Hagar on Sinai: The Choice of Heracles, Mountain Women, and Pauline Allegory in Galatians.
Paul's allegory of Hagar and Sarah in Gal 4:21–5:1 remains a perennial puzzle as its enigmatic chain of associations (two biblical women—two covenants—two geographical locations of Mount Sinai and Jerusalem) has no clear parallel. In this study, I offer a fresh perspective by exploring striking simi...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 144; no. 3; pp. 535 - 556 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Society of Biblical Literature
2025
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=188453654&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 188453654 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00219231 JBL jtl: Journal of Biblical Literature issn: 00219231 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2025 vid: 144 iid: 3 pid: 11433 pub: Society of Biblical Literature artinfo: ui: 188453654 10.15699/jbl.1443.2025.8 ppf: 535 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 340KB tig: atl: Hagar on Sinai: The Choice of Heracles, Mountain Women, and Pauline Allegory in Galatians. aug: au: Friesen, Courtney J. P. affil: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 su: Bible. Galatians Hagar (Biblical figure) Old Testament criticism & interpretation Biblical commentaries Bible. Genesis Biblical research sug: subj: Bible. Galatians Hagar (Biblical figure) Old Testament criticism & interpretation Biblical commentaries Bible. Genesis Biblical research ab: Paul's allegory of Hagar and Sarah in Gal 4:21–5:1 remains a perennial puzzle as its enigmatic chain of associations (two biblical women—two covenants—two geographical locations of Mount Sinai and Jerusalem) has no clear parallel. In this study, I offer a fresh perspective by exploring striking similarities with an allegorical parable that was widely popular across antiquity among Greeks and Romans and within Judaism and Christianity. The so-called Choice of Heracles—commonly attributed to Prodicus (Xenophon, Mem. 2.1.21–33)—also features two women as personified abstractions of two opposing moral principles. They are named "Virtue" and "Vice" and appear to Heracles as he is coming of age, deciding which road his life would take. The story's allegorical qualities enabled a remarkable range of adaptations for new scenarios, two of which stand out for their proximity to Paul. Philo of Alexandria reinvents and expands the Choice of Heracles for his exegesis of several opposing pairs of biblical mothers, including Hagar and Sarah, their sons, and respective inheritance rights (Sacr. 20–45). Dio Chrysostom reworks the myth for a political speech in which the two women—Royalty and Tyranny—are identified with eponymous mountain peaks upon which they sit (1 Regn. 49–84 [Or. 1]). pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Biblical Literature is the property of Society of Biblical Literature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Biblical Literature holder: Society of Biblical Literature dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|