A Biblical Theology of Exile (Overtures to Biblical Theology)

A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF EXILE......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Editor's Foreword......Page 8
Abbreviations......Page 12
Preface......Page 14
1. Biblical Theology: On Matters of Methodology......Page 16
The Emergence of Diasporic Theology......Page 21
Questioning Nationalism in Cultural and Postcolonialist Studies......Page 30
On a Theology of Exile......Page 36
The Shadows of Empire: The Exegesis of Violence as Theological Context......Page 42
The Problem of Assessing the Importance of the Exile in Biblical Studies......Page 45
Persian Authorization of the Pentateuch?......Page 49
Resistance in the Persian Period......Page 50
The Culture of Permission and the Royal Correspondence of Ezra 1-7......Page 53
The Myth of the Empty Land: Doubts about the Exile......Page 60
The Shadow of Empire: A Survey of Recent Literature......Page 64
A Theology of Victims of Exile......Page 69
The Status and Treatment of the Exiled Community......Page 80
The Murashu Archive and the Elephantine Community as Evidence for Exilic Conditions......Page 84
The Lexicography of Trauma......Page 86
3. Listening to Cries from Babylon: On the Exegesis of Suffering in Ezekiel and Lamentations......Page 90
Ezekiel, Lamentations, and Refugee Studies......Page 91
A Survey of Refugee and Disaster Studies in Preparation for Reading Ezekiel and Lamentations......Page 93
Ezekiel on the Couch?......Page 98
Halperin's Analysis of Ezekiel: Some Sample Arguments......Page 99
Trauma Studies and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Ezekiel the Refugee......Page 104
The Sign-Actions of Ezekiel: Reading Ezekiel with Lamentations......Page 110
The Language of Lament: Does Literary Stereotype Mean Historical Nonexistence?......Page 111
Preliminary Conclusions......Page 118
4. Shame and Transformation: On Prayer and History in the Diaspora......Page 120
A Sociology of Deuteronomistic History?......Page 123
Penitential Prayer in the Postexilic Period......Page 126
1 Kings 8—The Transitional Prayer?......Page 127
The Petitions......Page 130
The Exilic Theology of Penitential Prayers......Page 134
A Social Function of Shame?......Page 135
The Universalism of Late Isaiah Texts......Page 140
Universalism in Jonah......Page 145
6. "Purity" as Nonconformity: Communal Solidarity as Diaspora Ethics......Page 152
"Neighbor," "Friend," and "Brother"......Page 153
Vocabulary of Groups......Page 157
"Those Around You"—The Others in Exilic Terminology......Page 158
Issues of Community Formation after the Exile......Page 159
The Priestly Theology of Policing the Boundaries: Purity and Social Solidarity......Page 160
The Background to Daniel's Resolution to Be "Undefiled" by the Emperor's Food......Page 162
Social Separation: The "Mixed-Marriage Crisis" in Ezra-Nehemiah......Page 165
The Ezra and Nehemiah Accounts of Mixed Marriage: Different Issues?......Page 172
Purity and Nonconformity: Ezra as an Amish Elder......Page 175
7. The Wisdom Warrior: Reading Wisdom and Daniel as Diasporic Ethics......Page 178
On Tricksters and Wise Men......Page 179
Reading Wisdom in Diaspora and Occupied Palestine......Page 181
Wisdom as Diaspora Ethics......Page 182
Analogies to Wisdom and Quietism in Egyptian Wisdom Literature......Page 183
Ecclesiastes: Dark Humor in Occupied Palestine?......Page 186
Rereading Proverbs from Below......Page 188
The Wisdom Warrior: Diasporic Cleverness over Imperial Brute Strength......Page 190
The Wisdom Warrior: An Ideal Type in Wisdom Literature......Page 193
Wisdom against Weapons......Page 194
Wisdom of Solomon......Page 196
Daniel as the Wise Warrior......Page 197
"And Daniel Laughed...."—Diasporic Nonviolence: Laughing at the State......Page 202
8. Toward a Diasporic Christian Theology: The Theology of Tobit and Daniel Revisited......Page 204
The Postcolonialist Mandate of the Church in Exile......Page 210
Honoring Ezra: Purity and Nonconformity......Page 213
Jonah: Ecclesiology as Missiology......Page 215
Index of Biblical Passages......Page 220