The Bible’s Bedeviling Bad Girls

It should come as no surprise to the modern reader that the androcentric biblical writers were unfair to the gentler sex. After all, ever since Eve bit into the forbidden apple, the good book had long been obsessed with the notion of bad girls. But perhaps more surprisingly, subsequent generations have been no kinder. Over the millennia, the stories of these temptresses have been used by both religious disciplinarians and secular moralists alike in an effort to guide young women on how not to behave. This obsession with feminine transgression, turned the vices of these vixens into the stuff of legends--far surpassing their very worst excesses. This webinar will focus on three of the Bible’s most bedeviling of bad girls: Delilah, Jezebel and Salome. Using artwork these femme fatales have inspired over the ages, we will explore the stories behind each of these women as we peel back the layers of legend in an effort to find some semblance of the truth. Surely they were bold, at times they were downright brazen but were they really so bad?

With an emphasis in Women’s Studies, Mary Naples earned an M.A. in Humanities from Dominican University of California in 2013. Her master’s thesis: “Demeter’s Daughter’s: How the Myth of the Captured Bride Helped Spur Feminine Consciousness in Ancient Greece,” examines how female participants found empowerment in a feminine fertility festival. Her deep love of the classical world is reflected in her writing which explores women’s narratives ranging from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds into the Byzantine era and even into ancient Israel and Judea. After a career in high-tech, Mary lives in Sausalito, California with her husband and cat, Maddie. There she has a collection of books on the classical world and a garden with a Cretan-styled labyrinth.