Aetiology in the Service of Old Testament Literature: A Study of Jacoban Narrative in Gen. 32
- Author Luke E. Ugwueye
- Co-Author Alex A. Ihemekwala
- DOI
- Country : Nigeria
- Subject : Religion & Human Relations
Keywords : Aetiology, service, Old Testament, narrative and literature
Abstract
Old Testament criticism has grown to see literature as a veritable mediating channel of Hebrew historical documentation. Literature, obviously carries with it history and hope of a people. Among many genres of literature evident in the Hebrew Scripture is aetiology, sometimes rendered as ‘etiology’. It is the study of cause, set of causes or manner of causation and origination. Traces of origins encompassing history and mythical explanations are seen here and there in the Hebrew Scripture. Here literary dynamics employed the services of aetiology to untie the mysterious events of the past to articulate the enigmatic interactions between divinity and humanity. Aetiological genres in the Hebrew Bible are demonstrated through myth, legend, cult, saga and theophanies. They immensely add to the rich colouration of the literature of the scripture. Jacoban narrative in Genesis 32 is used in this paper to demonstrate these roles of aetiology in the Hebrew sacred writ. The work posits that the essence of religious literature could be truncated when rationality and sentimentality are confused or mingled with Spirituality in the explanation of aetiological passages without applying aetiological gizmo of reading. The aetiology of this passage, like any other religious literature, elicits from its readers constructive transformation that originates and flows directly from God for the endless burgeoning of enduring moral values for rebuilding our relationships and the entire society.
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