performance criticism of the hebrew bible

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© 2008 The Authors Journal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Religion Compass 2/3 (2008): 273–286, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00071.x Performance Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Terry Giles* Gannon University William Doan Miami University Abstract Performance criticism is a critical methodology that is based upon the premise that select portions of the Hebrew Bible (and Christian New Testament as well) are literary variations of originally oral compositions that were read or recited before live audiences. Those readings and recitations were performative in nature and understanding the performative dynamics at work in the material, being read or recited, can yield fresh insights into the meaning of the material. Performance criticism applies concepts commonly used in performative studies to the Hebrew Bible in an effort to better understand the conventions and structures enabling communication. 1. Definition of Performance Criticism Performance criticism is a critical methodology based upon the premise that select portions of the Hebrew Bible (and New Testament as well) are literary variations of originally oral compositions that were read or recited before live audiences. Those readings and recitations were performative in nature and understanding the performative dynamics at work in the material, being read or recited, can yield fresh insights into the meaning of the material. The media transferability of performative structures, conventions, and characteristics results in the ghosting or echo of those original performances in the literate form the material has now assumed in the pages of the biblical text. A. PERFORMANCE AS EVENT Presentations or performances are events that occur in a variety of forms and are not just limited to stage or formal theatre. Yet, in whatever venue presented, performance utilizes recognizable conventions and structures that are used to facilitate communication. Performative events (i.e. prophesying, singing, sermonizing, debating, memorializing, among others) have left

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© 2008 The AuthorsJournal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Religion Compass 2/3 (2008): 273–286, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00071.x

Performance Criticism of the Hebrew Bible

Terry Giles*Gannon University

William DoanMiami University

AbstractPerformance criticism is a critical methodology that is based upon the premisethat select portions of the Hebrew Bible (and Christian New Testament as well)are literary variations of originally oral compositions that were read or recitedbefore live audiences. Those readings and recitations were performative in natureand understanding the performative dynamics at work in the material, being reador recited, can yield fresh insights into the meaning of the material. Performancecriticism applies concepts commonly used in performative studies to the HebrewBible in an effort to better understand the conventions and structures enablingcommunication.

1. Definition of Performance Criticism

Performance criticism is a critical methodology based upon the premisethat select portions of the Hebrew Bible (and New Testament as well) areliterary variations of originally oral compositions that were read or recitedbefore live audiences. Those readings and recitations were performative innature and understanding the performative dynamics at work in the material,being read or recited, can yield fresh insights into the meaning of thematerial. The media transferability of performative structures, conventions,and characteristics results in the ghosting or echo of those originalperformances in the literate form the material has now assumed in thepages of the biblical text.

A. PERFORMANCE AS EVENT

Presentations or performances are events that occur in a variety of formsand are not just limited to stage or formal theatre. Yet, in whatever venuepresented, performance utilizes recognizable conventions and structures thatare used to facilitate communication. Performative events (i.e. prophesying,singing, sermonizing, debating, memorializing, among others) have left

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their mark on portions of the biblical text. And just as a playwright’s scriptcan give clues to the nature and event of the performance, so, too, selectportions of the biblical text are imbued with communicative conventionsand structures that are particularly susceptible to analysis by performancecriticism. Performance criticism is the methodology that seeks to iden-tify, describe, and analyze those communicative structures and conventions.

Performance criticism is concerned with identifying, describing, andanalyzing a performative event in which there is the presentation ofcharacter and event, by actors using formal patterns that might includemovement, gesture, costume, and speech (at least some combinationof those elements) in order to create a shared reality between actor andspectator. As applied to the Hebrew Bible, performance criticism takesits place next to and in conjunction with form criticism, rhetoricalcriticism and, to some degree, narrative criticism in providing multiplelenses through which to better see and understand the dynamics ofcommunication at work in particular texts, especially those texts withoral presentations at their origin.

