Seeking a homelan d sojourn and ethnic identity in the ancestral narratives of Genesis /
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Sojourn is a Leitwort in the ancestral narratives of Genesis, repeatedly accentuated as an important descriptor of the patriarchs' identity and experience. This study shows that despite its connotations of alienation, sojourn language in Genesis contributes to a strong communal identity for biblical Israel. An innovative application of Anthony D. Smith's theory of ethnic myth utilizes the categories of ethnoscape, election, and communal ethics as analytical tools in the investigation of the Genesis sojourn texts. Close exegetical treatment reveals sojourn to strengthen Israel's ethnic identity in ways that are varied and at times paradoxical. Its very complexity, however, makes it particularly useful as a resource for group identity at times when straightforward categories of territorial and social affiliation may fail.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-255) and index. :
9789004214705 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Representing the pas t a literary analysis of narrative historiography in the book of Samuel /
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Eschewing both so-called minimalist and maximalist readings, this volume advocates an understanding of the book of Samuel as ancient narrative historiography that must be understood according to its own conception and ideology of history before being judged as a historical source. This study shows how narrative strategies and literary embellishment, unaccustomed in modern historiography, are used to express familiar historical concepts such as causation, meaning and evaluation of the past. The requirements for historical 'accuracy' within the book's cultural milieu are investigated through analysis of the differences tolerated between the LXX and MT versions. Fresh interpretive insights for specific passages emerge as the conventions of historiography in Samuel are compared and contrasted to the ideals of modern historical theory.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Sydney, 2010. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-320) and index. :
9789004203419 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Closure in Biblical narrative /
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There has been much discussion of narrative aspects of the Bible in recent years, but the ends of biblical narratives - how the ends contribute to closure for their stories and how the ending strategies affect the whole narrative - have not been studied comprehensively. This study shows how the writers and editors of short narratives in Genesis gave their stories a sense of closure (or in a few cases, the sense of non-closure). Multiple and sometimes unexpected, forms of closure are identified; together these form a set of closural conventions. This contribution to narrative poetics of the Hebrew Bible in the light of source criticism will also be valuable to those who are interested in narrative and in concepts of closure.
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1 online resource (xii, 232 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004221307 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Erzählte Welten im Richterbuch : narratologische Aspekte eines polyfonen Diskurses /
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Das Richterbuch präsentiert einen Rückblick in die Geschichte des Volkes Israel, der eine große Vergangenheit (re)konstruiert und zugleich einen äußerst kritischen Blick auf diese Zeit wirft. Die vorliegende Studie zeigt, wie die Erzählzyklen des Richterbuchs das zentrale Thema, die Suche nach einer verbindlichen und lebensförderlichen Ordnung, aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln darstellen und reflektieren. Die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven treten dabei miteinander in einen kontroversen Dialog, der keine eindeutige oder einseitige Einordnung dieser Epoche erlaubt. Eine detaillierte narratologische Analyse der erzählten Welten der Texte und ihrer Figuren zeigt, dass die Komposition und Zusammenstellung der einzelnen Erzählungen zwar Systematisierungen der Epoche andeuten, diese jedoch stets wieder dekonstruieren. So bleibt das Richterbuch ein Rückblick zwischen Bewunderung und Befremden. The Book of Judges presents a (re)construction of Israel's history that recalls a splendid past but simultaneously offers a very critical view. This study focuses on the narrated worlds of the stories and the way they contribute to the central theme: the search for obligatory and beneficial guidelines for the people. A detailed narratological analysis of the narrated worlds shows how the different perspectives presented in the texts engage in a controversial dialogue. Although the composition of the stories indicates a systematisation, these attempts are repeatedly deconstructed. Thus the Book of Judges eludes any one-sided interpretation and remains a retrospection between admiration and disconcertment.
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1 online resource (vii, 313 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004244184 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Retelling Scripture : "the Jews" and the scriptural citations in John 1:19-12:15 /
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The last century of scholarship on the Old Testament citations in the Gospel of John has concentrated almost exclusively upon source-critical or redaction-critical issues with the aim of determining the Christological import of the citations. The current book brings a narrative-rhetorical methodology to bear upon the seven explicit Scriptural citations in the Gospel's 'Book of Signs' (1:19-12:50) that are prefaced by a distinct introductory formula (1:19-12:15). These citations are each addressed to, or imply, a particular textual audience, namely, 'the Jews'. This book argues that as such the citations do not merely have Christological significance but function at the narrative level to encourage an ideal reader to construct a particularly negative characterization of 'the Jews'.
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Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Australian Catholic University, 2010. :
1 online resource (xvi, 294 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-271) and indexes. :
9789004226296 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Abraham, the nations, and the Hagarite s Jewish, Christian, and Islamic perspectives on kinship with Abraham /
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Jews, Christians and Muslims describe their origins with close reference to the narrative of Abraham, including the complex story of Abraham's relation to Hagar. This volume sketches the history of interpretation of some of the key passages in this narrative, not least the verses which state that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This passage, which features prominently in Christian historiography, is largely disregarded in ancient Judaism, prompting the question how the relation between Abraham and the nations was perceived in Jewish sources. This focus is supplemented with the question how Islamic historiography relates to the Abraham narrative, and in particular to the descent of the Arabs from Abraham through Ishmael and Hagar. In studying the traditional readings of these narratives, the volume offers a detailed yet wide-ranging analysis of important aspects of the accounts of their origins which emerged within the three Abrahamic religions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004216495 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Incubation as a type-scene in the Aqhatu, Kirta, and Hannah storie s a form-critical and narratological study of KTU 1.14 I-1.15 III, 1.17 I-II, and 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 /
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Prior studies of incubation have approached it from a history of religions perspective, with a view to historically reconstruct the actual practice of incubation in ancient Near East. However, this approach has proven unfruitful, not due to the dearth of relevant data, but because of the confusion with regard to the definition of the term incubation. Suggesting a way out of this impasse in previous scholarship, this book proposes to read the so-called "incubation" texts from the perspective of incubation as a literary device, namely, as a type-scene. It applies Nagler's definition of a type-scene to a literary analysis of two Ugaritic mythical texts, the Aqhatu and Kirta stories, and one biblical story, the Hannah story.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [347]-365) and indexes. :
9789004207516 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.