The Sword of Judith Judith Studies Across the Disciplines Book Review
The role of Achior in Judith - an autobiographical response to The Enemy is Within
Helen Efthimiadis-Keith
UKZN
Correspondence
ABSTRACT
This article provides an autobiographical response to the writer's 2004 monograph on Judith focused through the character of Achior. It briefly outlines Jung'south concept of individuation and the author's understanding of autobiographic biblical criticism. The commodity then addresses the author's original findings on Achior and concludes with a personal and academic response, noting particularly new insights and the role that her bookish work has played in her own individuation / transformation.
A FIRST ENCOUNTERS i
I commencement encountered Judith 2 during my Masters studies (1989-1990) through an article which interpreted Ruth, Esther and Judith as paradigms of man liberation. 3 At that time, I was not at all familiar with Judith but before long became enamoured of its wild, sexy, sword-wielding, and genuinely pious female protagonist. It was not surprising, therefore, that this book emerged as the primary focus of my doctoral study a number of years later on.
Every bit a young doctoral student, I was delighted that few scholarly works had been written on Judith by comparison to other biblical books. I was too fascinated by studies which discarded the book on business relationship of its historical-geographical inconsistencies, supposedly lopsided structure, and morally faulty heroine. 4 Sensing that there was more than to the tale than meets the heart, I began searching for a theory that would exist able to embrace all of Judith'south purported inconsistencies and interpret information technology as the whole that I believed it was.
At that point, my personal studies in psychoanalytic theory dovetailed with my study of Judith. I had begun with Freud and progressed to Jung in search of a deeper self-agreement. I found Freud'southward views far too deterministic and circumscribed, offering me footling hope of achieving wholeness within my chosen religious tradition. By contrast, Jung openly acknowledged the importance of faith and his psychoanalytic theories, specially his understanding of individuation, gave me hope that I would anytime achieve the wholeness for which I yearned. His theories also convinced me that Judith functioned every bit a national dream and that its "inconsistencies" could, therefore, be ascribed to the expression of the unconscious psyche through the medium of the text. 5
Excited, I read widely in the area of psychological biblical criticism and discovered that a number of different approaches had been applied to biblical texts, six with near of these falling inside the Freudian or Jungian camp. As with all interpretative ventures, these varied in quality, depth and scope. While some traced various psychological themes or symbolism throughout the entire Bible, 7 others restricted their analyses to a item book 8 or pericope/southward. 9 Some commented generally on a detail genre, book, passage and/or graphic symbol, 10 while others meticulously analysed each verse and/or image. eleven Some practical selected components of psychological theories to their chosen texts, while others incorporated as many components of their called psychological framework(s) as possible. 12 A number also tried to utilise and/or compare a variety of psychological approaches to a single text.xiii Some avoided engaging with other forms of biblical criticism 14 while others put their insights to good use. fifteen
For me, the nigh successful psychological interpretations incorporated equally much of their chosen psychological framework(s) as possible, meticulously analysed the text, and incorporated the insights of other hermeneutical approaches. I determined that I would practice the aforementioned. Having encountered Sugg'due south edited book, sixteen Jungian Literary Criticism, I boldly declared myself a demonstrably Jungian critic - one who acknowledges a stiff Jungian influence upon her work and life17 -and set up well-nigh interpreting the book co-ordinate to Jungian categories.
I earned my doctorate in 2003 and published my dissertation in Brill's Biblical Interpretation Serial in 2004. 18 Since so, I have published a number of articles that accost issues raised in my monograph. Most of these take centred on Judith and continued developing my corrective to Jung'south agreement of women's individuation cycles. xix In so doing, I have satisfied my merits to be a demonstrably Jungian critic, viz. one who "work[s] in both directions . . . using literature to analyze psychology likewise as the other way circular." 20
Strangely, I take nevertheless to write on the grapheme of Achior, fifty-fifty though my enquiry has identified him as Judith's effective protagonist, the character who best represents the author's unconscious psyche. 21 In fact, the scholarly globe to engagement has produced but a scattering of manufactures dealing with this graphic symbol. Neither take I reviewed my 2004 findings according to my electric current thinking and contempo publications on Achior. Moreover, I accept not taken my work as a demonstrably Jungian critic to its logical end: I have not examined what has prompted me psychologically to produce this body of work beyond noting that:
I have been dealing primarily with my shadow-side for the last number of years and. . . it [is] this that [has] (unconsciously) [driven] me to the study I have just completed. 22
I have also not discussed the effect that Judith and my piece of work have had on my own psychological development. (In other words, I have neither read myself reading Judith as thoroughly equally I have read Judith using a Jungian lens, nor have I used Judith to read myself in the way that I accept used this book to read and provide a corrective to Jung'due south psychoanalytic theory). Retrospectively, there is something intellectually dishonest about my failure in this regard. Information technology non only violates my position as a demonstrably Jungian critic, but it also flies in the face of recent statements I-as-a-feminist-Jungian-interpreter have fabricated regarding the fallacy of objectivity and the necessity of the interpreter's openness in academic discourse. For example, in a recent piece dealing with feminist ethics and feminist biblical interpretation, I advocated that
. . . an autobiographical approach which takes account of and spells out the interpreter's background, experience, and emotions would be most helpful, both for the feminist biblical interpreter and the "ordinary reader." It would help us as interpreters to run across that we practise not interpret in a personal vacuum. . . [and] the reader to run into that our interpretations are but that - our interpretations, which will requite her/him the "space" to present her/his own without fright of reprimand or "getting it wrong." [While] this suggestion requires a fair amount of personal introspection on our part, [and] may non be [something we are] nifty to practice, it must be done if nosotros are to create infinite for others to write their own stories into the fissures of the biblical texts [and our interpretations of them] and keep the interpretative try adrift.
. . . Nosotros need to put into do the womanist principle which accepts "emotional knowledge every bit a legitimate category of academic analysis" without forsaking the "analytical skills and tools" of our discipline23. . . we need to be aware of and state our emotional connectedness/disconnection to the text then every bit to understand why we may be seeing what we are seeing. In this way we will avert falling into the trap of objective fallacy. . . and we will leave "space" for others to share their experiences and interpretations of the text/s freely. 24
In this article, I should therefore like to provide an autobiographical response to my 2004 monograph focused through the character of Achior. In and so doing, I will briefly outline key aspects of Jungian theory and autobiographical biblical criticism in order to introduce readers to these approaches and establish the merits of an autobiographical review. I will then accost my findings regarding Achior and conclude with an evaluative review that takes account of a) the personal reasons that underlie my work, b) the event that my piece of work has had on me, c) new insights gained through this review and d) other works on Achior that have been published since 2004.
I brainstorm, then, with the theoretical and methodological considerations underpinning this article.
B THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Information technology would be difficult, if not impossible, to summarise Jung's vast tomes in an article such as this. I will therefore limit my discussion to the individuation process, the shadow and the anima / animus, as these are the almost relevant aspects of his theory for this article. I will then briefly hash out my agreement of autobiographical biblical criticism (ABC) too as the combination of Jungian psychology and ABC in my proposed review of my work.
1 Jungian Psychoanalytic Theory: Archetype and Individuation
Jung regarded individuation as a life-long, psychological maturation process by which each of us is driven to get the indivisible whole that nosotros potentially are. 25 This procedure is normally sparked by a crisis - unremarkably at mid-life - which shows us that nosotros and/or the earth are non as we had perceived. The success of individuation largely depends, however, on our readiness to withdraw the project of the unacceptable parts of ourselves and/or our experiences from others and consciously integrate them into our psyche.
Co-ordinate to Jung, individuation is a 5-stage process 26:
(i)Complete identification with social club: At this phase, our thinking and deportment are determined entirely by societal expectations as there is no distinction betwixt the self and the group. 27
(ii)Separation from the other: This is a long and oftentimes very painful process in which we begin to explore our identity, "normally by manner of a dialectic with different facets of the 'other.'" 28
(iii)Differentiation of moral properties. Having separated from the other, we now attempt to ascertain and institute our own moral or ethical code by "testing the commonage morality" of our society. 29
(iv)Realisation of social reality and private consciousness. At this stage, the "collective norms and expectations" of the psyche lose their mana (power) "and the world is seen equally it is." 30 Most often, as a result, we experience some kind of breach, which then necessitates the final stage of the pro-cess. 31 Even and so, this phase besides frees united states of america to become who we really are.
(v)Individual identity / self-realisation. "With this stage the process comes full circle as the person is prepared to re-enter club, to reintegrate with it, being wholly conscious of her/his ain identity. . . This is entirely unlike from the first stage in which the person was un-conscious of her/his identity apart from that of her/his group." 32
While all the archetypes play an important role in the individuation process, the ones that "take the most frequent and the about disturbing influence on the ego" 33 - which is the centre of the conscious psyche 34 - are the shadow, the anima and the animus. Consequently, these are the archetypes that we most vividly experience and are required to integrate during the individuation procedure. Briefly, the shadow is the unconscious repository of all that which nosotros dislike nearly ourselves and which we, therefore, project onto others, 35 while the anima is the male'south contrasexual soul image, and the counterinsurgency that of the female. 36
For Jung, the anima is crucial to the male individuation bicycle - which Judith follows. 37 She is typically encountered at the nadir of this wheel, and must be integrated in all her positive and negative aspects for the cycle to be completed successfully. 38
two Autobiographical Biblical Criticism (ABC) - My Take on the Matter
Equally Mouton correctly observes, the last number of centuries have seen a shift in hermeneutical accent from "text production" (the origins of the text), via "text preservation and mediation," to "text reception and interpretation." 39 Autobiographical biblical criticism is a natural progression of the reader-centred studies which have been a function of the final of these shifts. Subsequently all, the interpreter is a reader too!
While ABC has not been embraced as widely as have other reader-orientated approaches, 40 it is based on some noteworthy theoretical principles, some of which take been alluded to in the introduction. For case, ABC seeks to "implement personal criticism as a form of cocky-disclosure, wittingly, while reading a text as a critical exegete." 41 In other words, it foregrounds the "I" of the interpreter while remaining firmly grounded in the work of biblical criticism. As such, ABC is not a purely solipsistic attempt, or ane which flies the kite far from the text, although some autobiographical readings certainly come close to existence and doing just that. 42
Autobiographical biblical criticism foregrounds the "I" because it recognises that all interpreters are real people and that they approach the text with real needs, emotions, experiences, feelings, and biases, all of which impact on their reading of the text; there is no disinterested reading. In formal scholarship, these feelings, biases,etcetera., prevarication hidden, buried below the third-person and passive constructs within which exegetes have couched their readings of biblical texts. While these constructs accept long been regarded equally the hallmarks of "objective" criticism, they are fallacious as they condone the person of the interpreter and close meaning through their pseudo-objectivity. In other words, they close significant by pretending to exist the only or nigh definitive meaning that can be attributed to a text whereas, in fact, they really are someone's subjectively informed opinion undergirded past bookish proof-texts or quotations.
By explicitly foregrounding the intimately personal nature of biblical interpretation, ABC foregrounds unconscious material, as it were, and acts as a skilled analyst who assists the analysand (patient - reader) to detect and integrate that which has remained subconscious in her/his psyche. Autobiographical biblical criticism thus opens up the meaning of the text and frees others to participate in pregnant-construction aslope the "experts." It "gives scholars a critical forum for exploring the connections between themselves as real readers and their exegesis of biblical texts in a self-conscious and autobiographical manner." 43 It besides "exposes our exegetical enterprises as rooted in 'ordinary reading' like all other reading[s] of biblical texts." 44 Moreover, it breaks the hegemonic stranglehold of methodology - a fixed bulwark of traditional biblical criticism - for in ABC at that place is no methodology.
Autobiographical biblical criticism appeals to me immensely as a femi-nist-Jungian reader of biblical texts for all the reasons mentioned above as well equally those referred to in the introduction. To borrow the language of autoethnog-rapher, Leon Anderson, it allows me to "illustrate analytic insights through recounting [my] own experiences and thoughts as well as those of others" and "openly discuss changes in my beliefs and relationships" 45 over the course of researching and writing a commodity. It allows me to be me, to exist existent within the human action of criticism and it allows me to be me and to be real when reviewing my ain work - a difficult but necessary demystification of my largest single contribution to the academic endeavor thus far. It besides allows me to connect to the more rebellious, anti-authoritarian aspect of my psyche by flouting the traditional "rules" or dictates of academic writing. More importantly, equally I indicated in the introduction, it allows me to take my piece of work as a demonstrably Jungian critic to its logical end.
C ACHIOR - JUDITH'S EFFECTIVE PROTAGONIST AND TRANSFORMED CATALYST OF TRANSFORMATION
ane A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Achior and his Transformations in Judith 46
Achior starting time appears in Jdt 5, where he is presented every bit an Ammonite leader within Holofernes' forces (5:5). Irked by the Judaeans' refusal to capitulate, Holofernes gathers his leaders to enquire who they are and wherein their power lies (5:1-4). Achior responds by recounting sacred history from the time of Abraham to the devastation of the temple within a curiously Deuteronomistic or retributional framework: when the Jews sinned, God gave them over to destruction; when they were obedient, God helped them to vanquish their foes (5:5-21). On the basis of this account, Achior warns Holofernes non to set on the Judaeans until he (Holofernes) has determined their standing with their God or else risk shaming his forces (five:21). His "prophecy" so angers Holofernes and the other leaders that they have him leap and cast to the foothill of Bethuliah there to expect his fate once that of the Bethulians had been concluded (5:22-6:11). The Bethulians summarily recollect Achior and accept him, unbound, to their leaders 6:12-15). The whole city gathers around equally he recounts "the words of the council of Holofernes... and whatsoever Holofernes had spoken proudly confronting the house of Israel" (6:17, RSVA). 47 The people then pray (6:18) and offer Achior comforting praise (6:19). Finally, Ozias, the Chief Magistrate, hosts a banquet for Achior and the Bethulian elders at his own firm (6:20) and, with that, nosotros meet the terminal of Achior in the beginning section of Judith (chs. one-7).
