The Injustice of Noah's Curse

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Justin Michael Reed (Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible, Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary)

The Injustice of Noah's Curse

Name: The Injustice of Noah's Curse
Price: 183.95 AUD
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ISBN: 9780197663899

Justin Michael Reed (Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible, Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary)

$183.95

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
24 February 2026

Old Testaments; Christian theology

Following the flood and the rainbow, Genesis 9 has one final story about Noah. The patriarch gets drunk, strips naked, and passes out. One of his sons, Ham, sees Noah naked. When Noah wakes up, he utters a curse of slavery against not Ham, but one of Ham's sons, Canaan. Why is Noah's reaction so severe? And why does he curse Canaan, who did nothing? For more than two thousand years, interpreters have tried to make sense of what seems like an injustice in Noah's reaction. The goal of good interpretation, it would seem, is to show howDLif we just understand the right details or contextDLNoah's curse has hit the target with the proper punishment. The most notorious examples of interpretations following this agenda are appeals to Noah's curse as biblical support for denigrating or subjugating others, especially Black people. Modern scholars with no interest in weaponizing the text take the same interpretive approach but with a slight qualification, their rationale for justifying the curse is that they are trying to read in sync with the Israelite authors who they presume intended to write a just curse against the Canaanites. Although this has been the normative trend in interpretation for centuries, Justin Michael Reed shines light on a different path. Instead of trying to explain away the injustice of Noah's curse, Reed affirms that Noah's curse is unjust, and he uses critical race theory, speech act theory, intertextuality, and irony to make sense of the injustice of Noah's curse in its literary context.

By: Justin Michael Reed (Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible Associate Professor of Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 239mm, Width: 167mm, Spine: 29mm
Weight: 680g
ISBN: 9780197663899
ISBN 10: 0197663893
Pages: 356
Publication Date: 24 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Justin Michael Reed is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. This monograph expands research begun in his dissertation, which won the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise.