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Biblical Literature
by Barbara Green
Historical Fiction
King David, the Wise Woman, and the Learning of Compassion: A Scholarly but Fictive Reflection on the Story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel
A fictive presentation of biblical material in 1 and 2 Samuel.
Mindful
Enriching and filled with adventures from the road, this historical fiction, set in the sixth century BCE, accompanies a band of Jews leaving exile in Babylon as they anticipate a fresh start in the land of their forbears.
All but invisible in biblical prose but a story waiting to be told, Mindful, by Barbara Green, recounts the little-known journey of exiles retuning to a homeland they've never seen. A stunning testament to responsible imagination, this is historic fiction at its finest. Beautifully wrought, the tale starts in the year 535 BCE and follows Tizkor, along with her three children, as they journey home from exile in Babylon to make a fresh start. The long road skirting the desert's edge and the winter weather allow them to reflect on their past hardships, present struggles, and dream about what lies ahead as they seek to reconcile the differences between the lives they have lived and the days which lie before them. Borrowing beloved language from biblical Deuteronomy, each character shapes his or her own experience through the ancient language, at the same time enriching it with the insight gained through hardship.
"So many people today make the mistake of thinking that the Bible is a fixed text - words set in stone that say the same thing to every listener every day, every year, every century. In this story, Barbara Green makes biblical traditions come alive by showing how those traditions live and breathe, grow and diminish, in the lives and memories of people who cherish them. The story offers wonderful insight, not only into an historical moment and the way the Bible itself took shape, but also into how each of us makes meaning from the materials that matter to us. The Bible thus become not a repository of static data but a resource we are constantly reshaping to meet the changing circumstances of our daily lives." ~Professor Catherine M. Murphy, University of Santa Clara
"With a compelling respect for and admirable knowledge of these ancient and ever new texts, Green teaches us that honoring our pasts is not the same as enshrining them in stone. With creative flair and characters that are as old and new as the Bible itself, she tells us a new story about biblical power, one in which the power of "holy" words works not as a moralizing bludgeon, but rather as a gentle but insistent guide to our deepest humanity and truest selves. In the same manner the Bible shares its points of view, through stories, so too does Green understand that narrative is often a more effective teacher than traditional scholarly exposition." ~Professor Carleen R. Mandolfo, Colby College
"Part road story, part mystery, part family saga, part biblical narrative, Barbara's Green's Mindful is ultimately a meditation on the need to return in new circumstances to old words and the power of old stories to bloom again in new words. Mindful combines the (never stuffy, always lively) erudition of a biblical scholar with the lyrical flights of a born story teller to bring to life the most profoundly human impulses that underlie the Biblical story. Green's moving novel retraces old journeys, retells old stories, and revisits old repositories of memory and dream, connecting us in words and breath with those whose steps we continue to follow as we discover them ever anew." ~Professor Naomi Seidman, Jackman Humanities Professor at the University of Toronto