Ancestral Queerness: Normativity and Deviance in the Abraham and Sarah Narratives
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University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 Ancestral Queerness: Normativity and Deviance in the Abraham and Sarah Narratives Gil Rosenberg University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Rosenberg, Gil, "Ancestral Queerness: Normativity and Deviance in the Abraham and Sarah Narratives" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1281. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1281 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. ANCESTRAL QUEERNESS: NORMATIVITY AND DEVIANCE IN THE ABRAHAM AND SARAH NARRATIVES __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Gil Rosenberg June 2017 Advisor: Mark K. George ©Copyright by Gil Rosenberg 2017 All Rights Reserved Author: Gil Rosenberg Title: ANCESTRAL QUEERNESS: NORMATIVITY AND DEVIANCE IN THE ABRAHAM AND SARAH NARRATIVES Advisor: Mark K. George Degree Date: June 2017 ABSTRACT Interpreters of the Abraham and Sarah narratives in Gen 11–21 often focus on the importance of the line of inheritance, through a particular biological child. While they also note the many irregularities in Abraham and Sarah’s familial relationships and activities, there has been no sustained attention to the combination of deviance and normativity that characterizes these narratives. I argue that, due to their particular combinations of normativity and deviance, Abraham and Sarah are Queer, where Queer is a general, cross-cultural category which includes but is not limited to contemporary forms of queerness (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, etc.). Using a comparative method drawn from Jonathan Z. Smith, I compare Abraham and Sarah’s narratives to stories of contemporary queer families and other queer resources. This comparison allows me to suggest initial descriptions of the larger Queer category, and to argue that both Abraham and Sarah and contemporary queer families are examples of Queerness: (1) Queers often pass. (2) Queerness involves legitimate alternatives to familial norms. (3) Resistance to norms of reproduction constitutes evidence of Queerness. (4) Queerness is often represented as inverted tragedy. (5) Queer people with ethnic and/or class privilege can sometimes use that privilege to achieve greater inclusion into normativity. In addition to and in support of this overarching argument, this dissertation makes several more specific contributions to the interpretation of the Abraham and Sarah ii narratives. I offer new interpretations of (1) the reasons for Abraham and Sarah’s passing as siblings in Gen 12 and 20 (because of deviance in their marriage), (2) the complications of Abraham’s strategies for obtaining an heir in Gen 15, 16, and 21 (they are legitimate alternatives to the norm), (3) the reasons for Sarah’s childlessness (she chose to be childless), (4) Sarah’s response to Isaac’s conception and birth in Gen 18 and 21 (it represents “inverted tragedy”), and (5) the relationship between Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in Gen 16 and 21 (Abraham and Sarah use their class and ethnic privilege to pursue greater normativity). iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to my adviser, Mark K. George, for consistently supporting my habits of nonconventional interpretation, for suggesting end elucidating key directions in my research and writing (most notably Smith’s comparative method), and for flexibly accommodating the additional challenges created by advising me from a distance. The other members of my committee, Amy Erickson and W. Scott Howard, similarly handled my distance with grace. Thanks are due also to the librarians at both Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver, especially Katie Fisher, Emily Tormey, and Michelle Kyner, for packing and receiving countless boxes of books on my behalf. I thank Mark Brummitt and Wendy Fambro, early guides in my biblical interpretation, for freeing me to read in the nonconventional ways that seemed appropriate to me but to which I had not previously been exposed. They showed me that paths had already been created in the directions toward which I was oriented. I am acutely aware of, and continually grateful for, the financial and temporal privileges which my family has afforded me. Leon and Barbara Rosenberg have supported me in many ways, financially and emotionally, through my long and circuitous academic careers. Anna, Kaiya, and Harper Rosenberg tolerated the sacrifices of time and money that were required to complete this dissertation with an appropriate mixture of cheerfulness and good-hearted teasing. Anna several times encouraged me to finish when I considered abandoning the project, despite the fact that her life would clearly be better without this dissertation in it. For her selflessness in this case and many others, I am thankful beyond words. iv ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible BA Biblical Archaeologist BAR Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BDB Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament BSC Bible Student’s Commentary BT The Bible Translator CBC Cambridge Bible Commentary CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CurTM Currents in Theology and Mission DCH The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Edited by David J.A. Clines. 9 vols. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoneix Press, 1993–2014 FCB Feminist Companion to the Bible FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature GELS A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. Takamitsu Muraoka. Leuven: Peeters, 2009 HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann J. Stamm. Translated and edited under the supervision of Mervyn E. J. Richardson. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994– 1999 HR History of Religions ICC International Critical Commentary ITC International Theological Commentary JBL Journal of Biblical Literature v JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament NCB New Century Bible NIBCOT New International Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NRSV New Revised Standard Version OTL Old Testament Library RIDA Revue international des droits de l’antique SBL Society of Biblical Literature SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by John T. Willis et al. 15 vols. Rand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974–2006 TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries TynBul Tyndale Bulletin VT Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Commentary ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Identifying Queerness in an Ancient Text: Comparison......................................... 4 Comparative Queerness ............................................................................ 12 The Comparison Begins ........................................................................................ 21 Modern and Ancient Norms.................................................................................. 24 Heteronormativity ..................................................................................... 25 Identifying Biblical Norms ....................................................................... 26 Gaps ...................................................................................................................... 28 Queer, but not Same-Sex ...................................................................................... 35 Queer Heterosexuality .............................................................................. 38 Queer Sociality.......................................................................................... 41 Chapter Two: Passing ....................................................................................................... 47 Description: The Wife-Sister Stories .................................................................... 48 Genesis 12 ................................................................................................. 49 The Passing of Genesis 20 ........................................................................ 51 Passing Problems ...................................................................................... 53 Description: Contemporary Queer Passing ........................................................... 64 Hillary Goodridge ..................................................................................... 65 Alice and Soulla ........................................................................................ 67 Married Bisexual and Polyamorous Women ............................................ 68 Polyfamilies at School .............................................................................. 69 Comparison of Genesis 12 and 20 with