The
book Human Choice: Biblical Narrative and the Drama of Choice suggests,
in contrast to the dominant position in the field of theology, that humanity
and not God stands at the heart of biblical narrative. Underpinning many
biblical narratives is a theology that may be termed a “theology of choice”, a
theology predicated on the belief that human’s central task is to choose
between good and evil. Theology of choice leads to biblical narratives' focus
on the internal conflicts of characters, their struggles and the choices that
they must make. The principle that a person’s choices determine one’s destiny
lies at the foundation of biblical narrative and is one of the basic tenets of
Israelite belief. In contrast to the belief in a predetermined destiny
characteristic of idolatrous culture as evident in many ancient mythologies as
well as Greek tragedy, the outlook underlying many biblical narratives is that
a person is a free being and is responsible for one’s actions and one’s
ultimate destiny.
The
book also argues against the belief that the books of the Bible reflect polarized
thinking and a dichotomous worldview. A sophisticated literary analysis
treating the different levels of the narrative – the syntagmatic, paradigmatic
and dramatic – with a focus on the use of tripartite contrast – a literary
device yet to be noticed in biblical research – reveals that the biblical
perspectives are not polar in nature, but rather include complexity and a gray
zone lying between the dichotomy of black and white. The doubts and wavering of
middle-ground characters such as Lot, Saul and Ahab create a drama about choice
and infuse the narratives with complexity and interest. Middle-ground
characters in biblical narratives represent human complexity, characterized by
internal conflict and struggles, and the need to decide between conflicting
desires, values and beliefs. This tension creates the biblical drama of choice
which focuses on human choice.