First-Person Narration and the Poetics of Theophany in the Deuteronomic Horeb Account

In recent years, scholars of the Hebrew Bible have increasingly challenged entrenched dichotomies between historical criticism and literary theory. This integrative approach draws on contemporary literary studies to achieve a fuller understanding of biblical texts as fictive works in their ancient h...

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1. VerfasserIn: Schwartz, Ethan (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Catholic Biblical Association of America 2023
In: The catholic biblical quarterly
Jahr: 2023, Band: 85, Heft: 4, Seiten: 618-639
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen):B Historische Kritik / Hermeneutik / Literatur
B Theophanie / Bibel. Deuteronomium 4,1-40
RelBib Classification:HB Altes Testament
VB Logik; philosophische Hermeneutik; philosophische Erkenntnislehre
weitere Schlagwörter:B Horeb
B Narration
B Deuteronomy
B Literary Theory
B Moses
B Theophany
B Source Criticism
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:In recent years, scholars of the Hebrew Bible have increasingly challenged entrenched dichotomies between historical criticism and literary theory. This integrative approach draws on contemporary literary studies to achieve a fuller understanding of biblical texts as fictive works in their ancient historical contexts. Theophany narratives invite especially fruitful application of this approach because they are both culturally specific and literarily complex. In this article, I contribute to this conversation by analyzing the fictive role of narrational voicing in Deut 4:1-40, the opening section of Moses's first-person account of the Horeb theophany in the pentateuchal Deuteronomic source. This passage famously underscores the auditory (as opposed to visual) character of the Horeb theophany in order to provide phenomenological ground for aniconism. While scholars usually treat this as a tenet of Deuteronomic theology, I argue that it is also part of the Deuteronomic poetics of first-person narration: Moses is framing the theophany in terms of his experience of the molten calf, which has already happened within the story world of D. This literary effect emerged both through Deuteronomic engagement with the earlier, Elohistic version of the story and through retrospective sapientialization of earlier material within D itself. Integrating historical-critical and literary-theoretical approaches shows how Deut 4:1-40 uses first-person narration to construct the theophany through the character development of the narrator.
ISSN:2163-2529
Enthält:Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly