Judges 19-21 and Ruth: Canon as a Voice of Answerability

This dissertation was birthed out of a desire to investigate the possibility of potential canonical voices of answerability (responsibility) for the voiceless women of Judges 19-21. Bakhtin's dialogism became the heuristic in which to pursue this investigation. Bakhtin's use in Biblical Studies has influenced this project in three main areas: (1) the polyphonic nature of canon, (2) the quest for marginalized voices, and (3) genre considerations of Judges 19-21 and the book of Ruth. This study will also, in thinking with Brevard Childs, takes a canonical approach to the texts in polyphonic dialogue. Previous scholarship has hinted at the connection for Judges 19-21 and Ruth (as set in dialogue), but there has yet been a study to articulate just how these two texts are set in dialogue. This study has sought a way forward to understand the canonical place of dialogue for Judges 19-21 and Ruth. In this study, the primary placement of Judges 19¬-21 and Ruth in dialogue was established for three primary reasons: (1) its placement in the Septuagint and Vulgate immediately after Judges, (2) the literary connection in Ruth 1:1-i.e., in "The days the judges were judging," an (3) The juxtaposition of feminine silence (Judges 19-21) with feminine dialogue (Ruth). The outcome of this research has illustrated that there are canonical intertextual voices for the voiceless women in Judges 19-21. The intrinsic genre of משל within the Hebrew Bible proved to be a constructive pursuit in identifying the form and function of these two texts, illustrating that genre provides another canonical voice of answerability. Finally, through a close reading of intertextual utterances (significant words and idioms), Ruth as a text and as a woman embodies a voice of response and responsibility to the silenced and abused women in Judges 19-21.