Lamentations in Ancient and Contemporary Cultural Contexts

by Nancy C. Lee (Editor), Carleen Mandolfo (Editor)

Personal tragedy and communal catastrophe up to the present day are universal human experiences that call forth lament. Lament singers—from the most ancient civilizations to traditional oral poets to the biblical psalmists and poets of Lamentations to popular singers across the globe—have always raised the cry of human suffering, giving voice to the voiceless, illuminating injustice, or pleading for divine help. This volume gathers an international collection of essays on biblical lament and Lamentations, illuminating their genres, artistry, purposes, and significant place in the history and theologies of ancient Israel. It also explores lament across cultures, both those influenced by biblical traditions and those not, as the practices of composition, performance, and interpretation of life’s suffering continue to shed light on our knowledge of biblical lament.

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

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Nancy C. Lee, Ph.D. (1961- ) teaches at Elmhurst College near Chicago where she is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Religious Studies and Distinguished Niebuhr Chair. Her latest book is Hannevi'ah and Hannah: Hearing Women Biblical Prophets in a Women's Lyrical Tradition (Wipf & Stock, 2015), a study revealing a distinctive signature in the Hebrew of women's represented compositions in the Bible. A Kindle book, Hebrew Sound Patterns and Women's Biblical Composing (2014, rev. 2015), presents color-coded charts showing oral sound patterns in non-prophetic biblical texts. Lee is currently writing a commentary on the Song of Songs and Lamentations (forthcoming, Smyth & Helwys) and is the author of articles, poetry, and books, including The Singers of Lamentations: Cities under Siege, from Ur to Jerusalem to Sarajevo . . . (Brill, 2002). This was a comparative study of the biblical book of Lamentations to lament poems from a recent context--the focus of a Fulbright fellowship in Croatia (and Bosnia-Herzegovinia) the year after the wars there ended in the 1990s. She edited a volume of war poetry in English by Borislav Arapović, Between Despair and Lamentation (2002). Founding co-chair of the Lament in Sacred Texts & Cultures group of the Society of Biblical Literature, she co-edited the volume, Lamentations in Ancient & Contemporary Contexts (SBL, 2008), a collection from scholars worldwide. Her book, Lyrics of Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation (Fortress, 2010), is for a more general audience and surveys lament in poetry and popular song in 30 cultures worldwide while examining forms of lament in the sacred texts of the Abrahamic religions (Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Qur'an). Lee has regularly co-led student groups to South Africa with partners there in service-learning projects for 15 years. She was Founding Director of the Niebuhr Center at Elmhurst College (where the Niebuhrs were undergrads) and its 'Callings for the Common Good' program.