Equally with the other characters in the tale, Achior may be interpreted both as a personal entity and as an attribute of the Jewish psyche which produced Judith. 48The fact that he is able to stand out among his group of peers to address Holofernes shows that, in his personal capacity, Achior has reached a stage of consciousness in which the ego has separated itself from both the unconscious mass and its peers (phase 2). However, Achior identifies with the Judaeans and Holofernes 49 by property onto the Deuteronomistic philosophy of retribution, and using information technology to warn Holofernes. Achior'due south identification with the Judaeans, a people group traditionally inimical towards the Ammonites, and Holofernes, his quondam enemy and captor, shows that his (Achior'southward) ego has not quite distinguished itself from ancient norms and patterns of idea. In other words, his level of witting awareness has not quite reached or become established at the third stage of conscious sensation, viz., the differentiation of [his ain] moral properties. Moreover, Achior's dual identification shows that his is an identity in flux or in crisis.
As an aspect of the Jewish psyche, Achior represents a witting shadow element at the second stage of witting sensation. 50 However, this shadow element has lost witting libido equally a consequence of the instability caused by Achior's partial transition to Stage 3. Consequently, it becomes subsumed into the rambunctious tide of the unconscious shadow attack, which is represented by Holofernes and his forces. Achior's ability to address Holofernes indicates that this shadow content has somehow begun regaining conscious libido, to the extent that it is not simply able to cross the threshold of consciousness awareness, only also become largely integrated at a higher level of witting awareness (Bethuliah) than the one from which information technology originally came: Achior is well received by the Bethulians, who represent the outer tier of the third level of consciousness, and enjoys a meal with Ozias, their leader.
Achior side by side appears in Jdt 14:five-ten, within the context of Judith'due south victorious render to Bethuliah. Having briefed the Bethulians on the next solar day's line of attack, Judith commands that Achior be brought out to her before any of her commands are carried out (14:5). Upon seeing Holofernes' caput in 1 man'due south hand, Achior faints (14:6)! When the Bethulians revive him, he falls at Judith'due south feet in submission/obeisance and pronounces a approving upon her (14:seven). He and so requests a report of her activities (14:8a), which she provides. Achior then believes in God, is circumcised, and joins the house of Israel, "remaining then to this solar day" (xiv:10).
The account of Achior'due south conscious transformation into a Jew is also the account of his transformation of the Jews. For example, his partial integration into Bethulian society - prior to his conversion - acts as a goad for Judith's transformation from widow to warrior woman and her success at Holofernes' tent. This is demonstrated by Judith's words to Holofernes in Jdt xi:9-x:
Now every bit for the things Achior said in your council, we have heard his words, for the men of Bethuliah spared him and he told them all he had said to you. Therefore, my lord and master, do not disregard what he said, but continue it in your mind, for information technology is true: our nation cannot be punished, nor tin the sword prevail confronting them, unless they sin against their God...
Judith's words, above, initiate a retrospective glance on narrative events which allows the following narrative reconstruction: Judith heard Achior's words to Holofernes when he recounted them to the Bethulians (encounter 6:16-17), although this is not specifically mentioned in the text. She also heard the Bethulians' subsequent threat and ultimatum (7:24-32), although it is not specified that she is amid those who spoke with the elders. Hearing the people's words prompts Judith to call upon and upbraid the elders (eight:nine-16), and subsequently to promise God'south deliverance through her own hand 51 earlier the time for the ultimatum is upward (8:32-34). Judith's promise is and so followed by an extensive prayer for God'south assistance (9:2-fourteen) which is predicated on Simeon's deceitful dealings with and slaying of the Shechemites (9:2-4, 10, and xiii). Her prayer is followed by her physical transformation from widow and prayer warrior to a beautifully adorned (warrior) woman (x:one-4 and seven) who uses deceit and sexuality to ensnare and finally dispose of Holofernes.
Thus, it is clear that Achior'due south words and transformation precipitate Judith'south plan and transformation. Having defeated Holofernes, Judith is transformed farther into a liberatrix. Encountering Judith-every bit-liberatrix afterward enables Achior to acknowledge the greatness of her God and and then willingly complete his own transformation through his conversion. In turn, Achior's conversion so inspires the Judaeans-Bethulians that they are able to rout the Assyrians on the following 24-hour interval, thus effecting even more than transformations: the Judaeans are victorious, the Assyrians are defeated, and the people's covenant with God is restored. Achior's initial transformation is thus the catalyst for all the other transformations in the book.
ii Achior: Judith 's Effective Protagonist 52
As we can see from the preceding analysis (C1), Achior has undergone tremendous permanent transformation both as a person and as an chemical element of the Jewish psyche:
(i) As a person, Achior retrospectively begins equally an enemy of Nebuchadnezzar, who then becomes (or is forced to get) his ally through Holofernes. In both instances, he is the enemy of the Judaeans. Withal, he is before long evicted from Holofernes' army every bit an enemy and a traitor. He is then taken in by his traditional enemies, the Judaeans-Bethulians, becomes their ally and is largely integrated into their society. This partial integration is completed in section 2 through his willing conversion. The covenant outsider, hated Ammonite enemy, and pagan has thus go a full fellow member of the covenant community, a friend and a believing Jew.
(ii) As an element of the Jewish psyche, Achior begins equally a conscious shadow element at the second level of conscious awareness. He then loses libido and becomes an element of the unconscious shadow. Subsequently regaining sufficient libido to cross the threshold of consciousness, he becomes largely integrated every bit a conscious shadow element at the outer tier of the third level of witting awareness where he is finally integrated completely.
Notably, Achior is the only character in Judith who has undergone such momentous permanent transformation: 53
(i) The Assyrians remain unconscious forces / inimical towards the Judae-ans.
(ii) Those drafted into the Assyrian army remain loyal to Holofernes' cause / in the embrace of the unconscious, and are defeated as such.
(iii) The Judaeans-Bethulians remain at the third level of conscious awareness despite the libidinal upsurge brought nigh by Achior; Judith'south activities causes them to stabilise at this level.
(iv) Even Judith returns to her widow's rags once the celebrations in Jerusalem are over. Her transformation into a warrior-woman is temporary, even though the furnishings of the liberation she wrought concluding "for a long fourth dimension after her death" at historic period 105 (16:25; 23).
Achior is thus Judith's undisputed effective protagonist, and then the unconscious representation of the Jewish psyche that has produced this amazing book.
His psychological dilemma or challenge is consequently that of this same Jewish psyche (and so of the text) and may be stated every bit follows: successfully to transition the second level of conscious awareness, viz. separation from the shadow, and become fully functional at the tertiary, viz., the differentiation of [his own] moral properties without falling into the clutches of the unconscious psyche. 54 Interestingly, the solution to this dilemma, as proposed past the Judithic dream, lies precisely in integrating that which is feared: the unpalatable shadow backdrop projected onto Holofernes and his army. 55 Judith demonstrates this integration in seven steps:
(i) Judith's inclusion of Holofernes' head into her nutrient bag (thirteen:9-10);
(ii) the re-incorporation of Judith into Bethuliah (thirteen:13);
(three) Uzziah's blessing of Judith, which is endorsed by the people (13:xviii-twenty);
(4) Achior'south blessing of Judith (14:7);
(v) Achior'due south incorporation into Judaean social club following his conversion (14:ten);
(vi) the people's plunder of Assyrian goods (15:half-dozen-7); and
(vii) the Sanhedrin's approving of Judith (fifteen:8-10).
The 7 steps bespeak that Judith and the Judaeans have completely integrated the shadow contents represented past Holofernes. Judith'south dedication of the Assyrian booty given her to the Lord, her votive offering of Holofernes' awning that she had brought from the Assyrian camp (xvi:nineteen), and her return to her widow's garments, so bespeak that her ego has non get inflated 56 through her victory / incorporation of shadow contents. This, no doubt, is the ideal state which the dream would like the Jewish psyche to adopt, for inflation would disengage the gains accomplished through the assimilation of unconscious shadow contents (run into footnote 55) and put the Jewish psyche at greater risk of being subsumed by the unconscious, namely condign that which information technology had feared and therefore projected onto Holofernes and his forces.
D ACHETYPE AND TRANSFORMATION - A PERSONAL AND Academic RESPONSE TO THE ENEMY IS Inside
As Jung has taught us, our persona, the mask nosotros vesture, is not the person we really are. 57 The mask is adaptive to the outside world - information technology helps us to navigate life by projecting an ideal image of who nosotros are - merely information technology is not all that we are. In my example, a terrified petty girl and a host of bad memories lay beneath the mask of the strong, assertive, spiritual woman that I projected and was trying to become. The arousal of these shadow contents during my post-graduate studies and my trigger-happy attempts at preventing myself (rather, my mask) from disintegrating are reflected in the fashion that I read and interpreted Judith. I was Judith, under attack only in command, stemming the tide of quickly rising unconscious fabric by decapitation.
When the caput of the SBL's Bible and Psychology programme asked me to present the findings of my 2004 monograph at the Nov 2013 conference, I thought that the task alee would exist an like shooting fish in a barrel one. To my surprise, it has proved inordinately difficult, taking three times longer to consummate than I had first imagined. For case, I found myself resistant to re-reading my monograph. Reasoning that my resistance was founded in colorlessness with the topic - I had completed my monograph over a decade ago - I tried to soldier on and eventually completed the chore under severe personal duress. In retrospect, my resistance should have alerted me that something more was itinerant than mere boredom. Indeed, 2 months after, further introspection has led me to conclude that I have never stopped dealing with my shadow even though I closed the volume on Judith, then to speak. The shadow is non silenced past decapitation; information technology is brought to rest through integration.
As I struggled to re-write this article, I was as well surprised by a particular resistance to engaging with my reading of Achior! I could meet that I had made a fault in originally assigning the Bethulians to the fourth level of conscious awareness. 58 I could also see that I had been swayed by the text and my own emotions into seeing Judith'south rise unconscious contents every bit an attack whereas, in fact, a more welcoming interpretation would exist in club, but I could not "touch" Achior. As I allowed my thoughts to run freely, I realised that I did not similar Achior and and so did non want to bargain with him again. Despite my own positive appraisal of this graphic symbol in The Enemy is Within, the child within me saw him as a wimp who hedges his bets to safeguard himself and ends upward identifying with opposing sides to his own detriment. In short, I had projected an age-one-time childhood paradigm of myself onto this grapheme so regarded him with disdain. This points me to the fact that I need to integrate the child within - my master shadow complex - in order to move from Stage ii to Stage 3 in this aspect of my individuation bicycle.
Having realised my unconscious mental attitude towards Achior, I then turned to Judith. I began wondering whether my so unconscious feelings towards each of these characters had prevented me from comparing them. A comparing was certainly chosen for by my reading of Judith as the ego/obvious protagonist and Achior as the shadow/effective protagonist, but I had failed to provide one, and this despite the fact that I had used Adolfo Roitman'southward (1989 ≈ 1992) 59 , 60 essay (see beneath) in my work. With retrospect, I at present run into that I had failed to compare the two characters because I feared placing my conscious and unconscious personalities alongside each other.
On a more academic level, I note that few scholarly articles or essays have been penned specifically on the graphic symbol of Achior. The outset publication dedicated solely to Achior was that of Roitman (1989 ≈ 1992). Prior to Roitman's splendid report, the most detailed reflection on Achior'south overall func-tion 61 was that of Moore, who noted that Achior is "a crucial character for uniting both sections of the volume. . . a splendid study in contrasts and an effective foil for several of the volume'southward characters." 62 Building on Moore's observations, Roitman correctly notes that "at that place is an especially intriguing structural relationship and a subtle complementarity between Achior and Judith which must be explained." 63 Focusing on the complementarity between the functions of these two characters, Roitman then traces these complementarities through five stages in each character'southward development, as follows: 64
(i)Opposite roles and location: man/woman; Ammonite/Israelite; Infidel/Jew; Holofernes' encampment/Bethuliah.
(two)Parallel roles and location: both deliver a spoken language, which utilises the history of the Jews to teach spiritual lessons upon which suggestions/advice/recommendations are made.
(three)Change of places: Achior is expelled from Holofernes' military camp / Judith leaves Bethuliah voluntarily.
(iv)Change of roles in terms of function and reactions, and speech: instance Achior'due south truthful advice earns the ire of Holofernes and his people, whereas Judith's misleading advice earns their praise and approval.
(v)Meeting and transformation of the character: Achior meets with Judith and is transformed into a civilian and a Jew / Judith meets with Achior and is transformed into a pious and secluded widow.
For Roitman, the parallels above show that Achior is "a kind of double or 'alter ego'" for Judith. 65 According to my psychoanalytic estimation of Judith, Roitman is more correct than he may have imagined. Achior, as I have indicated, is Judith'south effective protagonist upon whom depend all the transformations in this text. As such, he is indeed as much a protagonist of the tale as is Judith. Achior likewise functions as the animus-shadow of a femininely construed Jewish community, 66 just every bit Judith functions equally the ego and anima of its masculine representation. 67 Moreover, Achior is as responsible for the salvation of the Judae-ans as is Judith. He is the first answer to their prayers. The text tacitly acknowledges this fact by having the Bethulians' receive Achior wholeheartedly prior to Judith's transformation and descent to the Assyrian camp. Achior is therefore even more than important to the unfolding of the story than either Moore or Roitman imagined him to be. 68
In sharp contrast to the veritable explosion of Judith studies in the terminal few decades, 69 the bookish globe has produced only i more than English commodity on Achior, namely that of Venter (2011), "The Role of the Ammonite Achior in the Volume of Judith." 70 Using Stahlberg'due south theory concerning the telling and re-telling of texts, Venter argues that Judith and Achior are used propagandistically to "for a new definition of Israelite identity." 71 For him, the author "combines an exclusivist view of Israel with an inclusivist stance not only including proselytes and marginalised widows in the Judaean history. . . but even proposing that they are the heroes and leaders who save their [sic] people." 72 Every bit I have already indicated, my deep-structure analysis shows that Achior is as responsible for the salvation of the Jews as is Judith. Venter'due south views therefore find parallel in my own.
