The Risk of Retelling: Gomer-bat-Diblaim, Biblical Retrieval, and the Male Gaze in The Prophet’s Wife

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-461
Author(s):  
Emily O. Gravett

AbstractMilton Steinberg’s posthumously published novel The Prophet’s Wife retells the story of the prophet Hosea and his “wife of whoredom,” Gomer. To analyze the novel’s interpretation of the biblical text, the article first reviews the book of Hosea and outlines the concept of “retrieval” in biblical retellings (that is, the restoration of characters overlooked in the Bible). Because Steinberg retrieves Gomer by drawing upon language of sight, body, and beauty, the article turns to the concept of the “male gaze” from film studies. Using this concept, the article examines several key moments of retrieval from the novel, in which Gomer is framed as a beautiful object for male eyes to appraise. What becomes clear is that Gomer’s retrieval in The Prophet’s Wife paradoxically results in her increased exposure to the male gaze. The article culminates in an exploration of this risk, possibly inherent in biblical retellings that retrieve female figures.

Author(s):  
Marie Miguet-Ollagnier

Le roman Les Géorgiques fait allusion à l’Apocalypse en renvoyant au texte final de la Bible. Le vocabulaire de Claude Simon est celui de Jean annonçant la fin du monde, surtout quand il parle de chevaux roux. La quatrième partie se déroule à Barcelone et à Lérida, villes où O (Orwell) est témoin de la guerre civile. Cette région est une nouvelle Babylone maudite. La catastrophe atteint aussi en 1940 le Nord de la France et toute la planète. Mais le texte biblique et le roman annoncent une renaissance de la terre avec des images analogues.AbstractThe novel Les Géorgiques alludes St John’s Apocalypse, the last part of the Bible. Claude Simon’s lexicon is the same as in the biblical text foretelling the universal disaster, especially when he speaks about reddish horses. The fourth part takes place in Barcelone and Lerida, the towns where O (Orwell) witnesses the civil war. This land is a new wretched Babylone. The disaster extends as far as North of France in 1940 and the whole planet. But the biblical text as well as the novel foretell a new birth of the earth and uses the same imagery.


Author(s):  
Dirk van Miert

In the conclusion, the intrinsic deconstructive power of philology is contrasted with external pressures moving philology in different political and religious directions. The positions of the main protagonists differed widely, but they show that the less they were institutionalized, the more freedom they had to present unorthodox theories. As in the case of natural science, biblical philology was a handmaiden of theology, but it could also be used against certain theologies. In the end, the accumulation of evidence regarding the history of the Bible and the transmission of its texts, could not fail to impinge on the authority of Scripture. The problems in the transmission of the biblical text were widely discussed in the decade leading up to the publication of the Theological-political Treatise. Readers of Spinoza were already familiar with the type of reasoning which Spinoza employed in the central chapters of his notorious work.


Author(s):  
Alison Milbank

Scottish fiction about the Reformation is concerned with the mechanics of historical change, which are rendered through a series of enchanted books and people discussed in Chapter 8. In the novel, The Monastery, describing the Dissolution and Reformation, Scott gothicizes the Bible as a magic book and the White Lady as its guardian to dramatize the mysterious nature of religious change, the dependence of the future on a Gothic past, and the need for interpretation. In Old Mortality, Scott’s protagonist escapes the frozen dualities of Covenanter and Claverhouse, revealing historical change itself as problematic in Humean terms and requiring a leap of faith. James Hogg contests this presentation of the Covenanters by re-enchanting them as supposed brownies, as mediators of history and nature, and in his Three Perils of Man reprises Scott’s wizard Michael Scott pitted against Roger Bacon and his ‘black book’ the Bible to present the Reformation as an eternal reality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-51
Author(s):  
Rosemary Dewerse ◽  
Cathy Hine

Abstract Missional hermeneutics is a relatively recent development in the field of biblical hermeneutics, emerging from several decades of scholarly engagement with the concept and frame of missio Dei. In a key recent publication in the field, Reading the Bible Missionally, edited by Michael Goheen, the voices of the Global South and of women – and certainly of women from Oceania – do not feature. In this article the authors, both Oceanic women, interrupt the discourse to read biblical text from their twice-under perspective. The Beatitudes provide the frame and the lens for a spiralling discussion of the missio Dei as, to borrow from Letty M. Russell, “calculated inefficiency.” Stories of faithful Oceanic women interweave with those of God and of biblical women, offering their complexities to challenge assumptions and simplicities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-174
Author(s):  
Sebastian Selvén

Abstract This article investigates biblical reception in the works of two popular modern fantasy authors. It stages an intertextual dialogue between Genesis 22:1-19, “the binding of Isaac”, and two episodes, in Stephen King’s The Gunslinger and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. After presenting the dynamics of what happens to the biblical text in these two authors and the perspectives that come out, a hermeneutical reversal is then suggested, in which the modern stories are used to probe the biblical text. One can return to the Bible with questions culled from its later reception, in this case King and Tolkien. This article argues that the themes touched upon by the two authors are important and hermeneutically relevant ones, sometimes novel and sometimes contributions to exegetical debates that have been going on for centuries.


