This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Brenner, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Who's Afraid of Feminist Criticism? Who's Afraid of Biblical Humour? the Case of the Obtuse Foreign Ruler in the Hebrew Bible

Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Several foreign rulers (Egyptian, Moabite, Cannanite, Persian, 'Babylonian' and Israelite) are configured in the Hebrew Bible as obtuse. This paper explores the configuration from two perspectives: humour and feminist concerns. The foreign rulers are presented as ludicrous, with bitter humour bordering on malice and contempt for their (im)potence. Their reported inadequacy is satirized by scornful allusions to their maleness and male sexuality, at times also to their bodily functions. These rulers' ineptitude is negatively mirrored by their relations with women and the latter's smarter actions. The configuration discloses the political and gender ideologies it is grounded in. 'Foreign' means a threat; humour is an important weapon for the politically powerless. Females are inferior social agents, and their resourcefulness amplifies male (foreign) shortcomings.

The reading offered is corroborated by the exclusion of the offensive materials from Flavius Josephus's recounting of the relevant texts.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?