King Solomon's Whiteness: King James and The
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KING SOLOMON’S WHITENESS: KING JAMES AND THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN by Ron Michael Serino Bachelor of Arts, 1993 Emory University Atlanta, GA Master of Divinity, 1996 Union Theological Seminary New York, NY Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Brite Divinity School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biblical Interpretation Fort Worth, TX December 2016 KING SOLOMON’S WHITENESS: KING JAMES AND THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE: Timothy Sandoval_________________________________ Dissertation Director Claudia Camp____________________________________ Reader Vincent Wimbush_________________________________ Reader Jeffrey Williams__________________________________ Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Joretta Marshall___________________________________ Dean WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. 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Serino All rights reserved CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...............................................................................................................v ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1 KING JAMES, “GREAT BRITAIN’S SOLOMON”.............................................1 Overview......................................................................................................1 Methodological and Hermeneutical Lenses: Postcolonial Biblical Criticism, Critical Race Theory, Biblical Reception History, and Cultural Criticism.................................................................................10 Contributions of Dissertation.....................................................................16 Overview of Following Chapters...............................................................19 CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL, LITERARY, AND IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF JAMES AS SOLOMON AND THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS...................................................23 The Early Modern Context of Jacobean Britain........................................23 Contexts and Significance of Primary Texts and Authors.........................31 The Importance of the Early Seventeenth Century in the Process of the Scripturalization of Whiteness: Ideological and Political Influences on Biblical Interpretation..........................................................................50 CHAPTER 3 THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS: THE INFLUENCE OF THE RISE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE..................................................................60 Religion and the Rise of the British Empire..............................................60 Biblical Sanctification in the Imperialist Ideology of King James: The Quest for Ophirian Gold from the Mines of King Solomon................67 CHAPTER 4 THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS: ENGLISH EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF RACE.................104 Introduction..............................................................................................104 iii God’s Chosen (and Unchosen) People: English Exceptionalism and the Construction of Racial Whiteness......................................................106 The Combination of Color Symbolism with Exceptionalism in the Construction of Whiteness.................................................................133 From Womb to Tomb: Racial Essentialism in the Context of Empire— White Racism and the “White Man’s Burden”..................................151 Conclusion...............................................................................................157 CHAPTER 5 THE SCRIPTURALIZATION OF WHITENESS: THE INFLUENCE OF CHANGING EPISTEMOLOGY ON BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION.....158 Introduction..............................................................................................158 The Role of Protestant Biblical Literalism: From Allegory to Typology160 The Role of Proto-Individualism: “Authorizing” Individual Authority..167 The Role of Empiricism: Claiming Objectivity, Impartiality, and Universality........................................................................................172 Literalist, Individualist, Empiricist Biblical Typologies: The Multiple Personalities of Late Pre-Critical Interpretation................................176 Solomon as a White Imperialist: King James as Divinely Chosen Davidic Messiah, Divinely Authorized British Imperialist, and Divinely Inspired Biblical Author....................................................................180 Conclusion...............................................................................................192 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................194 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................198 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I stand on the shoulders of giants and alongside many gracious souls. My greatest thanks for many personal sacrifices during the production of this work go to my family, Elizabeth, Michael, and Anthony, and to my parents, Robert and Linda. Thanks also go to my sister, Amy, to all our families, and to the scholarly colleagues and personal friends who have made the journey bearable. For guidance during my doctoral work, thanks go to Timothy Sandoval, Claudia Camp, Keri Day, David Gunn, Ariel Feldman, Joretta Marshall, Warren Carter, Francisco Lozada, Namsoon Kang, Wil Gafney, Shelly Matthews, Toni Craven, Leo Perdue, and the faculty and staff of Brite Divinity School and Texas Christian University. I give thanks for friends and mentors at Union Theological Seminary in New York who laid the foundations of my current thought, many of whom have provided ongoing support: Vincent Wimbush, Jennifer Harvey, Phyllis Trible, Edwina Hunter, George Landes, Michael Patrick O’Connor, James Cone, Beverly Harrison, Larry Rasmussen, and Delores Williams. To the communities associated with First Congregational United Church of Christ in St. Louis and Meeting Ground (Clairvaux Farm) in Maryland, thank you for all you have taught me in our ministries together. Last but not least thanks go to my classmates at Emory University and to the people of Second Baptist Church and White Station High School in Memphis, all of whom play roles in the direction of my thoughts and being. Thank you all. v ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman, et al. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992 ABS Archaeology and Biblical Studies ANE Ancient Near East AOTC Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries BDB Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1983 BI Biblical Interpretation BibInt Biblical Interpretation Series BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Contemplations Joseph Hall. Contemplations upon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie. 8 vols. London: Nathaniel Butler, 1612-26 CRT Critical Race Theory DCH Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Edited by David J. A. Clines. 9 vols. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993-2016 EEBO Early English Books Online. http://eebo.chadwyck.com FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann Jakob Stamm. Translated and edited under the supervision of M. E. J. Richardson. 5 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994-2000 Heb. Hebrew HB Hebrew Bible vi HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching IEJ Israel Exploration Journal JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series JSTOR www.jstor.org KJV King James Version LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies LXX Septuagint MT Masoretic Text NIB The New Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by Leander E. Keck. 12 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 1994-2004 NRSV New Revised Standard Version NT New Testament OED Oxford English Dictionary. www.oed.com OT Old Testament OTL Old Testament Library Paraphrase Joseph Hall. An Open and Plaine Paraphrase, upon the Song of Songs, which is Salomons. London: 1609. Reprinted in Hall, Solomon’s Divine Arts Pilgrimage Samuel Purchas. Purchas His Pilgrimage or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in all Ages and places Discovered, from the Creation unto this Present. London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1626 (STC 205085). EEBO vii Pilgrimes Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus