Full Description
Was God being ironic in commanding Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of wisdom? Carolyn J. Sharp suggests that many stories in the Hebrew Scriptures may be ironically intended. Deftly interweaving literary theory and exegesis, Sharp illumines the power of the unspoken in a wide variety of texts from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. She argues that reading with irony in mind creates a charged and open rhetorical space in the texts that allows character, narration, and authorial voice to develop in unexpected ways. Main themes explored here include the ironizing of foreign rulers, the prostitute as icon of the ironic gaze, indeterminacy and dramatic irony in prophetic performance, and irony in ancient Israel's wisdom traditions. Sharp devotes special attention to how irony destabilizes dominant ways in which the Bible is read today, especially when it touches on questions of conflict, gender, and the Other.
Contents
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Interpreting Irony: Rhetorical, Hermeneutical, and Theological Possibilities
Irony and Contemporary Methodological Debates
Method: Multiaxial Cartography
Leaving the Garden: The Wisdom of Irony
2. Foreign Rulers and the Fear of God
Pharaoh and Abimelech as Innocents Ensnared
"Am I in the Place of God?": Joseph the Pretender
Belshazzar, Darius, and Hermeneutical Risk-Taking
The Ending of Esther and Narratological Excess
3. The Prostitute as Icon of the Ironic Gaze
Tamar the Righteous
Rahab the Clever
Jael the Bold
Gomer the Beloved
Ruth the Loyal
4. The Irony of Prophetic Performance
Oracular Indeterminacy and Dramatic Irony in the Story of Balaam
Hermeneutics of De(con)struction: Amos as Samson Redivivus
Contested Hermeneutics and the Undecidability of Micah 2:12-13
Irony as Emetic: Parody in the Book of Jonah
5. "How Long Will You Love Being Simple?" Irony in Wisdom Traditions
Ironic Representation, Authorial Voice, and Meaning in Qohelet
Rereading Desire as Doublespeak in Psalm 73
6. Conclusion
Irony and Scriptural Signifying
Leaving the Garden Again: New Beginnings
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Biblical Passages
Author Index
Subject Index
