HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

116 THOMAS J. HEFFERNANin contrast, constructs a narrative that celebrates a subject (often inpanegyric) capable of independent agency, who may act outside thestory of god and tribe. The good life is one spent in service to thefamily and state. 6 Christian sacred biography is an uneasy syncretismof these two traditions. Neither tradition represents a life with theunderstanding of the self and its attendant scrutiny of motive thatwe find in modern biography.While the Hebrew Bible privileges certain individuals, e.g., Joseph,or Moses, the narrative subordinates intention and action to divinewill, employs disruptive and a-synchronous chronologies, uses parataxis,elevates tribal interests at the expense of the individual, and viewshuman virtue as contingent on God’s mercy. 7 Memorable biographicalanecdotes, e.g., Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:1–19), are signs of the covenantal relationship of the subject withGod. There is no interest in exploring the relationship of father andson after the abortive execution. There is but a single line of dialoguebetween Abraham and Isaac concerning the location of theram and none from that point until the tale is told. Religious teleologygoverns the narrative. Abraham’s faith has been tested andverified; the absolute gratuity of divine judgment and man’s need toaccept that judgment has been confirmed. The representation of a‘life’ in biblical narrative serves to illustrate one’s dynamic relationshipwith God or its lack. The narrative axis is vertical, not horizontal,and rarely uses description to create verisimilitude. The message isclear: if you follow God’s will, you will become powerful and havedominion over the world; if not, you will suffer and die in poverty. 8If we compare a Greek story that also presents a parent’s sacrificeof a child, for example, Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis, the differencesare stark. Agamemnon is overwhelmed with guilt about his decisionto kill his daughter, he deceives Klytemnestra, fights with Menelaus,jeopardizes the reputation of the spotless Achilles, plots to deceivethe army, knows that Calchus’s oracle is prompted by revenge, andeven questions the existence of the gods. Yet he kills his child becausehe is afraid of confronting the army. The narrative is dense withdescription, motives, action, and fateful decisions. The comparison6Momigliano (1987), 159–77.7Brown (1968), 608.8Gunn (1993), 97–100; Westermann (1985), 356.