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ethics, which focuses on moral identity, i.e., "how character is formed
via the imaginative capacity to apprehend possibilities for life presented
in texts," and (2) encounter ethics, i.e., "that moral being is defined by a
response to the command of the concrete other. "8 Furthermore,
Schweiker argues that Scripture is the place where the Other is encoun-
tered. He argues that images of the divine circulate within the biblical
texts.9 The function of the biblical discourse is that it should identify or
name God in such a way that the finite beings, i.e., humans, are involved
in this identification. This image of God will potentially make an appeal
on the reader and might have the effect of altering one's perceptions of
God and the world. 10
A few words are in order concerning the notion of the characteriza-
tion of God. In the narrative world created by Judges 6-8, God emerges
as a character who interacts with the human characters within the narra-
tive framework. God, along with Gideon, is the main, or round, charac-
ter of the story. Accordingly, the same considerations apply to God as to
other character." For instance, within characterization, the "art of dra-
matic 'showing"' is a crucial part of reconstructing characters. Meir
Sternberg notes that narrative is a "well-constructed drama" in which
characters gradually reveal themselves as the narrative unfolds.'2 David
Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell agree with this: "We shape our under-
standing of a character as the narrative unfolds over time, offering fur-
ther clues and, frequently, complexity." Therefore, it is through what

8William Schweiker, "Encounter, Character and Responsibility: Meaningful Texts on the
Model of a Moral Outlook" (paper presented at the annual national meeting of the SBL,
Orlando, 23 November 1998), 3.
9Schweiker, "Encounter," 9.
P.
1OWilliam Brown, Character in Crisis: A Fresh Approach to the Wisdom Literature
of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 7-8; William Schweiker, Power,
Value and Conviction : Theological Ethics in the Postmodern Age (Cleveland: Pilgrim,
1998), 52.
mlt has been become customary to reflect on the characterization of God in the biblical
narratives. Cf. Gunn and Fewell's discussion on the methodological issues underlying the
reconstruction of YHWH as character (David Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell, Narrative in
the Hebrew Bible [New York: Oxford University Press, 1993], 81-89).
12weir Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, Ideological Literature and the
Drama of Reading (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 122.