Abstract
In his revised doctoral dissertation (Heythrop College, supervised by Ann Jeffers) Toczyski aims ‘to examine the dialectic relationship between the text and the reader’. To this end, he opts for a reader-oriented model employing a ‘syntactic-literary analysis’ focused primarily on Joshua 2, while allowing that a broader context (Exodus-Joshua) will be required ‘to elucidate. . . some elements of the story’. After sketching the main requirements of the ‘critical reader’ he states a preference for John Barton’s ‘soft’ form of reader-oriented criticism. In chapter two he introduces Alviero Niccacci’s ‘textual linguistics’ at some length before applying the method with minor modifications to the MT of the Rahab story in his quest ‘to identify the specific linguistic and literary features designed to lead any actual reader into the world of the text’. The resulting analysis distinguishes between ‘narrative’ and ‘discourse/direct speech’, with the latter dominating. Three brief comments embedded in the narrative provide Rahab’s name, the location of her house, and the time the spies spent hidden in the hills.
In the third chapter Toczyski constructs a profile of the ‘mental library’, comprising ‘the principal tendencies in the interpretation of the Rahab story’, both ancient and modern, that the reader brings to the text. He begins with some midrashic interpretations: concerning her beauty; Rahab hiding the spies; Rahab as proselyte; the nature of her profession; and her family tree – interpretations that tend to focus on single aspects at the expense of the coherence of the whole story. In early Christian reference, Rahab’s importance is often filtered through the three New Testament references, treating her place in the lineage of Christ and as an example of salvation – in Hebrews a hero of faith, in James an example of good works, although she is also represented as ‘the virtuous prostitute’ and as a ‘type of the church’. Brief sections on the influence of rabbinic and patristic interpretations on literature and art and the transition to the present through Luther and Calvin then follow before the larger part of the chapter surveys (all too briefly) the broad variety of approaches that have characterized the modern and post-modern periods, covering the variety of historical-critical, literary, social context, postcolonial and feminist approaches, all, from ancient to modern, with the goal of adapting ‘the Rahab story to new socio-historical circumstances’.
Toczyski offers in chapter four an analysis that embraces ‘the inner fabric of the story, its reception and modern adaption’, which involves an attempt to expose the relationship between the text and the reader as well as ‘the contemporary relevance of the Rahab story’. He pays attention to aspects of the chronological problems that are a feature of the non-linear plot of Jdg. 2, culminating in the effects of ‘narrated time’ and ‘narration time’ on the critical reader. Aspects of Rahab’s name might suggest that the land is ‘wide’ and ‘broad’ enough to accommodate the claim of more than one party, certain story details tend to suggest the narrator’s admiration for her orchestration of events, while the situation of her house ‘may inform the reader about the marginal social status of Rahab in Jericho’ – all matters that arise out of brief comments through which the narrator can be ‘conceived as commentator’. As he seeks to build his ‘3-D’ portrait of Rahab, Toczyski offers further consideration in relation to dialogue, Rahab’s position over against the king of Jericho, and her ‘confession’, which depict a woman whose ‘character (probably) is a mixture both of opportunism and courage’ in her assessment of news of the impending invasion that had paralyzed the citizens of Jericho.
In chapter five, in just six pages, Toczyski reflects on ‘the power of storytelling’ as the critical reader engages with it before ending with a brief conclusion. The book is completed by a bibliography and indexes of references and authors.
Aspects of Toczyski’s approach certainly have merit and his thesis is not without interest, yet I fear that the ‘mental library’ he constructs is not the ‘mental library’ I would bring to the text. Although the rabbinic, patristic, reformation and other pre-enlightenment interpretations all have their own interest, a significant gap must surely exist between the reception of the text by the community or group to which it was initially addressed and its fragmented use in rabbinic and patristic interpretation right down to early modern times. That gap is not addressed within his ‘mental library’.