A characterization of Samuel in terms of the psychological model of Erikson

The story of Samuel forms an integral part of the Hebrew saga, marking the transition from the period of Judges to the Israelite monarchy. Book I of Samuel is unusual in that it portrays the birth, death and major episodes of the prophet's life. In fact, Samuel, along with Moses and Jeremiah, is one of the few characters whose full life history is documented in the Biblical text: we not only have the significant events which lead up to his birth, but he makes an appearance again after his death. Given this detail, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether a re-reading of the character of Samuel through a psychological model can throw fresh insights on how the Israelites effected the transition from a theocracy to a monarchy. The choice of Erikson is motivated by two considerations. In the first, Erikson extended the boundaries of Freudian psychoanalysis by describing both normal as well as abnormal development. His ego-psychology, with its eight-stage developmental plan, its theses and antitheses, is particularly suitable in the case of Samuel, whose life-cycle for the most part can be viewed as problematic, a series of crises. In the second, though he wrote prolifically on numerous leading historical figures and literary characters, Erikson himself never analysed a Biblical figure. This work is, however, not confined to a psychological typification of the character of Samuel. It is intended to be an interdisciplinary study: it deals with the text as an integrated literary unit and relies on the insights of classical Biblical scholarship to support many of its conclusions.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Burke, Guenevere

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gitay, Yehoshua

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14939