Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God: An Agambenian Reading of Genesis 4:1-16

207 Pages·2017·1.32 MB·English

by  Julián Andrés González Holguín

“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 enlighten-
ing conversation with two of the most celebrated Latin American writers: Jorge
Luis Borges and César Vallejo. This is an important contribution to the interpre-
tation 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 fratri-
cide in human history narrated in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing from the scholar-
ship 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-interpretations of biblical stories, for it opens
endless possibilities for a more complex and critical approach to those stories.
In addressing the key issue of othering at the core of Abel and Cain story, Julián
Andrés González excels in offering an innovative approach to it; he also illumi-
nates the profound impact that bringing together literary and religious studies in
illuminating and addressing social, human, and political pressing issues of our
time as well as convincing us of the urgent necessity of taking a stand, making a
commitment in regard to those very issues. This is an exciting and timely study.
Cain’s figure is no longer that ‘other’ to be outcast; instead the killing of Abel
paves the way to interrogate critically the role of the sovereign: God. In projecting
the fate of the immigrant on the cursed Cain, González’s study unveils a sovereign
power that very much relies on politics of exclusion, othering and devaluation
of other lives. It takes a passionate stand for human rights precisely there where
those rights remain in the parenthetical, precarious life of homo sacer.”
Professor Francisco Moran, Department of World Languages
and Literatures, Southern Methodist University, USA
“Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God succeeds in that most difficult of critical
tasks, marrying the rigours of traditional scholarship to the imaginative powers of
contemporary method. Marshalling writers from Agamben to Augustine, Philo to
Foucault, this book offers a reading of immense richness that despite its complex-
ity never overwhelms, never falters, never brays. González’s Agambenian treat-
ment of Gen. 4 is an important comment on the Bible’s political and philosophical
currency, then, but equally important is its nature as a challenge to the sovereignty
of the old disciplinary boundaries in the academic guild.”
Christopher Meredith, St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK
Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God
The Genesis story of Cain’s murder of Abel is often told as a simplistic contrast
between the innocence of Abel and the evil of Cain. This book subverts that read-
ing of the biblical text by utilizing Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of homo sacer,
the state of exception, and the idea of sovereignty to re-examine this well-known
tale of fratricide and bring to the fore its political implications.
Drawing from political theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, this book cre-
ates a theoretical framework from which to do two things: firstly, to describe
and analyze the history of interpretation of Gen. 4:1–16, and secondly to propose
an alternative reading of the biblical text that incorporates other texts inside and
outside of the biblical canon. This intertextual analysis will highlight the motives
of violence, law, divine rule, and the rejected as they emerge in different contexts
and will evaluate them in an Agambenian framework.
The unique approach of this book makes it vital reading for any academic with
interests in biblical studies and theology and their interactions with politics and
ethics.
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 the American Academy of Religion
(AAR) “Sacred Texts, Theory and Theological Construction” group; a graduate of
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.
Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biblical Criticism
1 Paul and Death
A Question of Psychological Coping
Linda Joelsson
2 Gender-Play in the Hebrew Bible
The Ways the Bible Challenges Its Gender Norms
Amy Kalmanofsky
3 Biblical Narratives of Israelites and their Neighbors
Strangers at the Gate
Adriane Leveen
4 Epistemology and Biblical Theology
From the Pentateuch to Mark’s Gospel
Dru Johnson
5 Cain, Abel, and the Politics of God
An Agambenian Reading of Genesis 4:1–16
Julián Andrés González Holguín
Cain, Abel, and the Politics
of God
An Agambenian Reading
of Genesis 4:1–16
Julián Andrés González Holguín
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Julián Andrés González Holguín
The right of Julián Andrés González Holguín to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or regis-
tered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: González Holguín, Julián Andrés, author.
Title: Cain, Abel, and the politics of God : an Agambenian reading of Genesis
4:1-16 / Julián Andrés González Holguín.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge interdisciplinary
perspectives on biblical criticism ; 5 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010822 | ISBN 9781138738485 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781315184722 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Genesis, IV, 1-16—Criticism, interpretation, etc. |
Agamben, Giorgio, 1942- Potere sovrano e la nuda vita.
Classification: LCC BS1235.52 .G66 2017 | DDC 222/.1106—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010822
ISBN: 978-1-138-73848-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-18472-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my wife, Viviana, who never gave up hope,
even when I did

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
The purpose of this study 1
Reception history: exceptional text/text of exception 5
Theoretical framework: Agamben, Rancière, and Kristeva 7
Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of sovereignty, Homo sacer,
and the state of exception 8
Jacques Rancière’s concepts of dissensus and ethical community 13
Julia Kristeva’s critical-psychoanalytic concept of foreignness 15
1 Cain’s evil nature: a story of otherness 23
Othering Cain: pre-Augustinian interpretations 25
Who’s your daddy? 25
Are we brothers? 28
Farmers against shepherds? 30
It’s the thought that counts 31
Say what? 35
The killing field and the gap filling 38
Of brothers and keepers 40
Who cursed whom? 42
Crime and punishment 45
Synopsis 47
The tale of two cities: Augustinian interpretation of Genesis 4:1–16 47
The origins 49
The destinies 50
The mark of Cain 53
2 God’s intervention: a story of othering 71
The political character of biblical interpretation 73
Reading a conflict/conflicting readings 75