Full Description
This text discusses how the characterization of Saul shows that kingship failed, why it did, and how the institution would need to be ended. It marries the following elements: a given text (1 Samuel), a focal character (King Saul), a spacious and creative theorist (Mikhail Bakhtin) and a historical context (the collapse of monarchic Israel and the moment for return. The dilemma for the exile community is to return with royal leadership or without it). The text poses the question of whether a character can be a cipher for a corporate experience - does Saul represent the whole monarchic experience? The thesis of the work is that Israel's first king is authored in such a way that the narrative of 1 Samuel may be read as a riddle propounding the complex story of Israel/Judah's experience with kings as an instruction for those pondering leadership choices in the sixth century. The work is an extended reflection on what went wrong with kings and why new leadership must be attempted.
The extended riddle of Saul works to show how the life of the king is fundamentally destructive, not because he is malicious, but because of many factors of weakness and inadequacy that should be familiar to readers.
Contents
Introduction; 1. The Deuteronomistic History and Historian; 2. Introduction to Mikhail Bakhtin; 3. Biblical Spirituality: Situated and Transformative Reading; Chapter 1; 'A Different Clay': Genre Considerations And 1 Samuel 1-3; 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Genre; 3. Biblical Genre Considerations; 4. Polzin on Genre; 5. Bakhtin on Utterance; 6. My Procedure; 7. Exposition of Text: A Performance in Two Acts; 8. Conclusions; Chapter 2; Looking Lethal: Chronotopic Representation Of The Ark (1 Samuel 4-7); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Chronotope; 3. Polzin's Contribution; 4. My Procedure and Thesis; 5. Exposition of Text; 6. Conclusions; Chapter 3; Saul's Skin: The Authoring Of A King And Hero (1 Samuel 8-12); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Authoring; 3. Poizin's Contribution; 4. Authoring a King(ship); 5. Summary and Conclusions; Chapter 4; Incapacity For Answerability: The Firing Of King Saul (1 Samuel 13-15); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Answerability; 3. Polzin's Contribution; 4. Setting Saul's Answerability; 5. Exposition of Text; 6. Conclusions; Chapter 5; At The Edge: Saul's Discourses Of Desire (1 Samuel 16-19); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Discourse; 3. Bakhtin on Polyphony; 4. Polzin's Contribution; 5. My Plan; 6. Exposition of Text; 7. Conclusions; Chapter 6; 'Only I Am Left To Tell The Tale': Pursuit And Escape, Surplus And Survival (1 Samuel 20-23); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Surplus of Seeing; 3. Polzin's Contribution; 4. My Thesis; 5. Exposition of Text; 6. Conclusions; Chapter 7; Slung From The Hollow Of A Sling: Loophole Language And The Stalking Of Saul (1 Samuel 24-26); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Loophole; 3. Polzin's Contribution; 4. My Procedure and Thesis; 5. Exposition of Text; 6. Conclusions; Chapter 8; How The Mighty Fell: The Death Of King Saul And The Architectonics Of His Characterization (1 Samuel 27-2 Samuel 1); 1. Point of Entry; 2. Bakhtin on Architectonics; 3. Polzin's Contribution; 4. My Procedure and Thesis; 5. Exposition of Text; 6. Conclusions; A Conclusion; 1. Preliminary Considerations; 2. God-Linked Discourse in 1 Samuel; 3. How Are the Mighty Fallen?; 4. 'How Can This Help Us?'
