Preface

Summary

Prefaces written to explain the objects or meaning of a book, or to make any appeal, ad misericordiam or other, in its favour, are, in my opinion, nuisances. Any book worth reading will explain its own objects and meaning, and the more it is criticized and turned inside out, the better for it and its author.

Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford (London: Macmillan and Co., 1892; 1st edn, 1861), vii

With apologies to Thomas Hughes, let me outline the aim and scope of this book. My aim is to explain why some modern scholars, and other interested parties, have come to ask whether the relationship between David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel could be understood as homosexual. I have sought the answer in three main areas: (1) the ideological agendas in which these scholars, and other interested parties, are implicated; (2) the degree of openness of the narrative of 1 and 2 Samuel to a variety of different interpretations; and (3) the reception history of the narrative, particularly under the direct, or indirect, influence of Oxford Hellenism in nineteenth-century England. I am not primarily interested in trying to work out the most probable original meaning of the narrative, which may seem odd for someone whose orientation as a biblical scholar has been constructed under the influence of the aims and methods of historical criticism.