Speak to the Heart: Orthopathic Hermeneutics and telling the Whole Story of the Woman Cut into Pieces
Abstract: This paper examines the story of the woman cut into pieces (Judges 19) through the lens of the orthopathic hermeneutic with special attention to Sarah Coakley’s ‘affective reasoning.’ This argument notes the dangers of interpreting and applying Judges 19 by/for means of orthodoxy and/or orthopraxy alone and demonstrates such through a brief reception history. This paper concludes that the reading and telling of this ‘text of terror’ can become a meaningful passage as the Spirit uses it to stir up our passions for that which is right, if the community pays attention to their emotional response to the text.
Key Words: orthopathy, orthopathic hermeneutics, Judges 19, texts of terror, affections, Sarah Coakley, passions, emotions
“We must let the passion of this narrative seize us. When we allow the passion—both the love and the suffering held together—of Christ and ourselves, then we see that we do not have to fall victim to the opposite polar reactions of controlling the text or despairing because of it. It is worth reading because it makes us angry, and when we grow angry at this injustice, we are imaging Christ. We must quit giving part of the story, part of the text, part of our daughters, part of ourselves.”
-excerpt
Find this chapter in Sisters, Mothers, Daughters: Pentecostal Perspectives on Violence against Women in the Bible, Brill 2022.