Reliable Characters in the Primary History: Profiles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha
By (Author) Paul J. Kissling
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Sheffield Academic Press
1st May 1996
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts
221.922
Hardback
220
494g
This volume challenges the assumptions that modern readers tend to make about four of the Hebrew Bible's most prominent heroes. Using a form of reader-response theory, Kissling examines the assumption that these characters are primary vehicles of the narrator's point of view. In three of the four cases it is concluded that traditional idealistic assumptions do not do justice to the textual evidence in its final form. The work calls upon the reader to consider the subtlety of the means used in portraying these heroes and gives evidence for the decidedly negative aspects in their portrayals.
Paul Kissling is Professor of Old Testament at Great Lakes Christian College, Lansing, Michigan.