Lot’s Daughters and Tamar as Tricksters and the Patriarchal Narratives as Feminist Theology

Abstract

This article examines two Genesis narratives—the stories of Lot’s daughters (19.30-38) and Tamar (ch. 38). The female characters in these stories are tricksters, characters of low status who improve their situation through use of their wit and cunning. Comparing elements of the trickster narrative with elements of the comic reveals the trickster genre to be a comic one. Therefore, these narratives may be interpreted comically, a perspective that challenges some feminist biblical scholarship. Comedy’s function is escapism that offers a transcendent glimpse into another reality. In viewing these narratives through the subversive comic lens, the reader may see a new inverted reality where there are no tricksters, because there are no underdogs.