This book spotlights the Old Testament's "supporting cast," the vast array of nameless characters wedged in the margins of biblical stories. Often categorized as literary props or aspects of scenery, these anonymous figures ("laborers," "a creditor," "the crowd," "servants," "elders," "a midwife," etc.) frequently shoulder the burden of a story that is never theirs. Grounded in literary theory, Gina Hens-Piazza sets forth a new taxonomy for these often anonymous characters.

Gina Hens-Piazza is professor of biblical studies in the Joseph S. Alemany Endowed Chair at Santa Clara University's Jesuit School of Theology, and professor of biblical studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.