How Are the Mighty Fallen?: A Dialogical Study of King Saul in 1 Samuel

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A&C Black, Jun 1, 2003 - Religion - 432 pages
This book marries the several elements: a given text (1 Samuel), a focal character (King Saul), a spacious and creative theorist (Mikhail Bakhtin), a historical context (the collapse of monarchic Israel and the moment for return. The dilemma for the exile community is to return with royal leadership or without it); a reading challenge is: can a character be a cipher for a corporate experience (Saul represent the whole monarchic experience)? The author argues that the narrative of 1 Samuel may be read as a riddle propounding the complex story of Israel/Judah's experience with kings as an instruction for those pondering leadership choices in the sixth century. The work is an extended reflection on what went wrong with kings and why new leadership must be attempted. The extended riddle of Saul works to show how the life of the king is fundamentally destructive, not because any is malicious but because of many factors of weakness and inadequacy that will be familiar to readers.

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Contents

Introduction
1
GENRE CONSIDERATIONS AND 1 SAMUEL 13
55
CHRONOTOPIC REPRESENTATION OF THE ARK 1 SAMUEL 47
116
THE AUTHORING OF A KING AND A HERO 1 SAMUEL 812
163
THE FIRING OF KING SAUL 1 SAMUEL 1315
223
SAULS DISCOURSES OF DESIRE 1 SAMUEL 1619
262
PURSUIT AND ESCAPE SURPLUS AND SURVIVAL 1 SAMUEL 2023
323
LOOPHOLE LANGUAGE AND THE STALKING OF SAUL 1 SAMUEL 2426
367
THE DEATH OF KING SAUL AND THE ARCHITECTONICS OF HIS CHARACTERIZATION 1 SAMUEL 272 SAMUEL 1
411
CONCLUSION
447
Bibliography
468
Index of References
481
Index of Authors
490
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About the author (2003)

Barbara Green is Professor of Biblical Studies at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley.

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