B. ORALITY

Performance can be a particular type of orality and so the first step indetermining the applicability of performance criticism to a literary text(biblical or otherwise) is detecting the clues of orality that remain in theliterary text. Some of those clues include the language of immediacy,dialogue, spontaneity, and ‘face-to-face’ constructions that employ adenser number of verbs when compared to more distant and formallinguistic characteristics common in literary texts. These linguistic char-acteristics point us to a way of organizing thought, orally conceived andorally presented, that is distinct from the organization of thoughtcommonly expressed in written texts (Cully 2000). Oral presentationsfollow conventions of composition, content, structure, and style just asdistinct as those characteristic of literary works (Niditch 1996, p. 117).And just as literary works can be categorized into groupings, so too,oral presentations can be classified into different types of orality. Onetype of oral presentation is performance and is identifiable by theparticular performative mode of thought in which performances wereconveyed and characteristics of which still reside embedded in thewritten literature. A performance mode of thought is a way of thinkingthat engages both the cognitive and imaginative aspects of thought toconceive of reality not in propositions, but in actions and being. Similarto the notion of dramatic imagination, it is the shared imaginative spaceof performance where the performer/presenter and the spectator meet(Doan & Giles 2005).

Under the expanding umbrella of performance criticism, one willfind: those who write traditional performance history and who are

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more directly aligned with the study of theatre and drama as academicdisciplines; those who use records of performance to discuss literaryissues, such as literary and cultural historians; those who use performancefor the anthropological and cultural study of identity, politics, andpower; and those who do semiotic analyses of performance and awhole list of other disciplines. Consequently, there is variety anddisagreement among those who utilize performance critical analysis.

In establishing a definition for performance criticism, it is useful tolook back to see how the discipline of performance studies developed.Just over 30 years ago, performance studies, a field of academic studythat focuses on the critical analysis of performance and performativity,incorporating theories of drama, dance, art, anthropology, philosophy, andcultural studies to examine how we perform ourselves in individual,social, political, religious, gendered and other contexts, formallyemerged as a recognized discipline in the academy. Under the wideand ideologically diverse umbrella of performance studies, variousapproaches to performance criticism have emerged ( Jackson 2004) .1 Inapplying performance criticism to the Hebrew Bible, it is importanttherefore to establish working definitions and a domain that contex-tualizes the methodology among the many other critical methodologiesapplied to the study of the Hebrew Bible.

2. Performance Criticism and its Relation to Other Methodologies

Performance studies is a field with more than one origin story. Oneprimary narrative focuses on the work of Richard Schechner andVictor Turner, thoroughly elaborated in Schechner’s Between Theatreand Anthropology (1985). The other primary origin story focuses onthe development of J. L. Austin’s speech-act-theory with strong rela-tionships to literary theory, feminism and queer theory through theworks of Judith Butler, Peggy Phelan, and many others. The com-plexity of the use of the term ‘performance’, or the phrase ‘performancecriticism’, is only intensified by the variety of disciplinary and inter-pretive uses that have developed over time. A leading historian ofperformance, Mary Thomas Crane, notes that scholars like JudithButler point out the distinction between those theorists of socialdrama and those of symbolic action (Crane 2001). Theorists of socialdrama use the language and concepts of performance and drama asa way of examining social conflict, social crises, and the ways per-formance impacts social unity and conflict resolution. Theorists ofsymbolic action Crane points out, ‘focus on the way in which politicalauthority and questions of legitimation’ are handled (Crane 2001, p.74). As applied to the Hebrew Bible, performance criticism is mostclosely aligned with those theorists of social drama, such as VictorTurner and Richard Schechner, who focus on ‘what performance

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does in a culture to promote social cohesion and to resolve conflict’,looking beyond the theatre to play, games, dance, music, ritual, etc.(Crane 2001, p. 74). ‘For Schechner and Turner, social performancesare reiterated behaviors that function to mediate liminal moments:periods of crisis or uncertainty that accompany individual or culturaltransitions’ (Crane 2001, p. 78).2

Crane discusses three leading critics ( Judith Butler, Victor Turner, andRichard Schechner) who define performance not by ‘its representationalor deceptive nature, but by repetition and liminality; they emphasize, inTurner’s words, “process and processual qualities: performance, move,staging, plot, redressive action, crisis, schism, reintegration, and the like”’(Crane 2001, p. 170). 3 In other words, ‘performance’ is a cultural phe-nomenon that can occur in a parade, a religious event, a school graduation,a sporting event or in the theatre and on the stage. Performance criticismexamines the way in which these repeatable and socially recognizableevents use specific techniques to powerfully express social values andthemes.