LITERA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-436
Author(s):  
Robiatul Adawiyah ◽  
Muakibatul Hasanah

Seiring berkembangnya zaman, tradisi yang mengengkang kebebasan kaum perempuan mulai diperjuangkan untuk dihapuskan melalui gerakan feminisme. Penyuaraan hak-hak perempuan tidak hanya dilakukan melalui gerakan-gerakan secara nyata, namun juga dilakukan secara halus dengan memasukkan ideologi-ideologi feminsime melalui karya sastra. Penelitian ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan bentuk ketidakadilan gender dan bentuk perlawanan perempuan terhadap stigma inferioritas yang selama ini melekat pada diri perempuan. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kritik sastra feminis. Sumber data penelitian adalah novel Midah (Si Manis Bergigi Emas) karya Pramoedya Ananta Toer dan novel Di Balik Kerling Saatirah karya Ninik M. Kuntarto. Teknik yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data-data bentuk feminisme yang ada di dalam kedua novel tersebut adalah dengan membaca kritis dan membaca berkesinambungan. Analisis dilakukan dengan cara (1) kodifikasi data, (2) pengelompokan data, (3) interpretasi makna teks, (4) deskripsi bentuk ketidakadilan gender dan bentuk perlawanan gender, serta (5) penyimpulan hasil analsisis. Hasil penelitian sebagai berikut. Pertama, ketidakadilan gender dialami oleh dua sosok perempuan dalam dua novel berbeda, yaitu Midah dan Saatirah. Midah mendapatkan perlakuan tidak adil dari perjodohan yang dilakukan oleh orangtuanya dan dia juga mendapatkan ketidakadilan dari sosok pria yang menjadikannya budak pemuas nafsu. Saatirah mendapatkan perlakuan tidak adil dalam hubungan rumah tangganya. Kedua, bentuk perlawanan yang dilakukan oleh Midah dan Saatirah adalah dengan berusaha bangkit dari keterpurukan untuk membuktikan eksistensinya dan berusaha memperoleh kebahagian dengan cara yang mereka kehendaki tanpa ada campur tangan dari orang lain. Kata Kunci: stigma, inferioritas, marginal, feminismAGAINST THE STIGMA OF WOMEN’S INFERIORITY IN MIDAH (SI MANIS BERGIGI EMAS) A NOVEL BY PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER  AND DI BALIK KERLING SAATIRAH A NOVEL BY NINIK M. KUNTARTO AbstractAlong with the development of the times, struggles for traditions that curb the freedom of women began to be eliminated through the feminism movement. Voicing women's rights is not only done through real movements, but also subtly by incorporating feminine ideologies through literary works. This study aims to describe the form of gender injustice and the form of women's resistance to the inferiority stigma that has been attached to women. This study uses a feminist literary criticism approach. Sources of research data are the novel Midah (Si Manis Bergigi Emas) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and the novel Di Balik Kerling Saatirah by Ninik M. Kuntarto. The technique used to collect data on the forms of feminism in both novels is critical reading and continuous reading. The analysis was carried out by (1) data codification, (2) data grouping, (3) interpretation of the meaning of the text, (4) descriptions of forms of gender injustice and forms of gender resistance, and (5) concluding the results of the analysis. The research results are as follows. First, gender injustice is experienced by two female figures in two different novels, namely Midah and Saatirah. Midah received unfair treatment from an arranged marriage by her parents and he also received injustice from a male figure who made her a slave to the satisfaction of lust. Saatirah received unfair treatment in her household relationship. Second, the form of resistance carried out by Midah and Saatirah is to try to rise from adversity to prove their existence and try to get happiness in the way they want without interference from others. Keywords: stigma, inferiority, marginal, feminine


