Patriarchs and dysfunctional families in the Bible

The stories of patriarchs reveal differential customs and social norms, creating problematic and marginalized modern interpretations. In what Breuggeman (2003) calls the "traditioning process," it has become customary to manufacture meaning within the Biblical texts in order to perpetuate their relevance. The political, social, and theological messages contained within patriarchal narratives are therefore similar to those located in other Biblical texts and depend on faith for their renewed value.

Boadt (1984) points out also the means by which patriarchal figures and their corresponding social norms are codified in Biblical texts. The process of canonization and "traditioning" depends on acceptance of patriarchal codes and processes, including the means by which families are structured. In terms of both faithfulness and dysfunctionality, to read the patriarchal narratives and particularly the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar requires a dual consciousness: to step at once inside the mindset of Biblical times but also to retain the awareness of contemporary values. Faithfulness in a marriage covenant was illustrated contextually in the narrative of Abraham because of his frankness and honesty, and Sarah's complicity in the surrogate motherhood of Hagar. A similar situation in the twenty-first century would have yielded similar results, and would not have called into question the integrity of the marriage or any of its key members. However, the term "dysfunctional" or "dysfunctionality" is purely a modern one. Modern readers risk projecting too much on ancient texts when they presume or assume too much about the nature of ancient social customs. In fact, there is little that is actually dysfunctional in the story of Hagar and her relationship with both Abraham and Sarah.

What matters perhaps more are the grave political and social consequences of placing undue faith in patriarchal narratives or any other Biblical text. The story of Abraham's two women, the mothers of his children, has become the seed metaphor for the schism between seminal Semitic peoples. Even though it would not be for many centuries, the evolution of Islam clarified the sharp differences between the matriarchal model exemplified by Sarah's seemingly miraculous mothering of Isaac and the patriarchal model denoted by Hagar's carrying Ishmael, the symbolic patriarch of what would later become Islam. Jealousy and other petty, negative human emotions are almost celebrated in the Biblical narrative. The "traditioning" of family dysfunction also becomes a tacit approval of selfishness and deceit; the casting out of Hagar and the celebration of Sarah as the only "legitimate" wife of patriarch Abraham speaks volumes as to a mythical genesis of insular social groups.

Transposing what might have been "folk memories" into a "vigorous, definitive claim and model for faith" is therefore dangerous business (Breuggeman, 2003, p. 72). Yet such blatant manufacturing of faith and cultural identity are integral to the human experience. If perpetuating myths becomes critical to the maintenance of one's cultural, personal, or social identity, then it becomes important to revisit the Biblical narratives to find meaning and purpose in current social structures. All mothers are indeed valued in the story of Abraham and his two sister-wives. Motherhood is deemed the only meaningful, legitimate, spiritual calling for females of the human race; whereas males have other options. Moreover, women who enter into contracts with their employers as Hagar did need to protect themselves better from the deceit shown to them in the patriarchal story. God's role in the patriarchal narratives is relatively passive, proving that the patriarchal tales merely perpetuate a social order bent on the subjugation of women and the maintenance of dysfunctional sociological trends such as in-group/out-group status disputes, mythological self-identification narratives, and modeling modern families after artificial constructs built on shaky grounds of "tradition." The only message of faith from the whole story of the "dysfunctional family as bearer of the promise" that would encourage and support the faith of the people to whom I will preach will be to cultivate a more meaningful, compassionate, and relevant concept of God and identity.

References

Boadt, L. (1984). Reading the Old Testament. New York: Paulist.

Brueggeman, W. (2003). An Introduction to the Old Testament. Louisville: John Knox.