Performance criticism takes its place alongside the methodologieswithin the historical-critical approach. In some important ways,performance criticism analysis is similar to the types of discussions thattake place in both form critical and rhetorical critical investigations.And there is some degree of overlap. The major difference, however,between performance criticism and form or rhetorical criticism isthat, as usually conducted, form and rhetorical criticisms are literarycriticisms of structures, types or literary genres (the formal struc-tures of the literature) and the social settings in which they wereused while performance criticism focuses on the event or the dynamiccomplex of action of a performance. Performance criticism does sharewith rhetorical criticism an interest in the presumed audience ofeither the performed or literary material (Tull 1999). Performancecriticism does offer its own unique contribution. While form criticismmay identify legends, epics, hymnic types and the like and rhetoricalcriticism focuses on the stylistic features of prose and poetry (againliterary types) that help make the composition persuasive and influen-tial; performance criticism considers movement, voice, costume,dialogue, activity, and the way events play out in performative episodesbuilt upon particular act-schemes, that is, the building blocks ofperformative events.

In trying to sift out the proper domain of each of these types ofcriticism, note to the characteristics of act-schemes cited below by Ber-nard Beckerman, a leading theatre and performance historian. ‘Whateverfanciful notions of the origin of drama we may have, by the time theverifiable examples of Greek drama emerge, we encounter highly sophis-ticated act-schemes.’4 As Beckerman points out, the characteristics of thesefifth century Greek act-schemes are widely known: ‘alternating sequences

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of individuals and groups (odes and episodes), costumes that distort andmonumentalize the performers, groups moving and speaking in formalpatterns, individuals speaking in set meters and following strictly definedpaths’ (Beckerman 1990, p. 104). Not only in ancient Greece, but in allhistorical periods, the act-scheme emerges from the social balancebetween individuals and communities that make up our world – bothimmediate and distant.

Another perspective on performance and ‘performance criticism’ thathas taken hold and is opening up valuable new lines of inquiry is acognitive and literary cultural theory concerning how embodied actionshapes both thought and language. Mary Thomas Crane provides a usefuland succinct description of this line of thought when she summarizes thework of Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Elanor Rosch, all ofwhom have argued that ‘several converging strains of cognitive scienceseem closely akin to phenomenology in linking human experience asculturally embodied with the study of human cognition in neuroscience,linguistics, and cognitive psychology’ (Varela et al. 1993, pp. 173, 174;Crane 2001, p. 171). This cognitive approach sees cognition itself as‘embodied action’, where ‘perception is not simply embedded within andconstrained by the surrounding world; it also contributes to the enactmentof this surrounding world’ (Varela et al. 1993, pp. 173, 174; Crane 2001,p. 171).

Performance criticism suggests that by contributing to the enactmentof the surrounding world, cognition helps to create that world and giveit meaning on both the page and in the body. Performance, whethertraditionally theatrical or not, mirrors this process of ‘embodied action’,or our ability to represent what we perceive through some kind ofembodied enactment: preaching, prophesying, oration, narration, singing,etc. The relationship between the performed and the real, even when thework of the imagination and our willing suspension of disbelief areinvolved, is very complex and fascinating.

The questions surrounding the nature of performance are clearly partof a complex and lively set of debates in a number of academic circles.Biblical studies is one of those academic disciplines that has recentlyentered the conversation. Performance criticism is used by a variety ofdisciplines, each operating with slightly different nuances and differentforms of application. Consequently, the conversation about performancecriticism is filled with no small measure of debate. The following chartattempts to capture a portrait of that debate and provide a context ofperformance critical as applied to biblical studies. Figure 1 attempts tovisualize the complexities that are involved in the examination of per-formance. Admittedly, the very complex and constantly changing contextof the academic field has been simplified (perhaps oversimplified!) in orderto emphasize the common ground that brings together biblical studieswith both theatre and performance studies. And the connection is just

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this: the way of thinking and the manner of communicating that is com-mon in theater and performance resides just beneath the surface of muchof the Hebrew Bible text.

