Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 50:1 (Mar 2007)
Article: Prophetic Satire As A Vehicle For Ethical Instruction
Author: Richard D. Patterson

JETS 50:1 (March 2007) p. 47

Prophetic Satire As A Vehicle For Ethical Instruction

Richard D. Patterson

Richard D. Patterson is distinguished professor emeritus at Liberty University, 1971 University Blvd., Lynchburg, VA 24502.

I. Introductory Matters

Satire has been denned as “the exposure, through ridicule or rebuke, of human vice or folly.”1 The satirist attempts to reveal his contempt, disgust, or ridicule of that which appears to him to be improper or ill conceived. As a literary form satire is generally viewed as having four distinct elements: (1) an object of attack—whether a particular thing, position, person, or the ills of society in general; (2) a satiric vehicle—ranging anywhere from a simple metaphor to a full-blown story; (3) a satiric tone—displaying the author’s attitude toward the object of his attack; and (4) a satiric norm—a standard, whether stated or implied, by which the author’s criticism is being applied.2 Further, “all satire. .. presupposes that.. . the reader understands the norms of good and evil.”3

1. Roman satire. As a distinctive literary form satire is generally conceded to have emerged with or been invented by the Romans. Roman satire was characterized by a moral seriousness, whether directed at specific social ills or in philosophical discourse.4 Many Roman writers distinguish themselves as satirists including poets, such as Lucilius and Perseus or writers of prose, such as Seneca and Petronius. The works of two writers, Horace and Juvenal, gave rise to what has been considered distinctive types of satire: Horatian and Juvenalian. The former is generally seen to be of a milder type. “We rightly associate him with something more sunny than the ‘juice of the black cuttlefish’ and ‘absolute verdigris’ to which he compared backbiting. He preferred the method of the open jest. A joke may settle weighty matters better than a sharp word.”5 His early poems most often corrected

JETS 50:1 (March 2007) p. 48

social abuse. In one instance, “Horace ridicules the Stoic doctrine omnem stultum insanum esse—’everyone but the sage is mad’—and at the same time uses the text to castigate the follies of mankind, specifically avarice, ambition, self-indulgence, and superstition.”6 Even in his more philosophical moments his character and wit were not absent. One may note these lines from his Second Satire:

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