| dc.description.abstract | Throughout the centuries, there has proven to be a lack of scholarly interest in the study of strictly literary devices found in the Bible. Generally, analyses of the Bible are centered on source criticism, biblical theology, or historical backgrounds. Literary criticism is an established, respected, and frequently used form of analysis among scholars of literary works. However, though it has been rendered as a valid and acceptable tool of analyzing works by such authors as Homer, Shakespeare, and Dante, it has traditionally been labeled as an unacceptable method of studying a book many hold to be sacred. Thus, scholars have either ignored the literary criticism technique or used the term only after distorting its meaning. Therefore, there has been and still remains a serious absence of knowledge involving the employment of literary devices in the most widely read book throughout the world.
Due to this lack of literary analysis, the field is ripe for a serious examination of how paradox is subtly interwoven in Genesis. I have regarded this book as one unit purposely written in the form we observe today. Because this is a literary analysis, neither the documentary hypothesis nor the historical accuracy of the text are considered in the presented research. Though the documentary hypothesis could sufficiently explain why certain paradoxes exist, it is incompatible to a strictly literal study of the text and so will be disregarded from this study. Instead, Genesis will be analyzed just as any other ordinary piece of literary work would be analyzed. In addition, the focus of the paper is not to deal with biblical theology. However, because biblical theology is a difficult subject matter to escape, there may be some elements of it throughout the paper.
The definition of paradox deals with several elements. To begin with, paradox depicts a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd yet is understood as expressing a truth. For example, though Joseph says that it is God who sent him to Egypt and not his brothers, he contradicts his words by punishing them for the role they played in his enslavement, a role he says was preapproved of by God (chapter 45). Absurdity or unbelief is aroused when one reads how Cain, cursed for his disobedience to God, actually appears to be blessed by God when he becomes the ancestor of the arts and sciences (chapter 4). Paradox also refers to a person, situation, act, etc., that seems to have contradictory or inconsistent qualities. For example, though God describes Abraham as a man of faith, Abraham often shows a lack of faith through such incidents as laughing in disbelief at God's words and giving Sarah away to men because he fears death (chapter 12, 17, 20). Thus, by employing these factors, paradox can be applied to a wide variety of issues and can deal with subjects ranging from God to man to word and deed.
Because paradox is so prevalent in Genesis, it is not possible for a paper of this small size to cover all instances of the use of this particular literary device. To begin with, this paper does not contain a detailed analysis of the theological implications of paradoxical situations. For example, the God depicted in Genesis is not compared to the God of the New Testament. Though many paradoxes arise when comparing the Old Testament God to the New Testament God, Christian ideology along with its implications has been omitted from the following research due to the limited scope of this research project. Secondly, this paper also lacks a discussion of paradoxes in relation to later texts. For example, unlike in Revelation 12:9, Genesis never refers to the serpent in the Garden of Eden as Satan. The paradoxes involved in considering the serpent to be just an animal are quite different then the paradoxes involved in considering the serpent to be Satan. If the text in Genesis was compared to other books in the bible, different paradoxes and implications would arise. Thirdly, paradoxical names and terminology found in English translations of the text are not included due to the fact that what may be considered a paradox in English may not be a paradox in Hebrew and vice versa. Fourthly, small, individual paradoxes which have no bearing on the larger picture have also been eliminated in order to maintain the flow of the paper.
Thus, the focus of the paper has been narrowed to include two main elements. First of all, in Genesis, the literary device of paradox illuminates words and actions by God that appear to be imperfect or ambiguous. Secondly, paradox elucidates the numerous instances in which God's favored people practice questionable attitudes and behaviors towards both their own people and people outside God's favor. | en |