3. Performance Criticism’s Building Blocks

As with other critical methodologies, there are several core principles thathelp give performance criticism its shape and unique contribution. Beloware brief definitions of the more central concepts that have particularlyuseful applicability to the Hebrew Bible. This list by no means exhauststhe possibilities, but simply creates a framework for understanding aperformance critical approach. The introduction of the concepts is fol-lowed by several brief examples of application drawn from propheticliterature of the Hebrew Bible and embedded songs found in a variety

Fig. 1. Performance Criticism and Related Fields of Study Applied to the Hebrew Bible.

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of places throughout the prosaic literature of the Hebrew Bible. The oralpresentations that became the literary text of the Hebrew Bible followconventions just as unique as those in the literary text. The echo of thoseconventions can still be found in the literary text. In fact, an appreciationof those performance conventions can help explain certain characteristicsof the literary text. The manner in which performance conventions aremedia transferable (oral to literate) allows for their continued presence inthe pages of the Hebrew Bible.

A. MEDIUM TRANSFERABILITY

Medium transferability refers to the ability of communication conventionsand structures to transfer between an oral and a written media. Althoughnot unique to a performance critical analysis alone, the medium transfer-ability of performative material is important for the application ofperformance criticism to the biblical text. Performative material is mediatransferable in two ways. First, performance is not a specific genre orform such as play, mime, etc., but is an event that occurs in a varietyof forms. School graduations, sermons, and political speeches are just asperformative as are parades, plays, and operas. Performative dynamicsapply to all. Particularly in those parts of the Hebrew Bible traditionthat began as oral presentation, those performative dynamics were hardat work. Those performance dynamics helped to form the bundle ofconventions enabling communication. A media transference, of sorts,occurs when conventions used expressly for recognizable formalperformance are transferred to events not formally performance(graduations, sermons, etc.). There is a second manner in whichmedium transferability applies to the performance criticism of theHebrew Bible. The echo of those performance conventions remainspresent in the text of the Hebrew Bible. Just as a playwrights scriptgives clues about the actual performance of the play, so too, cluesof oral presentation and performance remain embedded in theHebrew Bible. The oral performative conventions are transferable toa new medium, written literature.

B. ACT-SCHEME

An act-scheme is the structural organization of the drama’s or perform-ance’s activity (Beckerman 1990, p. 6). Historically, dramatic structure isgoverned by a socially dynamic process of selection and feedback resultingin recognizable literary and performance structures that are shared by bothperformers and spectators. An act-scheme is the pattern of organizationthat facilitates the presentation. Act-schemes generally fall into one ormore categories, such as acts of glorification, acts of illusion, acts of skill,acts of re-creation, etc. Under these larger categories one may find specific

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articulations: parades, tragedies and comedies, gladiatorial combats andcircuses, civil war re-enactments, respectively. Each of these, in turn, relieson units of performed activity, the way prophetic literature ultimatelyrelies on someone engaging in the act of prophesying. ‘In ancient Greece,’writes Bernard Beckerman, ‘that act-scheme arises from the social balancebetween individual and community, with the individual endowed with anappearance that heightens his superhuman qualities . . . the schemesthemselves embody forces other than the fictive or mimetic’ (Beckerman1990, p. 104). Act-schemes are the building blocks out of which a per-formance is formed. The logic applied to the structure and sequencing ofthe act-schemes is as recognizable as the logic that governs sentences andparagraphs in plot formation of a literary text. Patterns of repetition andvariation of themes created by the act-scheme structure can be found insome portions of the biblical literature.

