Reading the Wife/Sister Narratives in Genesis

The book of Genesis introduces three similar wife/sister narratives, commonly thought to be originating from different sources because of their repetitive entries. This research explores the wife/sister narratives in Genesis (Gen 12:10-13:1, 20:1-18, and 26:1-11), and it aims to provide an understanding of the three stories as a whole by uncovering its context by textlinguistic and literary type-scene analysis. Textlinguistic analysis helps us to see how each wife/sister narrative functions in its context, while type-scene analysis emphasizes how the three narratives develop and contribute to the patriarchal narratives through their similarities and variations. Although the traditional type-scene analysis studies recurrent fixed motives in texts, this study focuses much more on literary aspects such as characterization, theme, and plot. Through this study, the three wife/sister stories will elaborate that the patriarchal narratives are not results of different authors, but the well-developed products of a single author. The three wife/sister stories work together to highlight God's faithfulness to his promises (Gen 12:1-3).

""Kang provides a clear and satisfying integration of type-scene analysis with the development of characterization, plot, and theme, in order to place the three episodes of the endangered matriarch within the narrative arch of Genesis 12-26. As a bonus, the reader enjoys a concise introduction with balanced assessment of the macrostructure of Genesis as a whole!""
--John W. Hilber, Professor of Old Testament, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary

""The so-called wife/sister narratives in Genesis have been the focus of numerous compositional studies throughout the period of modern critical scholarship. Dr. Hwagu Kang has produced a very important work that utilizes a text linguistic and type-scene analysis in order to provide significant insights into these stories. Kang's methodological approach uncovers numerous interconnections and subtle differences within these texts and the way that they have been composed that have often been overlooked by scholars. Moreover, his volume naturally contributes to the larger question of the use and development of type-scenes in both the Old and New Testaments.""
--K. Lawson Younger, Jr., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Hwagu Kang holds a doctorate degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a lecturer of the Old Testament at Korea Theological Seminary in Cheonan, South Korea, as well as Central Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas.