a reassessment of Noah’s curse narrative (Genesis 9:18–27)

Abstract

This dissertation is a reassessment of Noah’s cursing act in Genesis 9:18-27 from a familial perspective. The central argument is that when Noah’s curse action is considered through a familial lens, his curse upon Canaan points to Noah’s fall, and demonstrates further the corruption of human nature, and its consequences on the family that have been extensively and persistently attested to in Genesis 3–11. The study amounts to an ethical assessment of Noah’s actions as reflected in the Genesis 9:18-27 text, with particular focus on the cursing act itself. The argument in the study is based on literary analysis of the text within the context of Genesis, and other relevant OT texts in which curses and conflicts are present. Further, the argument locates the cursing act of Noah within the wider ancient Near Eastern (ANE) and ancient Israelite conceptualizations of cursing. The ANE conceptualization and practice of curse presents Noah as a lay maledictor who uttered an unconditional curse, occasioned by a conflict within his family context. The study follows an interdisciplinary approach, combining literary analysis with multi-contextual analysis, including ANE and Israelite data, as well as the Luo contemporary context. In this matrix, meaning arises through an intriguing and complex interplay of the text, author, and the reader(s). The literary context, the world behind the text, and the contemporary reader’s world offer either interpretive boundaries or provide insight into the analysis of the text in meaningful tension. The study suggests that the Luo conceptualization of kuong’ has enough significant cultural affinities with the HB (Hebrew Bible) and ANE concepts of cursing to raise possible understandings of Genesis 9 that may have been missed when interpreting the text within reading cultures that do not share or understand very well these aspects of cursing (like the West)