Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter

The story of Jephthah and his daughter (Judg. 11:29–40) is a peculiar and problematic text. This article explores the question of the accountability for the sacrificial act with which the story culminates, and which provokes sharp disapproval in certain quarters, especially because of its gender bia...

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Autor principal:	Koci Katerina
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	De Gruyter 2021
Materias:	sacrifice judges 11:29–40 gender philosophical–theological interpretation rhetoric analysis jephthah’s daughter iphigenia in aulis genesis 22 Religion (General) BL1-50
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7e079da36451402da24cbed5d19055f1
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:7e079da36451402da24cbed5d19055f1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7e079da36451402da24cbed5d19055f12021-12-05T14:11:01ZWhose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter2300-657910.1515/opth-2020-0167https://doaj.org/article/7e079da36451402da24cbed5d19055f12021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2020-0167https://doaj.org/toc/2300-6579The story of Jephthah and his daughter (Judg. 11:29–40) is a peculiar and problematic text. This article explores the question of the accountability for the sacrificial act with which the story culminates, and which provokes sharp disapproval in certain quarters, especially because of its gender bias. Applying the hermeneutical framework of René Girard and his distinction between sacrifice in Greek mythology (divinity in charge) and sacrifice in Judeo-Christian revelation (everyone responsible for his/her actions), I investigate the question: Is Jephthah’s daughter a mute puppet in a drama staged by her tyrannical father, or perhaps fate, or is she rather a woman who is responsible for her own actions and accountable only to herself? The answer is twofold: she is a woman fully responsible for herself; however, the responsibility for her premature and violent death is shared by her father, herself, and the biblical author–redactor. After identifying Jephthah’s daughter as a person responsible for her own actions, I aim to overcome the dialectic of “the text of terror” (post-structuralist interpretation) and the search for “herstory” (neoliberal interpretation). I suggest that in her powerlessness against patriarchal tyranny, Jephthah’s daughter nonetheless exerts power and authority in condemning the existing power structures. Without approving any form of sacrifice, reading the story through a lens of powerful powerlessness can help us discern different forms of power and, ultimately, reject the aggression and violence that has dominated our world to this very day.Koci KaterinaDe Gruyterarticlesacrificejudges 11:29–40genderphilosophical–theological interpretationrhetoric analysisjephthah’s daughteriphigenia in aulisgenesis 22Religion (General)BL1-50ENOpen Theology, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 331-344 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	sacrifice judges 11:29–40 gender philosophical–theological interpretation rhetoric analysis jephthah’s daughter iphigenia in aulis genesis 22 Religion (General) BL1-50
spellingShingle	sacrifice judges 11:29–40 gender philosophical–theological interpretation rhetoric analysis jephthah’s daughter iphigenia in aulis genesis 22 Religion (General) BL1-50 Koci Katerina Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
description	The story of Jephthah and his daughter (Judg. 11:29–40) is a peculiar and problematic text. This article explores the question of the accountability for the sacrificial act with which the story culminates, and which provokes sharp disapproval in certain quarters, especially because of its gender bias. Applying the hermeneutical framework of René Girard and his distinction between sacrifice in Greek mythology (divinity in charge) and sacrifice in Judeo-Christian revelation (everyone responsible for his/her actions), I investigate the question: Is Jephthah’s daughter a mute puppet in a drama staged by her tyrannical father, or perhaps fate, or is she rather a woman who is responsible for her own actions and accountable only to herself? The answer is twofold: she is a woman fully responsible for herself; however, the responsibility for her premature and violent death is shared by her father, herself, and the biblical author–redactor. After identifying Jephthah’s daughter as a person responsible for her own actions, I aim to overcome the dialectic of “the text of terror” (post-structuralist interpretation) and the search for “herstory” (neoliberal interpretation). I suggest that in her powerlessness against patriarchal tyranny, Jephthah’s daughter nonetheless exerts power and authority in condemning the existing power structures. Without approving any form of sacrifice, reading the story through a lens of powerful powerlessness can help us discern different forms of power and, ultimately, reject the aggression and violence that has dominated our world to this very day.
format	article
author	Koci Katerina
author_facet	Koci Katerina
author_sort	Koci Katerina
title	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
title_short	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
title_full	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
title_fullStr	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
title_full_unstemmed	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter
title_sort	whose story? which sacrifice? on the story of jephthah’s daughter
publisher	De Gruyter
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7e079da36451402da24cbed5d19055f1
work_keys_str_mv	AT kocikaterina whosestorywhichsacrificeonthestoryofjephthahsdaughter
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Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter

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