consecrated Life (20)
- Constantinople III (1)
- Conversion of Paul (2)
- Coronavirus (9)
- Corpus Christi (2)
- Councils of Faith (20)
- Creed (47)
- Current Affairs (8)
- Daniel Benedict Rowlands (14)
- Doctors of the Church (7)
- Dominic White (1)
- Dominican History (20)
- Dominican Life (7)
- Dominican Priories (11)
- Dominican Youth Movement (6)
- Dominicans (118)
- Easter (3)
- Easter2010 (2)
- Easter2011 (6)
- Easter2012 (2)
- Easter2013 (11)
- Easter2014 (2)
- Easter2015 (3)
- Easter2016 (2)
- Epiphany (1)
- Eucharist (9)
- Evangelisation (13)
- Faith (15)
- Feasts (40)
- Featured (1)
- Forgiveness (3)
- Friars Passions (12)
- Fruits of Study (12)
- Frying for Friars (1)
- Gabriel Theis (10)
- God Matters (13)
- Gospel Joy (11)
- Gospel Reflection (42)
- Great Dominicans (30)
- Greene anniversary (3)
- Holy Week (20)
- Humility (5)
- Intellectual Life (21)
- Interesting Churches (6)
- interests/hobbies (13)
- Interfaith Dialogue (3)
- Jean-Baptiste Régis (13)
- John Bernard Church (23)
- John the Baptist (9)
- Jordan Scott (16)
- Joseph (4)
- Joseph Bailham (34)
- Jubilee (5)
- Justice (7)
- Laudato Si (13)
- Lawrence Lew (2)
- Lent (6)
- Lent2007 (47)
- Lent2008 (51)
- Lent2009 (49)
- Lent2010 (50)
- Lent2011 (51)
- Lent2012 (48)
- Lent2013 (46)
- Lent2014 (46)
- Lent2015 (29)
- Life of Virtue (45)
- Litany of Loreto (24)
- Literature (2)
- Liturgy (40)
- Luke Doherty (26)
- Martyrs (5)
- Mary (8)
- Matthew Jarvis (14)
- Mercy (11)
- Ministries Charisms Fruits (24)
- Miscellany (14)
- Music (17)
- Neglected books of the Old Testament (9)
- New Missal (9)
- News (398)
- Nicholas Crowe (1)
- Not Just Theologians (7)
- O Antiphons (24)
- O Lumen Series (9)
- Obedience (3)
- Obituaries (46)
- Old Testament (1)
- Oliver James Keenan OP (9)
- ordinations (2)
- Our Father Series (12)
- Our Lady (22)
- Pablo Rodríguez Jordá (27)
- Papal visit (12)
- Pauline year (26)
- Penance (5)
- Penitential Psalms (2)
- Pentecost (7)
- Pilgrimage (7)
- Podcast (61)
- Pope Benedict XVI (4)
- Pope Francis (13)
- Pope John Paul II (2)
- Popular piety (14)
- Pray4 (6)
- Prayer (124)
- Preaching (528)
- Psalms (13)
- Questions for... (4)
- Quodlibets (5)
- Rafael Jiménez (11)
- Reviews (26)
- Richard Conrad (1)
- Richard J. Ounsworth (2)
- Richard Steenvoorde (5)
- Robert Verrill (1)
- Rosary (29)
- Sacraments Series (15)
- Saints (127)
- Salvation (8)
- Samuel Burke (16)
- Sanctify the Sunday (4)
- Seven Last Words (9)
- Sheep (2)
- Sin (9)
- Spiritual notes (4)
- St Patrick (4)
- St Thomas (6)
- St Thomas Aquinas (10)
- Stations of the Cross (27)
- Stefan Mangnus (7)
- Study (109)
- Thomas Thérèse Mannion (25)
- Timothy Radcliffe (3)
- Toby Lees (40)
- Triduum (4)
- Video (110)
- Vincent Antony Löning (17)
- Vocations (71)
- Vows (6)
- What I did in the summer (8)
- What the Rosary means to me (18)
- Women in the OT (23)
- WYD2011 (25)
- Year of Faith (21)
- Year of Mercy (8)
- Year of the priest (26)
- Year of the Word (8)
Liturgical index
- First Sunday of Advent
- Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
- Second Sunday of Advent
- Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)
- Fourth Sunday of Advent
- Christmas
- Second Sunday of Christmas
- Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
- Feast of the Holy Family
- Baptism of the Lord
- Epiphany
- Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
- Ash Wednesday
- First Sunday of Lent
- Second Sunday of Lent
- Third Sunday of Lent
- Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)
- Fifth Sunday of Lent
- Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
- Holy Thursday
- Good Friday
- Easter Sunday
- Second Sunday of Easter (Low Sunday)
- Third Sunday of Easter
- Fourth Sunday of Easter
- Fifth Sunday of Easter
- Sixth Sunday of Easter
- The Ascension of the Lord
- Seventh Sunday of Easter
- Pentecost Sunday
- Trinity Sunday
- The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
- Second Sunday of the Year
- Third Sunday of the Year
- Fourth Sunday of the Year
- Fifth Sunday of the Year
- Sixth Sunday of the Year
- Seventh Sunday of the Year
- Eighth Sunday of the Year
- Ninth Sunday of the Year
- Tenth Sunday of the Year
- Eleventh Sunday of the Year
- Twelfth Sunday of the Year
- Thirteenth Sunday of the Year
- Fourteenth Sunday of the Year
- Fifteenth Sunday of the Year
- Sixteenth Sunday of the Year
- Seventeenth Sunday of the Year