E Determination
In this article, I have attempted to provide an autobiographical response to my 2004 monograph focused through the graphic symbol of Achior. In club to do so, I accept briefly outlined Jung's concept of the individuation process, presented my agreement of ABC and addressed my findings about Achior. Then, with a view to demystifying (my own) academic work, I presented the personal reasons that fuelled my original written report every bit well as the effect that writing this commodity has had on me. In this, I have confirmed my commitment to existence a demon-strably Jungian critic and unearthed a shadow complex inside me which cries out for integration.
While my perspective on Achior vis-à-vis Judith has not changed -rather, information technology has been confirmed past extant English studies - I accept come to come across him equally a recipient of my own projected animus-shadow contents which need to be integrated into my conscious psyche every bit fully equally he was integrated into Bethulian order at his conversion. However, I have made at least one important revision to my 2004 study: I have interpreted the Bethulians every bit people / psychological elements at the 3rd level of conscious awareness, contrary to my initial study which had placed them at level four. I believe that this alter better enables us to run into the similarities between the Bethulians and Achior in terms of their shared religion, fate, Deuteronomistic worldview, and level of consciousness. It besides enables usa better to understand the dilemma facing Achior and the Bethulians in terms of becoming stabilised / fully functional at the third level of consciousness, namely the differentiation of moral backdrop and individual consciousness.
My autobiographical review of The Enemy is Within has besides prompted me to query my first estimation of ascent unconscious contents equally an attack on consciousness. Moreover, my current commodity has focused far more on the transformative function of Achior than had my monograph. I have no uncertainty that these changes besides are fuelled by my own psychological development in the terminal decade. Equally I accept previously indicated, I have not ceased battling my shadow since I completed my monograph. My work on Judith has facilitated more shadow contents breaking through my conscious threshold than I had e'er expected. Some of these take been and then contrary to my conscious nature, that they have terrified me. However, I am slowly coming to come across the ascent tide of the unconscious as a approval, rather than an assault, for it gives me the opportunity to integrate that which I accept deliberately or not so deliberately "lost" of myself. I am slowly being transformed, then that I no longer need to feign wholeness but can encompass brokenness. However, I am still not fix to compare Judith and Achior. Clearly, I need to practice more internal work before I tin can externalise it into an commodity or a office of an article.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alonso-Schökel, Luis S. J. (ed.). Narrative Structures in the Volume of Judith: Protocol of the Eleventh Colloquy: 27 Jan 1975. Berkeley, Calif.: The Eye for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Civilisation, 1975. [ Links ]
Anderson, Janice C. and Jeffrey L. Staley (eds.). Taking it Personally: Autobiographical Biblical Criticism. Semeia 72. Atlanta: SBL, 1995. [ Links ]
Anderson, Leon. "Analytic Autoethnography." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35/4 (2006): 373-395. [ Links ]
Alkali, Kevin R., Elena Ciletti and Hendrike Lähnemann (eds.). The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies across the Disciplines. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2010. [ Links ]
Craghan, John F. "Esther, Judith and Ruth: Paradigms for Human Liberation." Biblical Theological Bulletin 12/1 (1982): 11-nineteen. [ Links ]
Craven, Toni. Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series lxx. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983. [ Links ]
Davies, Phillip R. (ed.). First Person: Essays in Biblical Autobiography. Biblical Seminar. London: T&T Clark, 2002. [ Links ]
Dawson, Terrence. "Jung, Literature, and Literary Criticism." Pages 255-280 in The Cambridge Companion to Jung. Edited by Polly Immature-Eisendrath and Terrence Dawson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Printing, 1997. [ Links ]
Diel, Paul. Symbolism in the Bible: Its Psychological Significance. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986. [ Links ]
Efthimiadis-Keith, Helen. "Text and estimation: Gender and Violence in the Book of Judith, Scholarly Commentary and the Visual Arts from the Renaissance Onward." Erstwhile Testament Essays 15/1 (2002): 64-84. [ Links ]
______. The Enemy is Within: A Jungian Psychoanalytic Approach to the Book of Judith. Biblical Interpretation Series 67. Boston: Brill, 2004. [ Links ]
______. "Judith, Feminist Ethics and Feminist Biblical/Quondam Testament Interpretation." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 138 (2010): 91-111. [ Links ]
______. "On the Egyptian Origin of Judith, or Judith as Anat-Yahu." Journal for Semitics xx/1 (2011): 300-322. [ Links ]
______. "What makes Men and Women Place with Judith? A Jungian Mythological Perspective on the Feminist Value of Judith Today." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 68/1 (2012): Art. #1267, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v68i1.1267. [ Links ]
Edinger, Edward F. The Bible and the Psyche: Individuation Symbolism in the Old Testament. Studies in Jungian Psychology past Jungian Analysts. Toronto: Inner City Books, 1986. [ Links ]
Gelpi, Albert. "Emily Dickinson and the Deerslayer: The Dilemma of the Woman Poet in America." Pages 103-117 in Jungian Literary Criticism. Edited by Richard P. Sugg. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1992. [ Links ]
Jung, Carl Chiliad. The Integration of the Personality. Translated by Stanley K. Dell. eighth Impression. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1940. [ Links ]
______. 2 Essays on Analytical Psychology. The Nerveless Works of C. Yard. Jung seven. 2d, rev. and augmented ed. (1966). Translated past Richard F. C. Hull. 2nd Printing (1970). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1953. [ Links ]
______. 2 Essays on Analytical Psychology. Translated by Richard F. C. Hull. Top ed. New York: Meridian Books, 1956. [ Links ]
______. Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung 9:2. 2nd ed. Translated by Richard F. C Hull. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959. [ Links ]
Kaplan, Kalman J. and Matthew B. Schwartz. The Fruit of Her Easily: A Psychology of Biblical Women. Cambridge: West.B. Eerdmans, 2007. [ Links ]
Kille, D. Andrew. "Jacob - A Study in Individuation." Pages twoscore-54 in Jung and the Estimation of the Bible. Edited past David L. Miller. New York: Continuum, 1995. [ Links ]
______. Psychological Biblical Criticism. Guides to Biblical Scholarship: One-time Testament Series. Kindle ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001. [ Links ]
Kitzberger, Ingrid R. (ed.). The Personal Vocalization in Biblical Estimation. London: Routledge, 1999. [ Links ]
