The "New Perspective" on Appraisal: Evaluation in the Book of Judges as Revealed by the Narrative Appraisal Model

Abstract

<p> The book of Judges fairly bristles with 'heroes' of ambivalent moral character, and acts of dubious propriety, such as Gideon's use of signs to determine YHWH's will, Jael's murder of Sisera, and the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter. The terse narrative and the reticent narrator frequently leave the ethical character of these actions in doubt. My goal in this dissertation is to identify evidence available in the text, both literary and linguistic, in order to evaluate the characters and actions of various participants in the narratives of the "major" judges. On the basis of this evidence I will not only draw evaluative conclusions about the characters of the judges and the Israelite people themselves, but also about their varying perceptions of YHWH that these characters hold.</p> <p> In order to facilitate these goals, I will take an interdisciplinary approach. I will employ the concept of narrative perspective from literary criticism and consider the evaluative stance of the implied author, the narrator, and the various characters in the narrative. I will also draw heavily on the Appraisal Theory of J. R. Martin and P.R.R. White, which in turn derives from Systemic Functional Linguistics. By merging these two approaches I will develop a new model which I call Narrative Appraisal which will then be applied to the Hebrew text of Judges. The Narrative Appraisal Model can clarify individual evaluative instances as well as patterns of linguistic features at the level of discourse that elucidate the implied author's stance.</p> <p> The lexicogrammatical and ideational evidence produced by this methodology reveals contrasts and trajectories within and across the narratives which, when analyzed, give insight into the characters of the Israelites, the character of YHWH, and the relationship between the Israelite people and their God. It also helps to identify the unifying ideological stance of the book. In simplified terms, this ideology affirms the holiness, justice, mercy, and faithfulness of YHWH, the need for the Israelites to maintain absolute loyalty and obedience to him, the legitimacy of discipline, the engrained tendency of humanity to defy their God and follow their own ways, the ultimate failure of human leadership in the form of judges, and the essential need for YHWH to intervene with a new model of leadership.</p>