Everyone Has an Angle

Abstract

Literary theory widely attests to the powerful role of characters as vehicles in producing meaning. Yet current narrative models focus almost exclusively on primary characters, neglecting supporting characters, who are capable of reshaping narrative emphases or revealing layers of story within the story. This project demonstrates the significance of supporting characters in biblical narratives by applying a narrative methodology drawn from cognitive narratology to the Jephthah story (Judg 10:6—12:7) in order to illuminate the distinct perspectives of each secondary character within its storyworld. The first chapter outlines a cognitive narrative methodology, which asserts that the purpose of narrative is not merely to convey a meaning, but for readers to experience and engage the story. Therefore, it focuses not on determining the meaning of the text, but embracing the power of stories to become transformative and meaningful experiences for the reader with multiple points of engagement (characters). Chapter two introduces the timecourse (causally related sequence of events) of the Jephthah cycle and then analyzes the initiating event from Yhwh’s perspective. This chapter establishes the situations and expectations between Yhwh and his people that echo in unique ways into the scenes that follow. Each chapter that follows re-reads the story of Jephthah (Judg 10:17—12:7) through the lens of a supporting character—Jephthah’s brothers/elders of Gilead, Ammonites/Ammonite king, the daughter of Jephthah, and the Ephraimites—developing the character’s person and perspective through their social role (social and historical expectations built into social models), mode of conduct (character assessment based on biblical and social norms), and disposition (the personality of that character determined through speech, action, or direct narration). Each chapter also assesses the tellability of the supporting character’s story (establishing their viable perspective within the text) and concludes by summarizing the significance of the character’s perspective and engaging with it from my own subjective awareness. Using the Jephthah account, I demonstrate the complexity and depth of the many unnamed characters who engage with this morally ambiguous judge, suggesting that they are part of a pattern of outside, or other, voices in biblical narrative that have the power to transform readers.