C. AUDIENCE – ACT – ACTOR (REAL OR IMAGINED)

The relationship between the audience (spectators) and the act (the thingwitnessed) is a critical component to performance criticism. As contentand structure (act-scheme) come to life in performance, a dynamicexchange occurs between the act and the spectators. Shapes, sounds,colors, movements, words, intonations, images – all swirl before the spec-tator giving the spectator something to respond to. But there is also anothing we respond to as well. ‘It is not absence. Rather, the nothing werespond to . . . is a nothing that captures us, into which we pour ourfeelings’ (Beckerman 1990, p. 73). It is the place, in performance, wherethe spectator unites with the performance through identification of sharedor conflicting values, and belief. This connection is most often broughtabout by the actor/presenter whose human presence makes the eventpossible. ‘The performer sets into motion a vibration between actualpresence and the supposed (imagined) action. Since that action almost bydefinition is uncommon or wondrous, the performer transcends theordinary’ (Beckerman 1990, p. 22). Audience creation and formation is,therefore, a very major component of performance and performancecriticism. This notion of audience formation is similar to the concernsof reader response analysis and rhetorical criticism of literature. In thatthe dynamics are found in events, the echo of which resides in selectportions of literature, the patterns and conventions examined by per-formance criticism are not the same as those analyzed by rhetoricalcriticism.

D. ICONIC PRESENTATION/DIALECTIC PRESENTATION

Content and structure (act-scheme), dynamically shaped through per-formance (act–audience relationship), are interchanges of either iconic or

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dialectic modes of presentation.5 These two modes of presentation areperhaps the most crucial concepts to the development of a performancecritical approach to the Bible. Understanding iconic and dialectic modesof presentations is essential to moving outside of the literary frame andinto the realm of performance. Essentially, these two modes of presenta-tion help us to understand the multiple ways we use performance, andparticularly theatre and drama, to communicate on many levels. Simplyput, iconic modes of presentation stress being while dialectic modes ofpresentation stress becoming. Iconic modes of presentation tend topresent, celebrate, and reify who we are, while dialectic modes of pres-entation stress conflict, tension, and change. Historically, under theiconic mode of presentation, a variety of celebratory forms and genreshave emerged: parades, exhibitions, processions, promenades, demonstra-tions, pageants, liturgical celebrations, just to name a few. Under thedialectic umbrella, we have historically seen those forms and genres moreclosely associated with specific theatre and drama traditions: tragedies,comedies, dramas, musicals, and operas. These are not absolute catego-ries; they are modes, or distinctive ways of presenting that can and dopermeate each other’s boundaries. The iconic can contain the dialecticand vice versa. For example, in the midst of a military parade, a clearlyiconic form of presentation, a small battle can be staged that brings aboutthe demise of the enemy, suggesting the dialectical conflict and tensionof achieving victory. Similarly, the dialectic plot of a Greek Tragedy suchas Oedipus Rex is strengthened by the iconic procession of the chorusonto the stage, or by the larger than life iconic masks used to identifycharacter types as well as help to amplify the human voice. The ways inwhich iconic and dialectic modes of presentation take form, or are man-ifest from age to age, is determined by the same social, religious, political,and economic forces that shape so many other aspects of culture. Inparticular, iconic and dialectic modes of presentation present us withvarious patterns of activity that can record and preserve certain aspectsof performance, as well as provide the foundation for the re-use of thatperformance.

E. EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ACTIVITY

Explicit and implicit activity are patterns of activity (movement, behavior)embedded in many parts of the Hebrew Bible. Singing, prophesying,preaching, teaching, arguing, and debating are examples of some of theexplicit activities that form the basis of various performative patterns.Wherever some explicit activity (such as prophesying or singing) is present,a series of implicit questions must be asked. How did he or she prophesy?Where was the prophet standing, how was the prophet’s voice altered in toneor pitch, when and where did the prophet move, gesture? We may notbe able to definitively answer all these questions, but they provide a way

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into the oral and performed world of the Bible, which can impact ourunderstanding of the text. They are questions that seek to draw out the natureof the activity (natural, artificial, real, virtual, or both) embedded in the text.6

