scholarly journals THE PARADIGMATIC ROLE OF GENESIS 3 FOR READING BIBLICAL NARRATIVE ABOUT DESIRE

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-102
Author(s):  
CEPHAS TUSHIMA
Keyword(s):  
Deviant Behavior ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Genesis 3 ◽  
Power Play

The biblical Hebrew texts of sexual politics (often involving sordid sexual violence, especially against women) have been studied in the last forty years with an ideological bent that employs contemporary literary analysis. This essay is an attempt to allow the biblical text to furnish strategies for reading its troubling narratives rather than imposing external ideologies over it. An ethical narrative close reading of the text of primeval desire (Gen 3) led me to the discovery of four themes—desire, particularly its derivative, sexual passion; power-play; alterity; and peril— and to the biblical authors’ characterization of God in divine response to human deviant behavior as heuristic tools for reading these texts of desire.

Gender Equality in Yefet Ben ʿElī’s Commentary and Karaite Halakhah

AJS Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana Sasson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Logical Inference ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Inheritance Laws

Researching the translation and commentary of the tenth century Karaite scholar and exegete Yefet ben ʿElī on the Book of Proverbs, numerous statements that seemed to ring with egalitarianism were found. Some of these statements found in Yefet's commentary on wisdom literature and biblical narrative will be examined in this article. One case in which he speculates on biblical Hebrew syntax will also be examined. Gender equality in Yefet's work is anchored in the principle of logical inference, also known as analogy,qiyās, which served as one of the three major sources for the determination of Karaite halakhah. This article includes also a brief discussion of the role ofqiyāsin Karaite halakhah on marriage, divorce, and inheritance laws.

The Role of the Secondary Characters in the Story of the Anointing of Saul (I Samuel ix-x)

2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Secondary Characters

AbstractIn this article I address the roles of the secondary characters in the story of the anointing of Saul as king (I Sam. ix-x). This story contains more than the usual number of secondary characters in a biblical narrative, with some of them playing strange or unusual roles. Through literary analysis of the story's structure and its key words, it becomes clear that the secondary characters play a central role in the story. The hidden message of the story, arising from the chiastic structure of this unit, the molding of the main character, and the molding of the secondary characters surrounding him, is that the king of Israel does not come to be chosen by chance; his selection is guided by God. This message is important for the reader, but the development of the story shows that Saul himself learns the same lesson over the course of the events.

The Making of the Sin of Achan (Joshua 7)

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Joshua Berman
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
Great Scrutiny ◽  
Corporate Personality ◽  
Collective Punishment

The ascription of blame to an entire people for the infraction of a nondescript individual found in the account of the sin of Achan (Joshua 7) is without parallel in the Hebrew Bible and in the legal and treaty literature of the ancient Near East. Attempts to explain the account through concepts such as “corporate personality” or the “contagion” to be found in devoted goods have rightly come under great scrutiny. This paper seeks to understand collective punishment in Joshua 7 by engaging in a close reading of the final form of the text and with recourse to notions found in contemporary ethical theory. The paper introduces the rhetorical use of minor characters as markers of collective attitudes in biblical narrative. Central to the exposition of the Achan account is the role of the spies’ report (7:2-3) as such a marker of collective attitudes shared by the polity as a whole.


scholarly journals “His name throughout the earth”: YHWH’s political strategies in Exodus 3-15

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-63
Author(s):  
André Kanasiro
Keyword(s):  
Close Reading ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Absolute Power ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Political Reasoning ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Book Of Genesis

This paper analyzes the characterization of YHWH as a political ruler in Exodus 3-15. His role as king of Israel comes as a novelty in the biblical narrative after the book of Genesis, and in the book of Exodus he presents new divine traits such as jealousy, wrathfulness and holiness. Among his new traits as a ruler comes the concern with his reputation, both in the short and long term, amidst his followers and even his enemies. A close-reading of the Plagues narratives thus shows God’s actions stemming from his political reasoning and strategies, which aim at driving the whole earth — especially Israel, his chosen people — to acknowledge his absolute power and rule.

