Indicting Yahweh: The Failure of Masculinity in Lamentations
In this essay, I argue that attention to “gender” in Lamentations has disproportionately focused on the figuration of Jerusalem as woman, and neglected to note the corresponding framework of royal masculinity that underlies the selection of feminizing images and tropes in the work. In making this ar...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Biblical interpretation
Year: 2024, Volume: 32, Issue: 5, Pages: 467-497 |
| Further subjects: | B
royal achievement narrative
B Masculinity B Literary Analysis B Lamentations B Genre B Kingship |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this essay, I argue that attention to “gender” in Lamentations has disproportionately focused on the figuration of Jerusalem as woman, and neglected to note the corresponding framework of royal masculinity that underlies the selection of feminizing images and tropes in the work. In making this argument, I also suggest that the lament genre is best understood as an indictment of failure and identification of discontinuity. Once we reframe the genre in this way, it becomes clear that Lamentations draws on, if only to invert, the framework of ancient Near Eastern royal achievement narratives, in order to diagnose Yahweh’s actions as failing to meet the standards of royal masculinity. I thereby suggest that Lamentations stands as an anti-achievement narrative of royal, male, power. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-20241799 |