Training for total devotion: emotionality and narrativity in Deuteronomy

Abstract

This article analyses ideals of total devotion in the Hebrew Bible, concentrating on the book of Deuteronomy. Understanding total devotion as an intense, emotional, and total relationship between a god and the worshippers, the analysis spotlights Deuteronomy 6–7, investigating emotion expressions used of the relation between the deity and Israel, their narrative embedding, and how narrativity stimulates and sustains emotions. I argue that the ideal of devotion involves a totality of scope, and–taking the broader affective and narrative economy into account–significant emotional intensity. The command to love is entangled in an emotionally intense elicitation of fear and disgust supporting enclave formation, identity fusion and costly sacrifice. Deuteronomy 1–11 can be understood as aiming to train devotion affectively and narratively. The analysis indicates that more attention should be paid to emotions, narrativity, and group-internal ideals of devotion in radical religion research.