The purpose of the Wisdom Commentary series is to “integrate more fully [and] to introduce another viewpoint” (p. xvi) to the on-going conversation about texts that many people consider to be sacred and divinely inspired. Each volume is the “fruit of collaborative work by an ecumenical and interreligious team of scholars” (p. xix) that considers the text as a whole from a feminist point of view rather than merely focusing on the portions of biblical text that refer directly to women. A hallmark of the series is the inclusion of short essays on one or another aspect of the text by scholars other than the author. For example, this volume about the Book of Tobit includes an essay by an advocate for the blind, who is herself blind, that reflects on the difficulties faced by blind people in today’s world as a way of understanding Tobit’s response to having become blind.

The introduction to Tobit (p. xxxix – li) not only sets out the context of the text (its genre, date, original language and place, etc.) but also allows the author to introduce herself and her method. She tells the reader some of her own life’s journey toward feminism and biblical scholarship and describes her approach to understanding the text. “[I] try to gain deeper insight into our text by juxtaposing it with pieces of other ancient literature . . . I offer alternative ways of understanding what the author of Tobit writes and make connections with contemporary issues” (p. xxxix). She also points out how difficult it was for her to move beyond merely engaging the text objectively, but “to bring my lived experience, as a human being who identifies as female, to the text” (p. xl).

In each chapter of the book, the author deals with one or two chapters from the Book of Tobit, commenting on what we know about the cultural situation described in the text and occasionally comparing sections of the text with other ancient documents. The bulk of each chapter, however, consists of midrash-like “reading between the lines” to fill in the gaps of the narrative and to move the story into a discussion of contemporary issues. For example, the commentary on Tobit 1:3-9, which describes Tobit’s pious practices both before and after being exiled, leads the author to consider how Tobit was different from the rest of his clan and from his neighbors since Tobit worshipped in Jerusalem rather than at the sanctuary in Dan. That consideration leads first to a discussion of how David made Jerusalem both the political and the religious center of the nation, how Solomon built the Temple, how the kingdom was divided after Solomon’s death and a competing sanctuary was built in Dan, how the Temple was destroyed by Babylon and again by the Romans. Returning to the idea that Tobit’s religious practices were different from his neighbors, the author suggests that there may have been tension between Tobit and his family and then embarks on a description of the familial tensions she has encountered in her own faith journey from unbelief to Christian fundamentalism and finally to Judaism. And then, suddenly, the author returns to the text at hand, makes a few comments on context, and again takes off on midrashic tangents, connecting the ancient text of Tobit to contemporary issues.

The tangents-upon-tangents approach to bringing biblical texts into the current cultural and religious context does highlight many connections between the text and the issues we face in our own time that the reader may not make on her own. For example, the author’s commentary on Tobit’s song of praise at the end of the story (13:8-17) connects the mention of freeing captives with the contemporary Israeli practice of ransoming Israeli soldiers who are captured. She uses the hymn’s prophecy that all the nations will come Jerusalem in order to worship God as a springboard for a discussion of the issue of minority rights and ethnic diversity that includes a recounting of injustices suffered by First Nations peoples in Canada and the attempt to rectify that injustice with the Canadian Multiculturalism Law.

The problem with this approach as the author uses it, however, is that there are just too many tangents and they often move so far afield that it is rather jarring when the author does finally return to the biblical text. Still, the commentary on Tobit does call the reader to consider the ways in which biblical texts can, with a shift in perspective and a little imagination, lead us to building a more just and humane world.