Ethnicity and the Bible

Ethnicity and the Bible......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
List of Contributors......Page 10
INTRODUCTION......Page 12
Mark G. Brett: Interpreting Ethnicity: Method, Hermeneutics, Ethics......Page 14
PART I: ETHNICITY IN THE BIBLE......Page 34
Introduction......Page 36
Textual Evidence......Page 37
A. The Bible......Page 38
B. The Merneptah Stele......Page 46
Summary......Page 49
Artifactual Evidence......Page 50
A. Pottery as an Ethnic Marker......Page 53
B. Architecture as an Ethnic Marker......Page 55
C. Site Layout as an Ethnic Marker......Page 56
D. Diet as an Ethnic Marker......Page 58
E. Aniconism as an Ethnic Marker......Page 60
F. Social Organization as an Ethnic Marker......Page 62
G. Burial Practices as Ethnic Markers......Page 64
Conclusion......Page 65
Frank Crüsemann: Human Solidarity and Ethnic Identity: Israel's Self-definition in the Genealogical System of Genesis......Page 68
Rolf Rendtorff: The Gēr in the Priestly Laws of the Pentateuch......Page 88
Introduction......Page 100
Exclusivist or Inclusivist?......Page 101
Ethnicity and Identity......Page 107
Ezra-Nehemiah: A Vertical Ethnicity......Page 110
Chronicles: A Lateral Ethnicity......Page 115
A Hierarchy Within......Page 119
Final Remarks......Page 125
I. Introduction......Page 128
1. Excluding the Foreigner: The Nations vs. The 'Stranger Among Us'......Page 131
(a) The Foreigner and the Foreign Woman......Page 132
(b) The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra-Nehemiah......Page 133
(c) The Examination of Judges in Susanna......Page 138
(a) Transforming the King in Daniel 1-6......Page 141
(b) The Jonah Story as Hebrew Satyagraha......Page 144
(a) Bel and the Dragon......Page 146
(c) "Those who join with/to you."......Page 148
Summary......Page 151
I. The Ambiguities of "Universalism"......Page 154
II. The Universality of God and Human Dignity......Page 156
III. Purpose and Mystery in the Election of Israel......Page 162
IV. Judaism for the Gentiles......Page 172
V. Election and Equality......Page 176
VI. Can Theology be Secularized?......Page 179
Ethnicity in First Century Judaism......Page 182
Ethnicity in the Early Christian Church......Page 188
Ethnicity in the Gospel of Matthew......Page 195
Conclusions......Page 205
John M.G. Barclay: 'Neither Jew nor Greek': Multiculturalism and the New Perspective on Paul......Page 208
I. The New Perspective on Paul......Page 210
1. Theological Respect for Judaism......Page 214
2. Community as the Goal of Christian Faith......Page 215
3. Multicultural Concerns......Page 216
III. The Contribution of Daniel Boyarin......Page 217
IV. Paul and Multiculturalism......Page 220
Introduction: The Galatian Context and Gal. 5:13-6:10......Page 226
1. The Problem of Gal. 5:13-6:10......Page 227
2. Existing Answers to the Problem......Page 228
3. The Causes of the Demand for Circumcision......Page 230
Anthropology and the Boundary Question......Page 231
(a) Ethnic Boundaries: Insider and Outsider Perceptions......Page 233
(b) Ethnic Boundaries: Permeability and Resistance......Page 235
1. Identity and Group Membership......Page 237
2. The Dialectical Relationship between Social Setting and Group Belonging......Page 238
4. Group Conflict and Intergroup Behaviour......Page 239
6. Social Immobility and Intergroup Inferiority......Page 240
7. Group Differentiation Through Value Inversion......Page 241
5. Detailed Application of the Social-Scientific Approaches to Gal. 5:13-6:10......Page 242
List of References......Page 249
Reinhard Feldmeier: The 'Nation' of Strangers: Social Contempt and its Theological Interpretation in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity......Page 252
1.1 The Patriarchs: Identity by Identification......Page 253
1.2 Being a Stranger and Relating to the Foreigner......Page 254
1.3 Self-Description as Strangers before God......Page 255
1.4 The Stranger Metaphor in Early Jewish Literature......Page 258
2. The Category of Strangeness in 1 Peter as Suggesting a Christian Self-Understanding and Relationship to the World......Page 262
2.1 Aliens and Strangers—the Situation of the Addressees......Page 263
2.2 What This Self Description Achieves: From Social Non-Identity to Christian Identity......Page 267
2.3 Consequences for Self-Understanding and Relationship to the World......Page 269
3. Παροικία as Community Name The Self-Understanding of Christians in the First Centuries......Page 274
4. Prospects: The Existence of Believers between Foreignness and 'Nationhood י......Page 280
Wolfgang Stegemann: Anti-Semitic and Racist Prejudices in Titus 1:10 16......Page 282
Overview and Thesis......Page 284
1. Christian Self-understanding beyond Ethnic-Religious Boundaries......Page 285
Double Self-understanding......Page 286
The Perspective of the Pastoral Epistles: All People......Page 287
2. Preliminary Observations on Titus 1:10-16......Page 289
3. Interpretation of Tit. 1:10-16 and the Sociology of Deviance......Page 291
An Application of Deviance Theory to Tit. 1:10-16......Page 292
Results of the Sociology-of-Deviance Analysis......Page 295
4. The Stigmatization of the Deviant Group with Heterophobic Prejudices......Page 296
Stigmatization of the Deviant Group with Prejudices about Judaism......Page 297
The Stigmatization of the Deviant Group with Prejudices concerning the Cretans......Page 299
5. Critical Reception and Evaluation......Page 302
Racist Prejudice against the Cretans in Tit. 1:10-16......Page 304
PART II: CULTURE AND INTERPRETATION......Page 306
Introduction......Page 308
a. The Texts......Page 309
b. The Global Reality of Domination......Page 311
2. 500 Tears of Spiritual Resistance Against the Colonial Occident......Page 312
3. The Reconstruction of the Spirit Over Against Occidental Christendom......Page 315
4. Bible: Conquest and Resistance......Page 317
a. Priority of Life over the Bible......Page 319
c. Priority of the Revelation of God Over the Biblical Text......Page 320
2. The Process of an Indigenous Hermeneutic......Page 321
3. The Hermeneutical Space Necessaiy for a Biblical Interpretation From the Perspective of Indigenous Cultures......Page 323
Conclusion......Page 325
Susan Hawley: Does God Speak Miskitu? The Bible and Ethnic Identity among the Miskitu of Nicaragua......Page 326
Ethnicity and Identity......Page 327
Conversion......Page 329
The Rise of Indigenous Consciousness: Political Mobilisation......Page 330
Missionary Methods......Page 332
Indigenous Response: (1) The Bible as Foreign Object......Page 334
Indigenous Response: (2) Bible as Continuation of Local Form—The Miskitu King......Page 335
Indigenous Response: (3) The Bible as Local Form—A More Powerful Medicine......Page 338
Summary: The Bible as New Wine in Old Wineskins or Old Wine in New Wineskins......Page 340
The Miskitu and the Bible: political mobilisation......Page 341
Biblical Symbol as the Basis for Political Mobilisation......Page 342
Indigenous Pastors: Guardians of Text, Guardians of Identity......Page 344
Political Conflict: The Bible and Holy War......Page 347
Summary......Page 349
Conclusion......Page 350
List of References......Page 351
2. Ethnicity......Page 354
2.2 Ethnicity in Sociology......Page 355
3. The Bible and Tribal Identity......Page 356
4. Tubal Hermeneutics......Page 358
4.2 Inadequacy of Historical-Critical Interpretation......Page 359
4.3 Inadequacy of Dialogical Interpretation in India......Page 360
4.4 Dalit Hermeneutics as Liberation Hermeneutics in India......Page 361
4.5 Tubal Hermeneutics and its tasks......Page 362
5.1 Promised Land......Page 363
5.2 Pentecost that Revives and Empowers (Acts 2:1-17)......Page 364
5.3 Protection of the Aliens in the Deuteronomic Laws......Page 366
Lynne Hume: The Rainbow Serpent, the Cross, and the Fax Machine: Australian Aboriginal Responses to the Bible......Page 370
Conclusion......Page 391
David Jobling and Catherine Rose: Reading as a Philistine: The Ancient and Modern History of a Cultural Slur......Page 394
1. Philistines in Modern Discourse......Page 395
A. Germany: From Jena to Brentano......Page 396
B. Matthew Arnold......Page 403
A. The Philistines and class fantasy......Page 409
B. An alternative biblical view of the Philistines?......Page 415
C. Deep-structural links: instrumentality and anarchy......Page 419
4. Philistine Readers of the Bible......Page 421
List of References......Page 428
R.S. Sugirtharajah: Orientalism, Ethnonationalism and Transnationalism: Shifting Identities and Biblical Interpretation......Page 432
Oriental Mannerisms and Biblical Interpreters......Page 433
Natives going Oriental......Page 437
The Natives Deploying Orientalism for Nationalist Ends......Page 438
Acquiring New Identities......Page 439
List of References......Page 441
John Riches: Cultural Bias in European and North American Biblical Scholarship......Page 444
2.1 Varieties of Ethnocentrism......Page 462
2.3 What is the so-called interpretive tum?......Page 464
3. The Theoretical Foundations of Strong and Weak Holism......Page 465
4.1 The fusion of horizons in a single task process: strong holism......Page 468
4.2.1 Supplementing the model of the hermeneutical circle......Page 470
4.2.2 Paying attention to the subject's cultural system......Page 471
4.2.3 Paying attention to the interpreter's cultural system......Page 472
4.2.4 The task of cross-cultural comparison......Page 473
5. Can Weak Holism overcome Ethnocentrism?......Page 474
5.1 Cross-cultural comparison: a matter of perspicuous contrast......Page 475
5.3 Critical assessment......Page 476
6. Some Concluding Remarks......Page 477
List of References......Page 478
Fernando F. Segovia: Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Biblical Studies......Page 482
Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Biblical Studies at the Turn of the Century......Page 484
Geopolitical Context: The World of Global Affairs......Page 485
Disciplinary Context: The World of Biblical Criticism......Page 490
Professional Context: The World of the Biblical Guild......Page 493
Concluding Comments......Page 496
Life as Struggle......Page 497
Struggle for Life......Page 502
Index of Authors......Page 506
Index of Biblical References......Page 512