1970 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
Leszae Misiarczyk

This paper concerns the comparison of three twelfth-century biblical manuscripts from Plock, namely the so-called The Bible of Plock and The Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia with two Mosan biblical manuscripts: The Evangeliary of Averbode and the Biblia Universa transcribed in the same period. The first three texts: Beatissimo Papae Damaso (Novum opus), Prologus quatuor evangeliorum (Plures fuisse) and Iheronimus Damaso Pape (Sciendum etiam) – the last one is not included in the Bible of Plock - and Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia are of St. Jerome. In contrast, the introductions to the Synoptic Gospels: Argumentum secundum Matheum, Prologus in Marco and Prologus sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam are not the texts of St. Jerome, as is sometimes mistakenly repeated by different scholars, but were written by Sedulius Scottus, an Irish monk and a poet who lived and worked in a school in Leodium in the ninth century, whereas the introduction to the Gospel according to St. John: Prephatio in Evangelium secundum Iohannem was written by Bede the Venerable. While the texts of Jerome were quite commonly used in medieval biblical manuscripts, the fact that the introductions to the Synoptic Gospels are written by Sedulius Scottus and are present in both The Bible of Plock as well as partially in The Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia is a very strong argument for the Mosan origin of the twelfth century biblical manuscripts of Płock. The comparative analysis of the texts themselves clearly leads to several important conclusions. First, the Bible of Plock and Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia are closer to the version of the text preserved in the Biblia Universa, a codex written in the monastery of Sancti Trudonis, than to the Evangeliary of Averbode. It follows that the sources for the biblical manuscripts of Plock from the twelfth century should be searched at Mosan Benedictine monasteries, perhaps in the very monastery Sancti Trudonis near Liège. Second, the Gospel according to St. Mark generally follows the version of the text preserved in the Biblia Universa and the Bible of Plock but not all the time. It should therefore be hoped that the further comparative studies, especially of the version of the biblical text, will confirm this relationship and will help to determine whether the codex was written in the Meuse River region or is it a copy of the Bible of Plock made on the spot. Thirdly, and this is an extremely interesting proposal, the Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia, not counting minor changes made by a copyist like converting - tium to - cium, is very much dependent on the Bible of Plock. If, as it is confirmed by records of the miracles, the Bible was already in Plock in 1148 or before that date, it is very likely that the Evangeliary of Princess Anastasia, would be a copy of the text made on the spot in a local Plock scriptorium as a foundation of Boleslaw Kedzierzawy and a votive offering for the salvation of his deceased wife Anastasia. The codex would therefore arise after her death, dating back to the year 1158 in Plock in the time of Bishop Werner and would not have been brought by him following his trip to Aachen. These conclusions, for obvious reasons, are only preliminary, as comparison of the texts is not fully detailed and more comprehensive conclusions will be presented only after benchmarking a version of the biblical text of the four Gospels.  


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 656
Author(s):  
Santiago García-Jalón

A close analysis of the text of Gen. 2:8–15, pertaining to the Garden of Eden, shows the structural differences between said text and others from ancient mythologies that mention or describe a paradise. Likewise, that analysis suggests that the data provided by the Bible to locate paradise are merely a narrative device meant to dissipate all doubts as to the existence of a garden where God put human beings. Similar to other spaces that appear in the Bible, the Garden of Eden is, in fact, an impossible place. Throughout the centuries, however, recurring proposals have been made to locate paradise. As time went by, those proposals were progressively modified by the intellectual ideas dominant in any given era, thus leading the representations of the location of Paradise to be further and further away from the information provided by the biblical text.


Author(s):  
Darius Ade Putra

Abstract Since the 1960s, started by Lynn White, Christianity has begun to get attacks because it is considered to have triggered ecological damage. Christianity through the teachings of the Bible is accused of legitimizing absolute anthropocentric ideas which then give rise to expansive actions to the environment and nature. In the midst of the massive damage to the environment and in order to fi nd a possible solution to this problem, it is felt necessary to resonance the new approach to the Scriptures that further explores the sound of the earth. One approach that can be developed is ecological hermeneutics. Based on several principles it is possible to see and understand the biblical text from the perspective of the earth. In addittion, this approach will be elaborated with local wisdom so that it can help the text contextualization process. In the end, a new paradigm is expected to encourage awareness of the importance to tend the universe.   Abstrak Sejak tahun 1960an, dimulai oleh Lynn White, Kekristenan mulai mendapat serangan karena dinilai telah menjadi pemicu kerusakan ekologi. Kekristenan melalui ajaran Alkitab dituduh melegitimasi gagasan-gagasan antroposentris absolut yang kemudian melahirkan tinndakan- tindakan ekspansif terhadap lingkungan dan alam. Di tengah masifnya kerusakan lingkungan dan dalam rangka mencari kemungkinan jalan keluar dari persoalan ini, dirasa perlu untuk menggemakan pendekatan baru pada Kitab Suci yang lebih mengeksplorasi suara bumi. Salah satu pendekatan yang bisa dikembangkan adalah hermeneutik ekologi. Berdasarkan beberapa prinsip-prinsipnya memungkinkan untuk melihat dan memahami teks Alkitab dari perspektif bumi. Selain itu, pendekatan ini akan dielaborasi dengan local widom agar membantu proses kontekstualisasi teks. Pada akhirnya diharapkan sebuah paradigma baru yang mendorong kesadaran akan pentingnya merawat alam semesta.


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