Abstract
In this chapter, biblical scholar Caroline Blyth teams up with art historian Jane Davidson-Ladd to examine the biblical law of Deut. 21:10–14 (the “law of the captive war bride”), which outlines the legal means by which an Israelite soldier can abduct and marry a female war captive. Reading the text alongside recent reports about the abduction and rape of Yazidi women by members of Islamic State (IS), Blyth and Davidson-Ladd consider whether this biblical text gives voice to a “theology of rape,” which grants divine sanction to sexual violence during warfare. To help them in this task, they consider the biblical text in light of a painting by New Zealand-based artist Louis John Steele, titled Spoils to the Victor. Studying Steele’s vivid portrayal of wartime gender violence, they trace the intersecting oppressions at play within both the image and the biblical law, particularly gendered and ethnic identities, colonial conquest, and the vulnerability of the foreign female body. They thus conclude that this biblical law may indeed endorse a “theology of rape,” whose ideological foundations continue to exert a dangerous and powerful influence within contemporary contexts of war.
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Notes
- 1.
We are drawing here on Slavoj Žižek’s categories of objective and subjective violence (2008). Subjective violence relates to the physical violence of crime and terror; objective violence includes the symbolic violence of hate speech and discrimination and the structural (or systemic) violence inherent within political and economic systems of power.
- 2.
For example, Gen. 34:29; Judg. 5:28–30; 21:12–14; Isa. 13:16; Jer. 6:11–12; Lam. 5:11; Zech. 14:2.
- 3.
- 4.
Spoils to the Victor, 1908, Oil on panel, 378 × 260 mm, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Auckland Picture Purchase Fund, 1912. To view the painting on the Gallery website, see https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/255/spoils-to-the-victor. Accessed on 21 September 2017. The painting was reproduced in the Auckland Weekly News when it was first exhibited in May 1909. The image used above is a copy of this reproduction, provided courtesy of the Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries (AWNS-19090520-1-2). Special thanks to Keith Giles for providing us with this image and permitting its use.
- 5.
It is not clear whether Steele finished his studentship, which took seven years at this time.
- 6.
Steele is recorded as “John Steele” and his birthdate is incorrectly noted as 18 May 1842, instead of 30 January 1842. But his place of birth is listed as Reigate, England and the date accords with his inclusion at the Paris Salon 1868–1870 where he is listed in each catalogue as an “élève [student] de M. Cabanel.” See Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (1977).
- 7.
Steele left Marie-Louise and his surviving son Louis in England, filing for divorce 14 years later. “Steele Louis John—Marie Louise,” filed 26 June 1899, Divorce petition, Supreme Court file, R16699004, record no. 109, National Archives, Auckland.
- 8.
Steele appears to have used the early literature of the colony as an initial source for his subject matter, drawing particularly on the writings of Alfred Domett and John White.
- 9.
A direct source for Spoils to the Victor has not yet been identified, but pre-colonial Māori customs, particularly the more “gruesome” practices, were a popular subject for both colonial literature and art, which purported to record the country’s “history.” Bell (1992, p. 173) suggests that although Spoils to the Victor may have depicted a situation that could have occurred in Māori warfare, it is unlikely that the painting represents an actual incident.
- 10.
We are grateful to Dr Roger Blackley, Victoria University, for alerting us to this earlier version of the picture.
- 11.
American sculptor Hiram Powers reprised the pose in The Greek Slave (1844), which received great acclaim in the United States and United Kingdom. See www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.166484.html. Accessed on 11 September 2017.
- 12.
Roger Freeing Angelica (or Ruggiero Freeing Angelica) was first painted by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in 1819; he subsequently painted replica versions of the subject, including the 1839 version referred to by Bell and Pound. It is inspired by the sixteenth-century poem Orlando Furioso by Ariosto. The painting can be viewed at www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres-angelica-saved-by-ruggiero. Accessed on 7 September 2017.
- 13.
Given the dates of these works, along with their original exhibition in London, it is highly likely that Steele would have seen them. To view Millais’s The Knight Errant, see http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-the-knight-errant-n01508. Accessed on 8 September 2017. For Dicksee’s Chivalry see http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/sir-frank-dicksee-pra-1853-1928-chivalry-5631457-details.aspx. Accessed on 8 September 2017.
- 14.
This painting is in the collection of La Piscine—Musee d’Art et d’Industrie André Diligent, Roubaix. The painting can be viewed at www.artres.com/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=2UN365IM66NNH&IT=ZoomImageTemplate01_VForm&IID=2UNTWA542YE2&PN=8&CT=Search&SF=0. Accessed on 11 September 2017.
- 15.
When first exhibited at the Auckland Society of Arts in 1909, the title of the painting was Spoils of the Victor, rather than Spoils to the Victor. This title is inscribed in Steele’s hand on the back of the painting. It was also reproduced as Spoils of the Victor in the Auckland Weekly News, 20 May 1909. It appears that the title was changed (possibly in error) to Spoils to the Victor in 1912, when it was gifted by the Auckland Picture Purchase Fund to Auckland Art Gallery. Auckland Art Gallery records, including labels on the back of the painting and the database, refer to it as Spoils to the Victor. This is also the title used in the literature around the painting, so for simplicity’s sake we have chosen to continue this convention. While the change in preposition seems a semantic point, it is worth noting as it does change the emphasis of the title: “of” gives a stronger sense of ownership of the woman and other spoils by the victor, where “to” hints at these spoils being regarded as a possible reward for victory in battle.
- 16.
Smith is referring here to Orientalist nude art more generally, but her comments are apt for Spoils to the Victor.
- 17.
The quote Bell included is taken from a reviewer’s response to the painting at its first viewing in 1909 (“The Art Exhibition,” Auckland Star, 1909, p. 7).
- 18.
Similarly, in Gen. 34:2─3, Dinah’s feelings towards her rapist, Canaanite prince Shechem, are granted no voice, although we are told that he loved her (v. 3), sought to marry her, and desired her (v. 8; using the same verb ḥšq). See Reeder (2017, p. 320).
- 19.
Rey notes that this allusion to the woman’s mother and father, rather than her husband or children, suggests she could have been a young girl (2016, p. 46).
- 20.
For a more extensive discussion about the use of ‘innah to represent gender violence, see Blyth (2010, pp. 63−85).
- 21.
Nevertheless, Goodnick (2004, p. 200) admits that ‘innah could denote “forced” (i.e. raped) here in Deut. 21:14, given it carries this sense in Deut. 22:29. Most perplexingly, this does not prevent him from concluding that the law serves to enhance the status of women.
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Blyth, C., Davidson-Ladd, J. (2018). A Theology of Rape: Plundering the Woman’s Body in Deut. 21:10–14 and Louis John Steele’s Spoils to the Victor . In: Blyth, C., Colgan, E., Edwards, K. (eds) Rape Culture, Gender Violence, and Religion. Religion and Radicalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72224-5_9
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