4. Application to the Hebrew Bible

A. CLASSICAL PROPHETS

The prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible has long been appreciatedfor its poetic elegance. The material flows majestically and abounds withsignals, clues and explicit references to its original oral delivery. That oralquality has provided the springboard for performance critical analysis. ‘Ifthere are . . . written versions of oral performances in the Hebrew Bible,the poetry of the classical prophets seems a likely possibility.’7 And thatpossibility has indeed born fruit (Stacey 1990). The literature of theclassical prophets, most obviously the prophetic oracles and otherrecorded speech events, has provided a fertile field for performance crit-ical analysis resulting in a deeper understanding of the relationshipbetween actor, character, and audience as developed within the literature.For example, the Oracles Against the Foreign Nations of Amos 1:3–2:6yield a rich understanding when considered through the performativeconcepts of explicit and implicit activity, iconic and dialectic modes ofpresentation. The oracles are, in performance critical terms, the dialogueof an unfolding drama in which the actor (Amos) assumes a character(prophet of the LORD) in order to create a shared reality with thespectator in which the God of Israel invokes a shared identity of ethicalobligation upon the audience. In addition to providing a lens by whichto view portions of the prophetic literature, performance criticism offersnew suggestions concerning the social dynamics that produced the pro-phetic literature. The assumption of a smooth transition between thecharismatic oration of the prophet and the scribal recording of thedisciple has been challenged as a greater appreciation of the tensionbetween performance event and written description or ‘script’ suggeststhat the prophetic literature itself is a result of a social power struggle inwhich the orator lost out and prophecy came to an end (Zechariah 13:1–6). Within the book of Amos, the prophet Amos leaves his role ofactor to become a character given life in the presentation of anotheractor – the scribe with pen in hand.

B. EMBEDDED SONGS

The literature of the classical prophets is not the only part of the HebrewBible to yield positive results from performance criticism. Scatteredthroughout the prosaic literature of the Hebrew Bible are a number ofembedded songs, now ‘twice used’ within a narrative for which they were

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not originally intended.8 Without exception, these embedded songs pre-date their current narrative context and are added to the narrative, by thenarrator, in order to strengthen the persuasiveness of the story being told.The songs rarely add new or even relevant narrative detail to the storyline, but are borrowed by the narrator for the social influence that thesongs themselves represent. Communal memory, audience formation, andiconic description are powerful social forces now wielded by the narratorthough the inclusion of the twice-used songs. For example, the iconicpresentation contained in the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15: 1–18) is outof place if intended to add to the narrative qualities of Exodus. But, ifseen as an iconic ‘parade of events’ designed to celebrate the communalidentity of those hearing or singing the song (much like a fireworksdisplay offers an iconic representation of past struggle that has shaped acommunity), the Song is perfectly placed in Exodus 15 to reinforce theexodus event within the communal identity of later singers of the song.Performance criticism has given us a window into understanding therelevance and power of these songs within the narration where previousattempts at narrative criticism, applied to the embedded songs, revealedonly the awkwardness of attempting to reconcile the narrative details ofthe songs to those often conflicting details found in the surroundingnarration. The songs are iconic gifts given to the readers and listeners ofthe narratives, designed to help shape the identity of an audience byenticing the audience into the shared reality of performance in which theactor (or in this case narrator) presents a dramatic reality that has a deepimpact upon the audience by altering values, attitudes, and beliefs andlasting long after the dramatic presentation has come to an end.

C. MORE TO COME

There are additional portions of the text of the Hebrew Bible that holdthe promise of exciting results drawn from the application of performancecriticism. Certainly, the Song of Songs could well be examined in termsof actor, character, and audience formation. It has long been recognizedthat the Song moves on multiple levels. A consideration of the act-schemesused in the Song to organize the performance’s dialectic may provideassistance in understanding the integrity of the Song. Furthermore, themultiple levels on which the Song moves could well be clarified by adetailed consideration of the way in which the Song forms and involvesthe audience in the drama of the book (Longman 2001, pp. 20–39).Likewise, the books of Ruth, Jonah, and Hosea involve detailed characterdevelopment and the manner in which those characters allow for audienceidentification may enable us to recapture some of the early popularityenjoyed by all three books. In a quite different fashion, the Patriarchalstories of Genesis 12–36 may yield new insights when examined by per-formative critical tools. The Abraham and Jacob cycles employ short

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episodes in which the main character is available to the audience in adialectic presentation. A bond is created between the character and theaudience through conflict resolution. The way in which conflicts areresolved, and there is a set of repeating conflicts (much like in daytimeTV soap operas), allows for the actor to project identification between thecharacter and audience.

