Full Description
This unique interdisciplinary book uses a fresh approach to explore issues of disability in the Hebrew Bible. It examines how disability functions in the David Story (1 Samuel 16; 1 Kings 2) by paying special attention to Mephibosheth, the only biblical character with a disability as a sustained character trait. The David Story contains some of the Bible's most striking images of disability.
Nonetheless, interpreters tend to focus on legal material rather than narratives when studying disability in the Hebrew Bible. Often, they neglect the David Story's complex use of disability. They overlook its use of disability imagery as open to critical interpretation because its stereotypical meanings may seem so commonplace and transparent. Yet recent work in the burgeoning field of disability studies presents disability as a complicated motif that demands more critical engagement than it typically receives.
Informed by exciting developments in the field, it argues that the David Story employs disability imagery as a subtle mode of narrating and organizing various ideological positions regarding national identity.
Contents
Chapter One
"He was Grounded, Surrounded, with Nothing to Say": Mephibosheth, Biblical Criticism and Disability Studies
Chapter Two
"My Teacher Mephibosheth, Is My Decision Right?": Mephibosheth in the History of Interpretation
Chapter Three
A Body Fit for a King: Disability and the Politics of Royal Representation in the Ancient Near East
Chapter Four
Disabling Boundaries: Mephibosheth and the Problems of Flat Interpretation
Chapter Five:
"Why Do You Still Speak of Your Affairs?": Conclusions and Implications of this Study