______ (ed.). Autobiographical Biblical Criticism: Betwixt Text and Self. Leiden: Deo Publishing, 2002. [ Links ]
Kluger, Yehezkiel. A Psychological Interpretation of Ruth with a Companion Essay: Standing in the Sandals of Naomi, by Nomi Kluger-Nash. Am Klolsterplatz, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, 1999. [ Links ]
Moore, Carey A. Judith: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1985. [ Links ]
Mouton, Elna. Reading a New Testament Certificate Ethically. Boston: Brill, 2002. [ Links ]
Nadar, Sarojini. "Toward a Feminist Missiological Agenda: A Example Study of the Jacob Zuma Rape Trial." Missionalia 37/1 (2009): 85-102. [ Links ]
Newheart, Michael W. "Johannine Symbolism." Pages 71-91 in Jung and the Interpretation of the Bible. Edited past David L. Miller. New York: Continuum 1995. [ Links ]
Pratt, Annis V. "Spinning amidst Fields: Jung, Frye, Levi-Strauss, and Feminist Archetypal Theory." Pages 153-166 in Jungian Literary Criticism. Edited by Richard P. Sugg. Evanston, 111.: Northwestern University Press, 1992. [ Links ]
Psybibs. "Recent Books in Psychology and Biblical Studies." No Pages. Cited 3 December 2013. Online: http://psybibs.revdak.com/bibpsy_books.htm. [ Links ]
Quillo, Robert. "Naked am I: Psychological Perspectives on the Unity of the Book of Job." Perspectives in Religious Studies xviii/3 (1991): 213-222. [ Links ]
Roitman, Adolfo. "The Function and Meaning of Achior in the Book of Judith." Pages 540-549 in Society of Biblical Literature 1989 Seminar Papers. Edited past David J. Lull. Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 28. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Printing, 1989. [ Links ]
______. "Achior in the Book of Judith: His Part and Significance." Pages 31-46 in "No-i Spoke Ill of Her ": Essays on Judith. Edited by James C. VanderKam. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Printing, 1992. [ Links ]
Schutte, Philippus J. W. "When They, We and the Passive become I - Introducing Autobiographical Biblical Criticism." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 61/one and 2 (2005): 401-416. Skehan, Patrick W. "Past the Hand of Judith." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 25 (1963): 94-110. [ Links ]
Staley John L. "Fathers and Sons: Fragments from an Autobiographical Midrash on John's Gospel." Pages 65-85 in The Personal Phonation in Biblical Interpretation. Edited by Ingrid R. Kitzberger. London: Routledge, 1999. [ Links ]
Stocker, Margarita. Judith: Sexual Warrior: Women and Ability in Western Culture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1998. [ Links ]
Sugg, Richard P. "Introduction to the Selections." Pages 1-6 in Jungian Literary Criticism. Edited by Richard P. Sugg. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern Academy Press, 1992. [ Links ]
Theissen, Gerd. Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology. Translated past John P. Galvin. Philadelphia: Fortress Printing, 1983. [ Links ]
VanderKam, James C. (ed.). "No-1 Spoke Ill of Her": Essays on Judith. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1992. [ Links ]
Van Henten, Jan Westward. "Judith as Female Moses: Judith vii-13 in the Light of Exodus 17, Numbers xx, and Deuteronomy 33:viii-11." Pages 33-48 in Reflection on Theology and Gender. Edited by Fokkelien Van Dijk-Hemmes and Athalya Brenner. Kampen, kingdom of the netherlands: Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1994. [ Links ]
Van Henten, Jan W. "Judith as Culling Leader: A Rereading of Judith 7-xiii." Pages 224-252 in A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna. Edited by Athalya Brenner. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995. [ Links ]
Venter, Pieter. "The Role of the Ammonite Achior in the Book of Judith." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 67/3 (2011): Art. #1101, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/x.4102/hts.v67i3.1101. [ Links ]
Xeravits, Géza G. (ed.). A Pious Seductress: Studies in the Book of Judith. Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies 14. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2012. [ Links ]
Zornberg, Avivah G. The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious. New York: Schochen Books, 2009. [ Links ]
Dr. Helen Efthimiadis-Keith
School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, UKZN, Golf Road Campus
P/Bag X01
Scottsville, 3201, South Africa
Electronic mail: helenkeith@fnbconnect.co.za, keithh@ukzn.air-conditioning.za
one I would like to thank my friend and colleague, Prof. Jonathan Draper, for tirelessly reading and commenting upon the first few drafts of this paper.
2 "Judith" refers to the character, while "Judith" refers to the book past the same name. The aforementioned distinction is maintained for other books and characters which share a name.
three John F. Craghan, "Esther, Judith and Ruth: Paradigms for Human Liberation," BTB 12/ane: 11-19.
4 Encounter Helen Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within: A Jungian Psychoanalytic Approach to the Book of Judith (BIS 67; Boston: Brill, 2004), 7-18; 23-33.
five The communications of the unconscious ofttimes seem irrational and even nonsensical to the conscious heed. This is particularly articulate in dreams where, for example, the dreamer might non wait similar herself or himself, or may be capable of flying, or command great power, etc.. Run into Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 44.
6 For a relatively up-to-date list of books, articles, and essays on the subject, encounter Psybibs, "Contempo Books in Psychology and Biblical Studies," north.p. [cited 3 Dec 2013]. Online: http://psybibs.revdak.com/bibpsy_books.htm.
vii Run across east.yard. Paul Diel, Symbolism in the Bible: Its Psychological Significance (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986); and Edward F. Edinger, The Bible and the Psyche: Individuation Symbolism in the Onetime Testament (SJPJA 24; Toronto: Inner City Books, 1986). 1 may add together Kalman J. Kaplan and Matthew B. Schwartz, The Fruit of Her Hands: A Psychology of Biblical Women (Cambridge: W. B. Eerdmans, 2007), and Avivah M. Zornberg, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious (New York: Schochen Books, 2009).
eight See due east.g. Michael W. Newheart, "Johannine Symbolism," in Jung and the Interpretation of the Bible (ed. David L. Miller; New York: Continuum 1995), 71-91, and Yehezkiel Kluger, A Psychological Estimation of Ruth with a Companion Essay: Continuing in the Sandals of Naomi, past Nomi Kluger-Nash (Am Klolsterplatz: Daimon Verlag, 1999).
9 Run across e.g. Robert Quillo, "Naked am I: Psychological Perspectives on the Unity of the Book of Job," PRSt 18/3 (1991): 213-222.
10 See e.g. D. Andrew Kille, "Jacob - A Study in Individuation," in Jung and the Interpretation of the Bible (ed. David L. Miller; New York: Continuum, 1995), 40-54. Come across besides Kaplan and Schwartz, Fruit of her Easily; and Zornberg, Murmuring Deep.
