Irony and meaning in the Hebrew Bible - Sharp, Carolyn J. (Indiana University Press, 2009)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-347) and index
Interpreting irony : rhetorical, hermeneutical, and theological possibilities -- Irony and contemporary methodological debates -- Method : multiaxial cartography -- Leaving the garden : the wisdom of irony -- 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 -- The prostitute as icon of the ironic gaze -- Tamar the righteous -- Rahab the clever -- Jael the bold -- Gomer the beloved -- Ruth the loyal -- 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 -- "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 -- Conclusion -- Irony and scriptural signifying -- Leaving the garden again : new beginnings
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 dev