Indicting Yahweh: The Failure of Masculinity in Lamentations
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Cathleen Chopra-McGowan in
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Abstract
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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Indicting Yahweh: The Failure of Masculinity in Lamentations
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Cathleen Chopra-McGowan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
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.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 539 | 217 | 15 |
| Full Text Views | 47 | 12 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 188 | 37 | 0 |