11 See eastward.m. Gerd Theissen, Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology (trans. John P. Galvin; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983).
12 Run across D. Andrew Kille. Psychological Biblical Criticism. (GBSOT; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001).
xiii See e.one thousand. Theissen, Psychological Aspects and Kille, Psychological.
xiv Come across e.one thousand. Edinger, Bible and the Psyche; Kaplan and Schwartz, Fruit of her Hands; and Zornberg, Murmuring Deep.
fifteen See due east.g. Theissen, Psychological Aspects.
xvi See footnote 20.
17 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Inside, 38.
18 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Inside.
xix Delight see the bibliography for a listing of these articles.
20 Richard P. Sugg, "Introduction to the Selections," in Jungian Literary Criticism (ed. Richard P. Sugg; Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press), i-6. Sugg identifies 3 types of Jungian (literary) critics: a) The "shared affinities" group share certain affinities with Jungian psychology, such as "mythical vision" and a belief in archetypes. Notwithstanding, they do not acknowledge outright the validity of his work, with some critics scrupulously distinguishing psychology from literary criticism; b)Myth Critics meet myth equally a mode of thinking nigh and imagining the world, and consequently believe that literature is informed by "a mythic vision . . . equally conveying a significance of archetypal and collective importance" (Sugg, "Introduction," 3.); and c) The demonstrably Jungian critics who "identify an important aspect of their critical approach to literature every bit Jungian. They . . . have demonstrated the usefulness of a serious report of both Jung'south psychology and the history and practice of approaches to literature that stem from information technology" (Sugg, "Introduction," 5). Many have even applied his theories to their lives. "Typically, such critics begin to piece of work in both directions . . . using literature to analyze psychology too as the other way round" (Sugg, "Introduction," 5).
21 Terrence Dawson, "Jung, Literature, and Literary Criticism," in The Cambridge Companion to Jung (ed. Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terrence Dawson; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 264.
22 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 408.
23 Sarojini Nadar, "Toward a Feminist Missiological Agenda: A Case Study of the Jacob Zuma Rape Trial," Missionalia 37/1 (2009): 90-91. [This footnote is original to the quotation].
24 Helen Efthimiadis-Keith, "Judith, Feminist Ethics and Feminist Biblical/Old Testament Interpretation," JTSA 138/nine (2010): 110.
25 Carl 1000. Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (Coll.Jung 7; 2nd, rev. and augmented ed.; 1966; trans. Richard F. C. Hull; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1953),174.
26 It is important to annotation that individuation is not a linear process. Rather, it is a lifelong bike that is repeated many times over in our lives. We tin can also find ourselves at different stages of this bicycle in various aspects of our lives at any given time (Dawson, "Jung," 268).
27 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 57.
28 Dawson, "Jung," 267.
29 Dawson, "Jung," 267.
30 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 57.
31 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 57-58.
32 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 58.
33 Carl 1000. Jung, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Coll.Jung 9:2; 2nd ed.; trans. Richard Hull; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959), 8, 33.
34 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Inside, 46.
35 The shadow is "an inferior component of the personality." See Carl Thousand. Jung, Two Essays on Belittling Psychology (New York: Meridian Books, 1956), 63-64. It is the repository of all that we regard as strange to ourselves, all that nosotros reject as the non-I. The shadow'due south nature is manifest chiefly in the emotional disturbances that affect the conscious country. Meet Carl G. Jung, The Integration of the Personality (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1940), 20. Information technology is thus the classic whose contents tin be made conscious with the least difficulty (Jung, Aion, 10). Past the same token, it is the one that is virtually easily experienced (Jung, Aion, 8) and and then one that is oftentimes either projected or repressed onto those whom we regard as "other" to ourselves. Come across Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 52-53.
36 Albert Gelpi, "Emily Dickinson and the Deerslayer: The Dilemma of the Woman Poet in America," in Jungian Literary Criticism (ed. Richard P. Sugg; Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Printing, 1992), 105-106.
37 Information technology may, at start, seem strange that the protagonist of a male individuation drama is female. However, this "oddity" may be explained past the fact that a) the Israelite community is often construed as female, and b) Judith acts equally ego and anima of the Israelite community (Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 422). As I indicated in my monograph, depicting Judith every bit female "necessitates the reversal of gender i.r.o. the other characters in the dream/individuation drama so that traditionally male person figures are rendered female and vice versa. That is why Judith's conscious shadow - [her stewardess] is female person, and the male Holofernes, whom she encounters at the nadir of her individuation cycle (her sojourn in the Assyrian camp), is her animal" (Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 410). See as well Helen Efthimiadis-Keith, "What Makes Men and Women Identify with Judith? A Jungian Mythological Perspective on the Feminist Value of Judith Today," HvTSt 68/1 (2012), Art. #1267, 9 pages, http://dx.doi.org/x.4102/hts.v68i1.1267.
38 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 62-63. Jung assumes that the aforementioned holds true for the animus in women's cycles. However, subsequent studies - mine included -accept shown that this is not the case: what Jung regarded as the animus in female individ-uation cycles corresponds more closely to the shadow, "which for women is "socially conformist [vs. the antisocial aspects of the male shadow], incorporating women'due south self-loathing for their deviations from social norms, specifically the norms of femininity." See Annis V. Pratt, "Spinning amid Fields: Jung, Frye, Levi-Strauss, and Feminist Archetypal Theory," in Jungian Literary Criticism (ed. Richard P. Sugg; Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1992), 161 .
39 Elna Mouton, Reading a New Testament Document Ethically (Boston: Brill, 2002), viii.
40 To the best of my knowledge, the academic world has published only four volumes of essays utilising ABC to date: Janice C. Anderson and Jeffrey L. Staley (eds.), Taking information technology Personally: Autobiographical Biblical Criticism (Semeia 72; Atlanta: SBL, 1995); Ingrid R. Kitzberger (ed.), The Personal Voice in Biblical Interpretation (London: Routledge, 1999); Phillip R. Davies (ed.), First Person: Essays in Biblical Autobiography (BibSem; London: T&T Clark, 2002); Ingrid R. Kitzberger (ed.), Autobiographical Biblical Criticism: Between Text and Self (Leiden: Deo Publishing, 2002).
41 Philippus J. W. Schutte, "When They, We and the Passive Become I - Introducing Autobiographical Biblical Criticism," HvTSt 61/i and 2 (2005): 401.
42 Come across, for example, John L. Staley, "Fathers and Sons: Fragments from an Autobiographical Midrash on John's Gospel," in The Personal Vox in Biblical Interpretation (ed. Ingrid R. Kitzberger; London: Routledge, 1999), 65-85. Staley quotes a number of verses in John, after each of which he provides autobiographical details such as the mole on his daughter's left buttock (pp. 70, 71, 82) and his vasectomy (pp. 75-77). It is difficult to encounter what these events have to do with the verses in question, as no effort is made to integrate the autobiographical details with a scholarly understanding of these verses.
