It’s a Charming Story of Faithful Living, but …: Interpretive Tensions in the Book of Ruth

The book of Ruth is often read as a story that celebrates family, acceptance, and loyal lovingkindness. However, recent interpretations problematize the characterization of this narrative as idyllic, pointing to its troubling themes and the potentially exploitative dynamics between its characters. I argue that interpretations which highlight the charming and positive aspects of this narrative by turning away from its ambiguity and mess work to domesticate the story. Such interpretations train readers of Ruth, and other biblical stories, to frame out uncomfortable tensions of power and difference in the story world. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s observation that learning to notice what we are taught not to notice is “a form of political labor,” I argue that learning to recognize these interpretive tensions can uncover similar tensions at work within diverse contemporary interpretive contexts. Through the uncomfortable work of turning towards what has previously been framed out of interpretations of Ruth, I explore how the narrative might become a conversation partner in noticing and naming entanglements of the idyllic and the exploitative.