Reflections on reshaping biblical characters and values.

Will the real Judas please stand up. Biblical interpreters today may be struck by alternative interpretations of Matthew's Judas ("Saving Judas"--A Social Scientific Approach to Judas's Suicide in Matthew 27:3-10, by David Reed, BTB 35 [2005] 51-59). Many more were surprised to learn of the favorable characterization of Judas in the second-century Gospel of Judas, where his role was friend not betrayer. Wary modern critics now reject claims of "no-spin zones" in political reportage as much as they do in biblical narratives. Traditional identity roles and their injected variations have played a large part in how persons came to be set into biblical narratives. The astute interpreter today must decipher what roles were the stock and trade of ancient biblical authors and when characters departed from the expected to reveal the ideology of the storyteller.

In the present issue, three BTB authors examine role characterizations within the Bible: Ruth, Judith and Pilate. A summary article by Barbara Green thereafter helps interpreters today to blend critical with pre-critical interpretations of biblical characterizations.

Victor H. Matthews begins the issue with his study, The Determination of Social Identity in the Story of Ruth, describing the story-teller as one "positioned to fulfill particular and socially recognizable roles" but with distinctive versatility that renders the story instructive. In the story, Ruth identifies herself as a "foreigner," an exile. What social context does the storyteller have in mind when describing how both Ruth and Naomi become social exiles as they leave Moab, shifting their personal identity, rendering it fluid and indeterminate? The dilemma is resolved with Ruth's social transformation, suggesting the value of allowing assimilation of foreigners.

David A. deSilva contributes to the discussion with Judith the Heroine? Lies, Seduction, and Murder in Cultural Perspective. Building upon a social view that deceit toward enemies is not only ethical but praiseworthy, Judith lies to the enemy general and leads him on to his demise. Such stories characterize tales from the Second Temple period, deSilva reflects, even overturning earlier contrary stories. Judith seeks to uphold the honor of God, ensuring that "every tribe know and understand that you alone are God ... and there is no other" (Jdt 9:14).

Callie Callon exposes Matthew as deft storyteller as he portrays Pilate, evoking negative local memories and enabling Matthew to enrich his overarching aims. Since Pilate was notorious within the Judean tradition, Matthew reshapes Mark's ambiguous story through emphasis and expansion, so that Matthew is seen as casting Pilate as a figure as reviled as the historical Pilate was for Judeans. Matthew's unique material helps construct an odious anti-Judean Roman, who refuses to accede to his wife's reasonable intervention. Adding to the offense was Matthew's Pilate's misusing the Deuteronomic hand-washing ritual (Deut 21:6), as if to mock its stated purpose through appropriation by a Roman official.

Barbara Green likens biblical interpretation to the Public Broadcasting series, This Old House, offering thereby "a map of contemporary biblical studies and biblical spirituality." The basic analogy of "old house" and "old text" both in need of contemporizing sets the theme: the old is both valued and in need of functional adaptation. The pre-critical period (first to sixteenth century) "is filled with insight about the experience of being Christian in relation to God and in solidarity with others." The old literary/historical-critical period reflected the realization that the Pentateuch was not written by one person or at one time. The wider socio-cultural fields of today bring new sets of needs and opportunities for contemporary preservationists and practitioners alike. Present-day awareness requires recognizing the worlds that separate readers today from biblical authors' social and ideological contexts. Recognizing differences within the evolving biblical text provides a key as well for accommodating to present day readers. Following the analogy of This Old House, "our most fundamental commitment as owners and re-builders is to live lives full of meaning in rich relationships but as sustainably as we can manage." This will include "children and grandchildren of the actual legal owners--and even perhaps some of their friends. The goal of all of them is to make it a home, where all feel welcome, included, and respected."

Persons from central casting played roles in the drama of biblical narratives, adapted and shaped by the story-tellers. Today's biblical interpreters must recognize new roles that befit people today, even as biblical authors fitted their characters to their own needs and visions.

David M. Bossman

Editor