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"Now These Things Happened As Examples for Us" (1 Cor. 10:6):The Biblical-Narrative Depiction of Human Sinfulness Stephen Frederick Jenks Marquette University

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Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects "now These Things Happened As Examples For Us" (1 Cor. 10:6):the Biblical-Narrative Depiction Of Human Sinfulness Stephen Frederick Jenks Marquette University Recommended Citation Jenks, Stephen Frederick, ""now These Things Happened As Examples For Us" (1 Cor. 10:6):the Biblical-Narrative Depiction Of Human Sinfulness" (2014). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 348. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/348 “NOW THESE THINGS HAPPENED AS EXAMPLES FOR US” (1 COR. 10:6): THE BIBLICAL-NARRATIVE DEPICTION OF HUMAN SINFULNESS by Stephen F. Jenks, B.A., M.Div., Th.M. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2014 ABSTRACT “NOW THESE THINGS HAPPENED AS EXAMPLES FOR US” (1 COR. 10:6): THE BIBLICAL-NARRATIVE DEPICTION OF HUMAN SINFULNESS Stephen F. Jenks, B.A., M.Div., Th.M. Marquette University, 2014 For several decades voices from various sectors of Christianity have decried the loss of compelling language for sin. The atrophying of sin language is of no small moment due to the organic connection between theological loci. Sin talk relates to salvation-talk, human-talk, and Christ-talk. Further, the loss of compelling sin language threatens to silence the church’s voice in the culture. Both classic and contemporary theologies of sin, pursuing the essentialist methods of the past, attempt to define sin and derive the fullness of the doctrine of sin from these distillations. However, many of these renderings of sin are insufficiently attentive to the importance of narrative modes of thought in theologizing. Specifically, they often almost completely ignore the witness of the biblical narrative—both individual narratives and the Bible’s overall narrative structure. Furthermore, they tend to appropriate the narratives, and especially the narrative of the fall in Genesis 3, in ways that actually subvert the narratives’ narrativity through historicizing, mythologizing, and decontextualizing. They therefore provide thin descriptions of the human condition and consequently offer distorted depictions of redemption, humanity, and the divine-human relationship. These patterns can be seen in both feminist theologies that build their definitions of sin from particular views of the human and evangelical theology which derive their definition from biblical propositions. In this dissertation we seek to begin to offer a narrative theology of sin by providing a reading of Genesis 1-11 that attends to its literary character and seeks to identify the reference point for sin and discern its development in the narrative. We will discover that both the reference point for sin and the axis of its development relates to the depiction of the human as the imago dei. We will conclude by demonstrating that indexing the doctrine of sin to a narratively construed imago dei offers a more robust language for sin and in particular, offers a more natural bridge to Christ. Indeed, in the story of redemption, Christ becomes the ultimate reference point for describing sin. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Stephen F. Jenks, B.A., M.Div., Th.M. A degree that takes a decade and a dissertation that takes half of that guarantees a host of debts and dependents. It would be impossible to name all those who have cared, inquired and prayed for me during my education. I am grateful to the leadership and congregations of two churches for their support throughout the entire doctoral process: to Racine Bible Church for giving space for a young thinker to teach and grow, and to Union Christian Church for patience with their pastor during months of divided attention. I am thankful for several instructors who have shaped me as a thinker and a minister: Paul Feinberg, John Feinberg, Kevin Vanhoozer, William Kurz, Mickey Mattox, readers D. Stephen Long and Sharon Pace, and my advisor, Lyle Dabney. I give thanks for a series of conversation partners who have accompanied me along my educational journey and at various moments confirmed, refined, and rebutted my thinking: Joe Thomas, Eric Tully, Darien Bowers, Keith Kenyon, Tim Moore, Kent Millen, Paul Cady, Jon Jenks, Phil Skoglund, Yervant Kutchukian, Tim Decker, and Morgan Gravley. I thank my parents, Peter and Mary Lou Jenks, for the love and support that they have shown in so many ways throughout my life and education. To Ellyn for making sure I got enough study breaks for play. And to Debbie, my patient companion, who is herself an example to me of the image of Christ. Sine qua non. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: SIN AND NARRATIVES IN THEOLOGY 1 Defining Sin 3 Problems with Defining Sin 5 Two Examples: Evangelical and Feminist Theology 6 Sin in Evangelical Theology 6 Sin in Feminist Theology 9 Definitions of Sin and Theological Epistemology 12 Narrative and Theology 14 The Narrative Turn 14 Story and System 15 Story and Self 17 Types of Narrative Theology 19 Critiques of Narrative Theology 21 Narrative and Beyond 24 Narrative and Drama 25 Narrative in Evangelical and Feminist Theology 26 Evangelicals and Narrative Theology 27 Feminists and Narrative Theology 29 Narrative and Biblical Studies 30 Biblical Narrative Studies 30 iii The Nature of Biblical Narrative 31 Narrative Coherence and Typology 33 Evangelical Theology and Biblical Narrative 34 Feminist Theology and Biblical Narrative 35 Summary 37 Stories of Sin, Self and the Savior: The Scope and Direction of this Project 40 The Structure of the Argument 41 Critique of Non-narratival Theologies of Sin 41 Narratives of Sin and the Narrativity of Sin 44 The Limits of this Study 45 Relationship to Recent Studies 47 2 SIN, SELF, AND STORY IN THE FEMINIST THEOLOGY OF MARY DALY AND RITA NAKASHIMA BROCK 51 Sin, Self, and Story in the Theology of Mary Daly 57 Mary Daly’s Methodology and Anthropology 58 Mary Daly’s Theology of Sin 60 Defining Sin 60 Original Sin 62 Noetic Effects of the Fall 63 Total Depravity 64 The “Fall” 64 Applying the Definition 65 Mary Daly and Biblical Narrative 68 iv Mary Daly and Genesis 3–11 70 Sin, Self, and Story in Mary Daly: Summary 71 Sin, Self, and Story in the Theology of Rita Nakashima Brock 72 Rita Nakashima Brock’s Theological Methodology and Epistemology 74 Rita Nakashima Brock’s Theology of Sin 78 Rita Nakashima Brock and Scripture 81 Rita Nakashima Brock and Genesis 3–11 82 Sin, Self, and Story in Rita Nakashima Brock: Summary 84 Mary Daly and Rita Nakashima Brock on Sin: Strengths and Weaknesses 85 Sin and Being Human 86 Mary Daly’s Self-Naming Self 87 Rita Nakashima Brock’s Relational Self 89 The Explanatory Value 91 The Story of Sin 92 Epistemology 92 Feminist Theology, Story and History 93 Past, Present, or Future Self? 96 Sin and the Biblical Story 100 Reading into the Narrative 100 Narratival Selectivity 102 A Story with No Ending 104 Content without Context 108 Sin and the Stories of Genesis 110 v Interpretational Tools 111 Storied Relationship 111 Conclusion: Sin, Self, and Story 114 3 SIN, SCRIPTURE, AND STORY IN THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OF WAYNE GRUDEM AND MARGUERITE SHUSTER 116 Sin, Scripture, and Story in the Theology of Wayne Grudem 121 Wayne Grudem and Feminist Theology 121 Wayne Grudem, Scripture and Theology 123 Wayne Grudem’s Theology of Sin 124 Defining Sin 125 Sin and Genesis 3–11 127 Wayne Grudem on Sin: Summary 129 Sin, Scripture, and Story in the Theology of Marguerite Shuster 130 Marguerite Shuster and Feminist Theology 131 The Imitation of Christ 131 Sin and Gender 132 Feminist Definitions of Sin 134 Marguerite Shuster, Scripture and Theology 135 Marguerite Shuster’s Theology of Sin 136 Genesis 3–11 in Marguerite Shuster’s Theology of Sin 137 The Fall, Historicity, and Narrativity 138 The Covenant Context 140 Reading Strategies 141 Marguerite Shuster on Sin: Summary 144 vi Wayne Grudem and Marguerite Shuster on Sin: Strengths and Weaknesses 144 Defining Sin 145 Sin and Humanity 145 Sin and Salvation 146 Sin and Christ 147 Sin and Society 148 Sin, the Narratives, and Narrativity 150 Decontextualization 150 Historicization 151 Story and Illustration 152 Story and Eschatology 154 Escaping the Story 155 Conclusion: Sin, Scripture, and Story 157 4 STORIES OF SIN: THE NARRATIVE DEPICTION OF SIN IN GENESIS 1–11 159 Genesis 1–11 in its Literary Context 160 The Role of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Genesis 160 The Toledot Formula 161 Theme and Focus 163 The Role of Genesis 1–11 in the Pentateuch 166 The Structure of Genesis 1–11 and the Structure of the Pentateuch 166 The Theme of Genesis 1–11 and the Theme of the Pentateuch 167 vii Thematic and Typological Foreshadowing 168 The Narrative Character of Genesis 1–11 169 Poetic Structure, Narrative Effect 170 Narrative Time and Characterization 171 Plot Structure 173 Obstacles to Unity 176 Summary: The Theological Unity of Genesis 1:1–11:26 179 A Narrative-Attentive Reading of Sin in Genesis 1–11 179 Genesis 1–2 - The Narrative Background 181 The Setting 182 The Characters 184 The Plot 188 Summary 190 Genesis 3:1–24 – Fall and Fallout 190 The Narrative Context 191 The Narrative 192 The Narrative’s Depiction of Sin 196 Genesis 4:1–26 – Mounting Violence 202 The Narrative Context 203 The Narrative 206 The Narrative’s Depiction of Sin 208 The Narrative Aftermath 214 Summary 215 viii Genesis 5:1–32 – Genealogy of Grace 215 Genesis 6:1–8 – Cosmic Chaos 216 The Narrative 217 The Narrative’s Depiction
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