5. State of Research

Performance criticism, as a scholarly methodology applied to the biblicaltext, is in its beginning stages. The discipline is advancing through theforums created by sessions sponsored at both regional and national meet-ings of the Society of Biblical Literature. Also, journals devoted to biblicalstudies have begun to publish articles focused on the examination ofspecific biblical texts through the application of performance criticismparadigms. Several book-length treatments have appeared since 2001intent on developing the methodology by presenting theory and theapplication of theory to select biblical texts. As with any developingmethodology, the establishment of an agreed upon vocabulary, definitionof terms and well-defined theoretical positions will help establish per-formance criticism and refine its useful application to the study of theHebrew Bible. Currently, there are two main approaches that reside underthe performance critical umbrella. One represented by the work of W. D.Stacey and Jo-Ann Brandt emphasizes the performance possibilities pre-sented by the biblical texts. This approach, in a sense, brings the biblicaltexts into the dramatic reality of the interpreter, seeking to explore therichness of the texts within the performative abilities of the interpreter.The other approach using performance criticism and illustrated by thework of Shimon Levy, William Doan, and Terry Giles considers the per-formative structures resident within the texts and intended by the ancientperformer, storyteller, or scribe.

Short Biography

William Doan (Professor of Theatre and Associate Dean of Fine Arts atMiami University of Ohio) and Terry Giles (Professor of Theology atGannon University) have collaborated in applying performance criticalconcepts to analysis of the Hebrew Bible. They have examined portionsof the Hebrew Bible and have presented papers and published articles injournals dedicated to Hebrew Bible studies and in journals concernedwith the history of theatre. Their book, Prophets, Performance and Power(T&T Clark, 2005), contributes to the methodological development ofPerformance Criticism and applies the methodology to the Hebrewprophetic book, Amos. A forthcoming volume, Twice Used Songs (Hen-drickson, 2008) applies performance critical analysis to songs embedded

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in prose narratives found in the Hebrew Bible. Doan holds an interdis-ciplinary PhD from Case Western University, Cleveland, OH, and Gilesreceived an interdisciplinary PhD from Michigan State University, EastLansing, MI.

Notes* Correspondence address: Terry Giles, Gannon University, 109 University Square, Erie, PA15641, USA. Email: [email protected].

1 Jackson’s seminal study of the history and development of the complex nature of the word‘perform’ in the academy is the most thorough investigation of the problem of performanceand the different disciplinary investigations that employ the term.2 Here Crane is quoting J. Butler (1988, p. 526).3 Original Turner quote found in Turner (1986, p. 76).4 Bernard Beckerman as quoted in Doan & Giles (2008).5 Bernard Beckerman thoroughly explores these two modes of presentation in relationship tothe more well know traditions of the drama in his book Theatrical Presentation: Performer,Audience and Act (1990, Chapters 3 and 4, pp. 43–73).6 The concept of explicit and implicit activity is drawn from Beckerman (1979, pp. 19–34.7 Niditch as quoted by Doan & Giles (2005, p. 5).8 Exodus 15:1–18; 15:21; Numbers 21:17–18; 21:27–30; Deuteronomy 32:1–43; Joshua 10:12–13; Judges 5:2–31; 1 Samuel 18:7; 21:12; 29:5; 2 Samuel 1:19–27; 22:2–51; 1 Kings 8:12–13;1 Chronicles 16:8–36; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 6:1–2; Ezra 3:11.

Works CitedBeckerman, B, 1979, Dynamics of Drama: Theory and Method of Analysis, Drama Book Specialists,

New York, NY.——, 1990, Theatrical Presentation: Performer, Audience, Act, GB Beckerman and C. William

(eds.), Routledge, New York, NY.Butler, J, 1988, ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and

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