Gender, Power, and Persuasion: The Genesis Narratives and Contemporary Portraits
"By examining the book of Genesis from the perspectives of gender, power, persuasion, and domain, Jacobs reveals relationships among the characters rarely considered before. Even in the chapters clearly devoted to the biblical characters, the line between what happens in the biblical text and the modern world almost evaporates, forcing the reader to consider both the biblical text and the modern world in entirely new ways."--Tammi J. Schneider, Claremont Graduate University"With the insight of an astute therapist, the precision of an engineer, and the artistry of a poet, Mignon R. Jacobs invites us to hear the characters in ancient biblical texts amid complicated webs of divine movement and intriguing, often dysfunctional, 'family matters' as she brilliantly explores concepts of relational configurations, gender, power dynamics, and matrixes of persuasion in this provocative work. Her dialogical, multicritical approach provides readers with refreshing, illuminating understandings of complex trajectories of experiences of divine rule and human participation. Like Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie, she carefully exegetes the texts and deconstructs the characters and their contexts of cloak-and-dagger disguise and deception, bringing new clarity to how centuries-old texts serve as windows to human character--texts that are both uplifting and detrimental--and to how these texts shape twenty-first-century attitudes, events, and effects.Gender, Power, and Persuasionis a must read for anyone who is curious about what motivates people, particularly amid family dynamics and divine orchestration!"--Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Shaw University Divinity School"Mignon Jacobs has produced a fascinating study of the complicated interpersonal relationships, both divine-human and human-human, in the Genesis narratives. Her erudite treatment of these texts brings into relief the variety of social dynamics, including perceptions of superiority, powerlessness, and abuse, at work in the drama. Jacobs demonstrates repeatedly that power and persuasion are not gender-specific categories but are universal responses to various social constraints. With the recognition that the biblical characters and situations are windows to understanding our own relationships, Jacobs's insights provide a valuable tool for understanding human motives and behavior in society today."--Hannah Harrington, Patten University