See me! Hear me! : divine/human relational dialogue in Genesis

Abstract

"The aim of this thesis is to examine instances of relational dialogue between the Deity and human individuals in the book of Genesis by separating the conversations from the narrative through lines that most often inform biblical analysis. Instead of watching a movie complete with music, chase sequences and explosions I am interested in those snapshots of character developed in what is called a two-shot – when everything else is pushed to the background and face to face dialogue takes center stage. Through this line of inquiry, I will develop a model of Divine/human dialogue that will then inform a model of the Divine/human relationship...

From the methodology and definitions of chapter 1 we have determined how to study Divine/human relational dialogue and the elements to be considered within the conversations of Genesis. Before an examination of these elements can be conducted, however, we must first justify the circumstances surrounding these conversations, extricate them from the adjacent narratives and then identify their narrative structure. For this purpose chapter 2 of this thesis will look at the situation of each dialogue in light of the following criteria. First will be the dialogue’s setting within literature; where the conversation falls within the structure of the book as a whole. Following this will be observations of the dialogue’s setting within the narrative; what comes immediately before and after the conversation. There will be a thorough discussion of the scholarly parameters of the narrative containing the dialogue along with an explanation of any differing determinations that might be made. Finally, each section will include a translation of the passage under discussion and a skeletal structure separating narrative from dialogue. After dislodging the dialogue passage from its surrounding narrative, chapter 3 will employ three major elements to analyze the essence of the dialogue. First to be examined is the initiation of dialogue; who is the initiator and the form, if any, the verbal initiation takes. Second is the use of a proper name within the conversation. This discussion includes analysis of the name, its meaning and use. Another focus of this inquiry is to identify any bearing the name might have on the dialogue or the Divine/human relationship. The final investigation, titled Dialogue Analysis, will be an examination of adjacent pairs and turn taking as set within the dialogue. Using the tools of conversation analysis we will determine the structure, emphasis and character of the Divine/human relationship. This section will also include comments on traditional thematic analysis. In chapter 4 the conclusions reached in chapters 2 and 3 will be brought together with the goal of identifying a Divine/human relational dialogue model that can then be applied to future study of scriptural passages beyond Genesis." -- from the Introduction