scholarly journals “His name throughout the earth”: YHWH’s political strategies in Exodus 3-15

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-63
Author(s):  
André Kanasiro
Keyword(s):  
Close Reading ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Absolute Power ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Political Reasoning ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Book Of Genesis

This paper analyzes the characterization of YHWH as a political ruler in Exodus 3-15. His role as king of Israel comes as a novelty in the biblical narrative after the book of Genesis, and in the book of Exodus he presents new divine traits such as jealousy, wrathfulness and holiness. Among his new traits as a ruler comes the concern with his reputation, both in the short and long term, amidst his followers and even his enemies. A close-reading of the Plagues narratives thus shows God’s actions stemming from his political reasoning and strategies, which aim at driving the whole earth — especially Israel, his chosen people — to acknowledge his absolute power and rule.

The Vanishing Character in Biblical Narrative: The Role of Hathach in Esther 4

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-571
Author(s):  
Jonathan Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Minor Character

Abstract Literary analysis tends to focus on major characters or minor characters as long as their active role in the narrative serves to further the plot. The contribution of minor characters is often viewed as limited to their active role in the narrative. However, sometimes the passive role of a minor character, and even the disappearance of a character from the plot, can serve a valuable literary purpose. This article outlines the nature of the Vanishing Minor Character, whose literary purpose is to disappear at a crucial moment, making room for the remaining characters. The article demonstrates this model using the character of Hathach—the Persian eunuch—who serves as an intermediary between Esther and Mordecai in Esther 4.

Digital x-ray mapping of nanometer-size supported bimetallic catalysts

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 530-531
Author(s):  
L. T. Germinario
Keyword(s):  
Background Radiation ◽  
Metal Cluster ◽  
Single Element ◽  
Beam Diameter ◽  
X Rays ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Induced Changes

Understanding the role of metal cluster composition in determining catalytic selectivity and activity is of major interest in heterogeneous catalysis. The electron microscope is well established as a powerful tool for ultrastructural and compositional characterization of support and catalyst. Because the spatial resolution of x-ray microanalysis is defined by the smallest beam diameter into which the required number of electrons can be focused, the dedicated STEM with FEG is the instrument of choice. The main sources of errors in energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS) are: (1) beam-induced changes in specimen composition, (2) specimen drift, (3) instrumental factors which produce background radiation, and (4) basic statistical limitations which result in the detection of a finite number of x-ray photons. Digital beam techniques have been described for supported single-element metal clusters with spatial resolutions of about 10 nm. However, the detection of spurious characteristic x-rays away from catalyst particles produced images requiring several image processing steps.

Patrick Kavanagh and the Authentic ‘Dispensation’: Rereading the Role of Narrator in The Great Hunger

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Kilcoyne
Keyword(s):  
National Literature ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Peasant Farmer ◽  
Nineteen Forties ◽  
Death Knell

This essay posits a challenge to the continued reading of The Great Hunger (1942) as a realist depiction of the Irish small-farming class in the nineteen forties. The widespread critical acceptance of the poem as a socio-historical ‘documentary’ both relies upon and propagates an outmoded notion of authenticity based upon the implicit fallacy that Kavanagh's body of work designates a quintessence of Irishness in contradistinction to his Revivalist predecessors. In 1959 Kavanagh referred to this delusion as constituting his ‘dispensation’, for indeed it did provide a poetic niche for the young poet. Kavanagh's acknowledgement of this dispensation came with his rejection of all prescriptive literary symbols. While this iconoclasm is widely recognised in his later career, the relevance of The Great Hunger to this question continues to be overlooked. In fact, this poem contains his strongest dialectic upon the use of symbols – such as the peasant farmer – in designating an authentic national literature. The close reading of The Great Hunger offered here explores the poem's central deconstruction of ruralism and authenticity. The final ‘apocalypse of clay’ is the poem's collapse under the stress of its own deconstructed symbolism; the final scream sounds the death knell to Kavanagh's adherence to his authentic dispensation.

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