Computer Bible Study Group

Meeting

Meeting Topic

Meeting Time

Meeting Place

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Contact

RSVP Bob Radcliffe if you plan to attend

• tel: (914) 684-2669
• e-mail: rradc@att.net

Our Study Strategy and Methodology

• We will use the metaphor of a Proto-Drama to study the structure of a complete story in the "J" document,
• namely the Life and Death of Samson (Judges 13:2 to Judges 16:31a);
  • Introducing Themes:
    1. These 40 or more Themes are abstract concepts, similar to motifs in musical compositions.
    2. The Themes have been hand-annotated by me, and thus reflect my subjective judgement.
    3. Many were identified in "The Hidden Book in the Bible" as important, recurring stylistic features of the "J" text, which rarely appear in the works of the other authors.
    4. I have discovered other Themes in various commentaries.
    5. Let's look at the Themes I have annotated in the Samson's Riddle story:
       • the Nazarite vow
       • (apparent) drunkenness or a "merry heart" befuddled by alcohol consumption
       • the roles of advisors and advice, sometimes ignored
       • hospitality vs. xenophobia
       • deception, concealment, ambush, misinformation, embellishment, GOD's secret plan
       • disclosure of private information or revelation of something hidden
       • moral decisions contrasted with merely legal or customary actions
       • small decisions leading to big (even lethal) consequences, up to centuries later
       • pivotably proactive women (possibly contrasted with passive or accommodating men)
       • an unusual concern with articles of clothing or insignia
       • strange uses for animals or animal body parts
       • lax paternal oversight or parental favoritism
       • improper sexual behavior or "illegal" marriages, euphemistically described
       • dangerous (sacred) people, angels, places or things
       • socio-political use of food and drink
       • vulnerable outsider: sojourner, prisoner, hostage, captive, servant, spy, woman
       • (anachronistic) conflict with the Philistines
       • fear of or threat of death
       • disproportionate response
       • non-specific descriptions of violence
       • body parts (nostril, heel, bone, feet, womb, etc.)
  • Introducing Proto-Dramas:
    1. What do I mean by "Proto-Drama"? After all, Classical Greek Drama developed a century or more after this text was composed. Here I'm using a familiar metaphor to emphasize the hierarchical structural of the text, and it seems to fit well.
    2. Click here to open the Samson Proto-Drama Page.
    3. Your browser will open a new Proto-Drama window (Outline-only view).
    4. The outline has a Prologue, five Acts, and an Epilogue.
    5. There are 2 Interludes (Narration Asides) between Acts where a narrator relates something that occurs either "off-stage" or over an extended time period.
    6. The beginning and end of each Act is signaled by what I call textual "brackets", which we will discuss below.
    7. A new Scene begins within an Act when there is a change of time or place.
  • Proto-Drama outline with Themes:
    1. At the top of the page click on the button with Themes to change the view.
    2. Your browser will reopen the Proto-Drama window with a list of Themes annotated in each Scene.
    3. How are Themes distributed among the Scenes?
  • Proto-Drama outline with Themes and Text:
    1. Now click on the button with Themes & Text at the top of the page to change the view again.
    2. Read the entire Proto-Drama.
    3. Can you identify sets of words or phrases that appear both at the beginning and end of each Act, thus "bracketing" it?
  • Navigating to the Theme window:
    1. Click on the Theme the childless mother.
    2. Your browser will open a new Theme window; you should now have 3 open windows.
    3. This window shows all the Proto-Dramas that have been annotated with this particular Theme
  • Navigating to another Proto-Drama:
    1. Click on the Proto-Drama Samuel before Kingship. This will switch focus back to the Proto-Drama window with the new Proto-Drama.
    2. Read the Proto-Drama.
    3. Experiment with the view buttons at the top of the page.
    4. Do you see any similarities, especially of Themes, in the two Proto-Dramas?
    5. It might be helpful to print out the with Themes views of both Proto-Dramas to check off corresponding Themes.

Note on Web Pages

These web pages and the database behind them are "freshly minted" and I am constantly updating them. They are therefore likely to have bugs and typos. I apologize for that and ask for your indulgence and help in spotting and removing them. Please e-mail bug reports to me at rradc@att.net

Two books you might want to buy or browse online for this meeting

• The Hidden Book in the Bible: The Discovery of the First Prose Masterpiece by Richard Elliot Friedman (1999)
• David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman (2006)

Additional Internet Link for this meeting

• "Samson" in WikiPedia