Feministisk tolkning som ett bidrag till interreligiösa möten? : Undersökning av Hagar som litterär gestalt i Genesis 16

Sammanfattning: The theory and method I use in this essay is literary and feministic text critique, to discover the story of Genesis 16 anew. Earlier research in this field has studied Genesis within traditional exegesis since the 19th century and within feministic exegesis since the 1960s. This essay has three main parts. First, a theoretical description of my assignment, followed by analysis and summaries of these. Second, a discussion of this work and final conclusions. In my study, the analysis sheds light on the literary character of Hagar in several ways, both in traditional and feministic exegesis. The traditional biblical study has given a solid ground in the reading of Genesis 16 and the feministic exegesis has given a clear perspective on Hagar as a woman in a patriarchal environment and interpretative tradition. Together they have given a rich telling on the literary character of Hagar. In this essay I make a study of Genesis 16, with a focus on the literary character of Hagar. My point of departure is a sense of lacking the experience of Hagar in the book of Genesis, wondering if a feminist exegesis could give something new in this research. In order to discover eventual differences, I perform a traditional exegesis of Genesis 16, and then compare it with a feminist exegesis. Another question in my research is that of interreligious perspectives of today's society. From this point of view Hagar is a relevant character for both Muslims, Jews and Christians.