Irony in the Bible

Tobias Häner, Dr. theol. (2013), is assistant professor of Old Testament at the Cologne University of Catholic Theology (KHKT). Among his main research areas are the Book of Job and the Book of Ezekiel (Bleibendes Nachwirken des Exils. Untersuchung zur kanonischen Endgestalt des Ezechielbuches, Herder 2014). Virginia Miller, Ph.D. (2016) is a research fellow at the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, and a STD candidate at the Gregorian University, Rome. She is the author of A King and a Fool? The Succession Narrative as a Satire (2019). Carolyn J. Sharp, Ph.D. (2000), Yale University, is Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School. She has authored seven books, including Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible (2009), a commentary on Joshua (2019), and a commentary on Jeremiah 26–52 (2022).

Contents


Abbreviations


List of Contributors





Introduction: Reading Irony in Ancient Texts


 Tobias Häner and Virginia Miller





Part 1: Irony in the Pentateuch


1 Respectful Parody of Exodus Traditions in Genesis 15–16


 Mark G. Brett





2 Widerstand, Sympathie und Entlarvung: Ironie im Exodusbuch


 Carolin Neuber





3 Is Leviticus Ironic? Exploring Narratival and Priestly Ironies in the Center of the Torah


 Mark A. Awabdy





4 Die Ironie des Deuteronomiums


 Benjamin Kilchör





Part 2: Irony in the Writings


5 Gottes Fragen: Ironie in der ersten Gottesrede des Ijobbuchs (Ijob 38,1–39,30)


 Tobias Häner





6 Ironic Criticism in the Prose Framework of Job


 Raik Heckl





7 Not Parody, but Irony: Irony in the Book of Job


 JiSeong J. Kwon





8 Irony in the Elihu Speeches?


 Stephan Lauber





9 A Typological Interpretation of Job That Is Dependent on Irony


 Virginia Miller





10 Mockery and Irony in the Psalms


 Beat Weber





11 Ironic Contestations as a Care Strategy in Lamentations


 Gregory Lee Cuéllar





12 Die Theologie des Buches Kohelet im Zeichen von Ironie und Ambiguität. Eine Skizze


 Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger





13 Hosting Its Own Otherness: Irony in the Book of Esther


 Timothy Beal





Part 3: Irony in the Literature of the Prophets


14 An Ironic Overture in the Book of Jeremiah


 Keith Bodner





15 Irony in Ezekiel’s Book


 Stephen L. Cook





16 Entertaining Contradictions: Continuing the Conversation on Irony in the Book of Jonah


 L. Juliana Claassens





Part 4: Irony in the Deuterocanonical Books


17 “Foiled by the Hand of a Woman”: Irony in the Book of Judith


 Stephen D. Cook





18 Ironie und Ambiguität im Buch der Weisheit


 Luca Mazzinghi





Part 5: Irony in the New Testament


19 The Source of Irony in the Fourth Gospel


 John Painter





20 Disambiguating Forms of Irony in Second Corinthians 10–13


 Matthew Pawlak





Index of Subjects