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" Of Beasts and Men: "
Seufert, Michael J.
Bosworth, David A.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1104581
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2239955438
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| Main Entry
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Bosworth, David A.
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Seufert, Michael J.
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| Title & Author
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Of Beasts and Men:\ Seufert, Michael J.Bosworth, David A.
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| College
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The Catholic University of America
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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365
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| Abstract
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The poetic portion of Genesis 49 (vv. 2–27) is Jacob’s final address to his twelve sons, traditionally designated as “Jacob’s Blessing.” In the course of his speech, Jacob designates six of his sons animals. Thus far, form criticism has offered the only explanation for the consistency of animal designations. Following the work of Hugo Gressmann and Hermann Gunkel, form criticism has identified the individual addresses as “tribal sayings,” a genre entailing short and previously independent sayings praising or shaming the addressee. A central feature of this genre, as the theory goes, is animal imagery. Recent scholarship, however, has questioned the legitimacy of the genre for the Old Testament. Additionally, given the methodological commitments of form-criticism, the animal presence in the poem has not been evaluated in light of the book of Genesis as a whole. This dissertation seeks to address the under-attended feature of animal presence in Gen 49:2–27. Following an introductory chapter, which surveys the types of interests which have traditionally guided evaluation of Genesis 49, I present the interests of animal studies, ANE iconography, and conceptual blending theory in chapter 2, as lenses through which the roles and significance of animals in Genesis may be evaluated as relevant for the poem in Genesis 49. Chapters 3 presents animals as co-actors alongside human beings and co-participants in the deterioration of creation’s state, from ordered and good to chaotic and under judgment. Chapter 4 highlights animal depictions of the “other” in Genesis (Cain, Nimrod, Ishmael, and Esau), significant secondary characters in the narrative, and the consistent theme of hostility and violence characterizing these figures. Chapter 5 turns to the animals in Genesis 49, attending to the significance of the specific animals and the details of the poem suggesting a negative evaluation of the addressees. The designation of the sons as animals in Genesis 49 carries a more negative evaluative aspect than has been previously recognized. The presence of this negative evaluation alongside elements of positive blessing in the addresses combines to generate an ambivalence, which, while discouraging with reference to the state of the family, serves to properly orient God’s human servants toward Yhwh, the source of Israel’s life and hope (Gen 49:18).
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Biblical studies
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