43 Schutte, "When They," 402.
44 Schutte, "When They," 404.
45 Leon Anderson, "Analytic Autoethnography," JCE 34/4 (2006): 384.
46 This sub-section is adopted and adapted from Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 186-191; 274-279.
47 All English language translations are taken from the RSVA unless otherwise indicated.
48 This is consonant with Jung's arroyo to dreams, which he regarded equally the primary vehicle of unconscious communication. See Jung, Two Essays (Routledge & Kegan Paul), 176-177. Every bit such he placed tremendous accent on the analysis of his patients' (analysands') dreams. Afterwards carefully recording and collecting an analysand's dreams, Jung subjected the dream material to 2 successive types of analysis, namely "objective'" and "subjective" analysis. See Jung, The Integration, 43. In the starting time, he related the dream material to the world outside the dreamer (Achior as person), while in the second, he related the dream contents to the dreamer herself/himself (Achior every bit an element of the Jewish psyche). In this way, the analysand was reunited with the memory complexes present in her/his unconscious psyche, thus raising her/his level of consciousness / conscious functionality.
49 Note, - "we shall be put to shame earlier the whole world" (v:21, my italics).
50 Briefly, Nebuchadnezzar and Holofernes successively attack diverse nations and group of nations, each of which represents a singled-out level of witting awareness: Arphaxad - level 1, the coastal dwellers and other vanquished nations (including the Ammonites) - level ii, the Judaeans - inner tier of level 3, and the Bethulians - outer tier of level 3. Holofernes' aim is to capture Jerusalem, which may be regarded as the center of ego consciousness.
51 In Judith, the phrases "past my hand" and "by the hand of a woman" are extremely important, even though they only appear a total of six times (eight:33; 9:x; 12:4; 13:fourteen, 15 and 16:half dozen). As Skehan has ably shown, these phrases link Judith to Moses, making her deliverance of the Jews alike to that of Moses' deliverance of the Israelites in the Exodus. See Patrick Skehan, "'By the Paw of Judith,'" CBQ 25 (1963): 94-110. For an insightful intertextual reading of Judith as Moses, come across Jan Due west. van Henten, "Judith equally Alternative Leader: A Rereading of Judith 7-13," in A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna (ed. Athalya Brenner; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 224-252. (Van Henten's 1995 essay is nearly identical to the one published in 1994: January W. van Henten, "Judith as Female Moses: Judith 7-13 in the Calorie-free of Exodus 17, Numbers 20, and Deuteronomy 33:8-11," in Reflection on Theology and Gender [eds. Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes and Athalya Brenner; Kampen, the Netherlands: Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1994], 33-48).
52 This sub-section is adopted and adapted from Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 204-207; 301-318.
53 As Roitman astutely observes, Achior is the simply secondary graphic symbol in Judith whose office is developed. Meet Adolfo Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith: His Role and Significance," in "No-one Spoke Sick of Her": Essays on Judith (ed. James C. VanderKam; Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Printing, 1992), 31-46. Roitman'due south 1992 essay is a reworking of the one published in 1989 and is nigh identical to it (Adolfo Roitman, "The Function and Pregnant of Achior in the Book of Judith," in Society of Biblical Literature 1989 Seminar Papers [ed. David J. Lull; SBLSP 28; Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1989], 540-549). I will exist using information from the updated 1992 essay throughout the present commodity.
54 For greater detail please see Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 207-211, 387-389, 420.
55 As previously indicated, Achior represents a palatable shadow content which is therefore integrated into consciousness with relative ease. By contrast, Holofernes represents that which the Jewish psyche had constitute reprehensible about itself and had therefore projected onto Holofernes and his forces.
56 "When an archetype gathers plenty libido to enter the sphere of consciousness and is subsequently assimilated into that consciousness, the ego-consciousness takes on its erstwhile mana or magical ability." See Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 63. This may result in either positive or negative ego inflation, which see the affected person becoming either also certain of herself/himself (positive inflation) or "regarding herself/himself every bit the very embodiment of all evil" (negative ego inflation). See Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 64. In both cases, inflation will almost surely lead to the destruction of everything that has been gained by assimilating the archetype in the first identify. See Jung, Two Essays (Routledge & Kegan Paul), 228.
57 See Jung, Two Essays (Meridian Books), 194.
58 "The Bethulians are citizens of a town/city situated on/near i of the of import mount passes by which entry might be gained into Judaea and its temple in the capital letter city, Jerusalem (4:vi-7; 6:12). They may thus be seen equally the (spiritual) guardians of central consciousness (Jerusalem) and/or the outer layers of it." See Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Inside, 193.
59 I am deeply grateful to Proff. Roitman and Schmitz who severally emailed me copies of Roitman's essays at my request.
60 See footnote 52 and the biblography for details.
61 I refer specifically to Achior'southward overall office in Judith. Every bit Roitman notes, while Cazelles and Steinman "clarified some obscure aspects of Achior," they failed to note his complex office and structural importance. See Roitman, "Achior in the Volume of Judith," 32.
62 Carey A. Moore, Judith: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1985), 59.
63 Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith," 32.
64 Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith," 33-37.
65 Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith," 3 8.
66 I owe this insight to Prof. Athalya Brenner.
67 Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, 422.
68 This argument is not meant pejoratively in the least. My work corroborates that of Roitman and Moore even as their work corroborates mine, for we are working at two singled-out just related levels of the text, namely the surface and deep levels. I could not have completed my deep-level analysis of Achior without the insightful work of these scholars.
69 Run into, for example, the monographs by Toni Craven, Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith (SBLDS 70; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983); Margarita Stocker, Judith: Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture (New Oasis & London: Yale Academy Printing, 1998); and Efthimiadis-Keith, The Enemy is Within, or the volumes edited past Luis S. J. Alonso-Schökel (ed.), Narrative Structures in the Volume of Judith: Protocol of the Eleventh Colloquy: 27 January 1975 (Berkeley, Calif.,: The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1975), and James C. Van-derKam (ed.), "No-one Spoke Ill of Her": Essays on Judith (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1992). Encounter too the most recent works edited past Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti and Hendrike Lähnemann (eds.), The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies across the Disciplines (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2010), and Géza G. Xeravits (ed.), A Pious Seductress: Studies in the Book of Judith (DCLS fourteen; Berlin: DeGruyter, 2012). The former contains twenty-five essays dealing with the representation of Judith in Jewish textual traditions and the arts, without a unmarried contribution dedicated to Achior. The latter deals with Judith from a variety of perspectives. It contains a German language contribution on Achior, simply I could, unfortunately, not get it translated into English language on time for this publication.
70 Pieter Venter, "The Function of the Ammonite Achior in the Book of Judith," HvTSt 67/3 (2011), Art. #1101, ix pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v67i3.1101.
71 Venter, "The Office," eight.
72 Venter, "The Function," 8.
cannadythersenight.blogspot.com
Source: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192013000300007
0 Response to "The Sword of Judith Judith Studies Across the Disciplines Book Review"
Post a Comment