1st Edition
Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God An Agambenian reading of Genesis 4:1-16
Introduction
1 Cain’s Evil Nature: A Story of Otherness
2 God’s Intervention: A Story of Othering
3 Cain Speaks Back to Augustine: A Critical Reading from Byron to Vallejo
4 Genesis 4:1-16: A Paradoxical Narrative
Epilogue
Biography
Julián Andrés González Holguín is an assistant professor of Old Testament at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, USA. He is a steering committee member of AAR "Sacred Texts, Theory and Theological Construction" group, a graduate from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and a Latino migrant scholar raised in Colombia with interests in postcolonial, feminist, and political theory in the interpretation of texts.
"This is a groundbreaking analysis of the famous biblical sibling rivalry between Cain and Abel, so crucial for the three Abrahamic religious traditions. In critical theoretical dialogue with Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Rancière, and Julia Kristeva, González adeptly transforms the classical interpretations of that first instance of homicide. Conscious of the centrality of that biblical saga for our literary and cultural traditions, González engages in a fruitful dialogue with Lord Byron’s play Cain: A Mystery. As a scholar of Latino heritage, he also holds an enlightening conversation with two of the most celebrated Latin American writers: Jorge Luis Borges and César Vallejo. This is an important contribution to the interpretation of one of the most perplexing and bewildering texts of the Hebrew sacred scriptures."
- Luis N. Rivera-Pagán, Henry Winters Luce Professor in Ecumenics Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA
"Murder? He probes! González Holguín’s book is a significant and sophisticated study of the many "unsolved mysteries" involved in the first homicide and fratricide in human history narrated in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing from the scholarship of Agamben, Rancière, and Kristeva, González Holguín reads the reception history of this passage—within both biblical scholarship and the larger literary world—and relates Abel’s death to today’s questions about human rights and immigration. This book is wide-ranging, thought-provoking, and socio-politically relevant. Don’t miss it!"
- Tat-siong Benny Liew, Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, USA
"Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God is a groundbreaking re-interpretation of Gen. 4:1-16. It demonstrates that biblical studies can greatly profit from taking into account literary rewritings and re-interpretatio