- Eighteenth Sunday of the Year
- Nineteenth Sunday of the Year
- Twentieth Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-First Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Second Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Third Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Fourth Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Fifth Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Sixth Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year
- Twenty-Ninth Sunday of the Year
- Thirtieth Sunday of the Year
- Thirty-First Sunday of the Year
- Thirty-Second Sunday of the Year
- Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year
- Solemnity of Christ the King
- Feast of Saint Patrick
- Solemnity of St Joseph
- Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
- Solemnity of the Birth of St John the Baptist
- Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul
- Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
- Solemnity of our Holy Father St Dominic
- Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
- Solemnity of All Saints
- Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed
- Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
- Ordinations, Installations & Professions
Archive
- March 2021 (1)
- February 2021 (8)
- January 2021 (5)
- December 2020 (4)
- November 2020 (7)
- October 2020 (8)
- September 2020 (3)
- August 2020 (4)
- July 2020 (6)
- June 2020 (7)
- May 2020 (10)
- April 2020 (14)
- March 2020 (11)
- February 2020 (13)
- January 2020 (13)
- December 2019 (17)
- November 2019 (14)
- October 2019 (11)
- September 2019 (3)
- August 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (6)
- May 2019 (4)
- March 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (2)
- January 2019 (1)
- December 2018 (2)
- November 2018 (3)
- June 2018 (1)
- May 2018 (3)
- April 2018 (4)
- March 2018 (13)
- February 2018 (5)
- January 2018 (3)
- December 2017 (7)
- November 2017 (5)
- October 2017 (4)
- September 2017 (1)
- June 2017 (4)
- May 2017 (5)
- April 2017 (12)
- March 2017 (11)
- February 2017 (10)
- January 2017 (5)
- December 2016 (12)
- November 2016 (10)
- October 2016 (6)
- September 2016 (7)
- August 2016 (6)
- July 2016 (5)
- June 2016 (8)
- May 2016 (10)
- April 2016 (4)
- March 2016 (16)
- February 2016 (10)
- January 2016 (12)
- December 2015 (17)
- November 2015 (24)
- October 2015 (21)
- August 2015 (2)
- July 2015 (5)
- June 2015 (7)
- May 2015 (17)
- April 2015 (7)
- March 2015 (26)
- February 2015 (17)
- January 2015 (5)
- December 2014 (23)
- November 2014 (14)
- October 2014 (22)
- September 2014 (12)
- August 2014 (5)
- July 2014 (14)
- June 2014 (17)
- May 2014 (15)
- April 2014 (28)
- March 2014 (32)
- February 2014 (16)
- January 2014 (14)
- December 2013 (28)
- November 2013 (14)
- October 2013 (11)
- September 2013 (6)
- July 2013 (3)
- June 2013 (9)
- May 2013 (7)
- April 2013 (9)
- March 2013 (33)
- February 2013 (20)
- January 2013 (16)
- December 2012 (16)
- November 2012 (10)
- October 2012 (9)
- September 2012 (9)
- August 2012 (9)
- July 2012 (9)
- June 2012 (10)
- May 2012 (15)
- April 2012 (14)
- March 2012 (37)
- February 2012 (21)
- January 2012 (14)
- December 2011 (34)
- November 2011 (23)
- October 2011 (26)
- September 2011 (19)
- August 2011 (35)
- July 2011 (18)
- June 2011 (23)
- May 2011 (19)
- April 2011 (28)
- March 2011 (42)
- February 2011 (22)
- January 2011 (23)
- December 2010 (34)
- November 2010 (33)
- October 2010 (18)
- September 2010 (29)
- August 2010 (14)
- July 2010 (23)
- June 2010 (14)
- May 2010 (20)
- April 2010 (19)
- March 2010 (38)
- February 2010 (34)
- January 2010 (22)
- December 2009 (40)
- November 2009 (30)
- October 2009 (17)
- September 2009 (18)
- August 2009 (25)
- July 2009 (23)
- June 2009 (11)
- May 2009 (23)
- April 2009 (25)
- March 2009 (39)
- February 2009 (26)
- January 2009 (13)
- December 2008 (27)
- November 2008 (17)
- October 2008 (17)
- September 2008 (9)
- August 2008 (15)
- July 2008 (17)
- June 2008 (12)
- May 2008 (10)
- April 2008 (6)
- March 2008 (30)
- February 2008 (32)
- January 2008 (5)
- December 2007 (33)
- November 2007 (17)
- October 2007 (14)
- September 2007 (11)
- August 2007 (10)
- July 2007 (12)
- June 2007 (9)
- May 2007 (14)
- April 2007 (28)
- March 2007 (32)
- February 2007 (21)
- January 2007 (10)
- December 2006 (30)
- November 2006 (5)