{"title":"The Apostle of Failure: Queer Refusal, the Corinthian Letters, and Paul’s Unflattering Characterization in the Acts of Thecla","authors":"Carly Daniel-Hughes","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221688","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article examines the Acts of Thecla’s unflattering presentation of the character Paul, as part of the reception of Paul’s Corinthian letters into the second century. Informed by feminist and queer biblical interpretations of the Corinthian exchange, it shows how the Acts of Thecla picks up on tensions over authority with Paul’s teachings on baptism, eschatology, and sexual renunciation in its portrait of Paul. Engaging Jack Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure, the article suggests that the Acts of Thecla reads Paul’s letters this way in service of the social critique and queer antagonism that it holds up for its second and third century readers. Where Halberstam claims “queer failure” as resistance to capitalist profit, reproductive futurity, and neoliberal notions of success today, here Thecla’s story is read as a narrative of refusal in its own time. Paul’s muddled encounters with Thecla, steeped in the Corinthian exchange, it concludes, are central to this ancient tale about being, and improbably surviving, outside and at the edges of imperial, civic, and familial frames.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42424336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coercive Names: Interpreting Mark 5:1–13 with Althusser’s “Interpellation”","authors":"Joseph Kimmel","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221704","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221704","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article addresses a significant lacuna in Markan studies—and specifically in scholarship on Mark 5:1–13—by reading the exorcistic encounter between Jesus and Legion through the hermeneutic lens of Louis Althusser’s interpellation theory. The article shows how interpellation provides a compelling way to account for the dynamics of exorcism displayed in this passage, especially in regard to the power of proper names. That is, moving beyond a superficial ascription of Jesus’ exorcistic success to his ability to obtain Legion’s name, this article utilizes interpellation theory in order to show why this onomastic obtainment is such a game-changer and how the process of requesting another’s name effectively interpellates Legion, securing the spirit within an ideology of relative weakness vis-à-vis Jesus. Alongside this analysis of Mark 5:1–13, this article also discusses the comparative relevance of certain pgm spells (e.g., I.222–31, iv.2251–53, 2343–45, and viii.1–63) and the enduring role of interpellation in contemporary hierarchies.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42930509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Jerusalem/Zion: a Counter-Imperial Trope in Third Isaiah","authors":"Philip P. Sam","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221694","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221694","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Third Isaianic discourse revolves around the theme of Jerusalem/Zion. Researchers have dwelt upon the theme from either a historical plane or an eschatological plane, however, its role as a counter-imperial motif has not been explored. In view of the imperil milieu of the prophetic discourse, this paper argues that Jerusalem is presented as a strategic trope to counter the imperial discourse. Jerusalem in the biblical discourse represents a theological as well as a national symbol. It also symbolizes the colonized self of the Yehud community reeling under the Persian empire. At the same time, Jerusalem and the temple display the narrow nationalistic agenda of the Jerusalem establishment. The prophetic discourse of Trito Isaiah carves out an alternative space, a hybrid space that not only breaks the imperial supremacy but also disrupts the nationalistic hegemony of the Jerusalem establishment. The prophetic discourse imagines an alternative world that undercuts imperial definitions of life. In view of the unity of the book, the paper also brings out that the counter-imperial texture of the theme of Jerusalem in Third Isaianic discourse can be located in the complex growth and the final shaping of the book of Isaiah.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49306269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Old and the Young in Luke-Acts: The Lukan Literary Efforts for the Post-War Trauma, Generational Unity, and the Empowerment of the Younger Generation","authors":"Jin Young Kim","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221717","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 While many scholars point out the effect of the Jewish War on the formation of early Christian identities, not many have analyzed the generational dynamic over this traumatic experience and how the New Testament authors address this issue through their literary efforts. In this article, by utilizing sociological discussions on intergenerational tensions and integration in post-war societies, I present a generational interpretation of the literary efforts in Luke-Acts. I explore how Luke addresses the different understandings of the Temple between the older and younger generations and the trauma of its destruction persisting in the diaspora assemblies of Christ-followers. I argue that Luke, by portraying the old and young in particular ways (ex. Mary-Zechariah; early apostles-Stephen; Saul), attempts to heal the communal trauma of the war, promote mutual understanding between generations, and empower the next generation for the survival of the ekklēsia.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44330594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Citations, Allusions, and Marking Them in the Hebrew Bible: A Theoretical Introduction with Some Examples","authors":"Joachim J. Krause","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221700","url":null,"abstract":"Citing other texts or alluding to them, authors deliberately opt to rely on the readiness and ability of their readers to cooperate in the production of meaning. Hence it is only natural to reckon with the possibility that a given author would mark citations and allusions in such a way as to enable readers to realize the intended reference more easily. While the marking of textual references is well-investigated in comparative literature, with regard to the Hebrew Bible it has remained largely unexplored. Therefore, this article offers a theoretical introduction illustrated by examples. In so doing, it views matters from the perspective of both production and reception, thus taking into account the decisive role of what has been dubbed above the “cooperation” of the reader. In the end, this integrative approach will also allow for a more nuanced functional classification of citations, allusions, and cognate phenomena.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44453112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forgetting to Remember: Theorizing the Role of the Forgotten In the Production of Biblical Text and Tradition","authors":"Jenna Kemp","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221591","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article examines Exod 34:11–17 by utilizing theory of cultural memory, enriched with theory of metaphor and allusion. As the author of a late text, the scribe responsible for this insertion remembers other various biblical texts via allusion, creating synthetic categories that are useful for carrying the texts forward in time. The synthesis occurs, however, not just by remembering but also by forgetting parts of the evoked texts. The fact that they can be read together strengthens the idea that multiple texts could be considered a conceptual whole. Forgetting is therefore not just about loss; it is as a result of loss extremely productive in creating and maintaining conceptual links between texts within the tradition.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41357178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“What does Job Want? Desire, Fear, Anxiety, and God in and Beyond Job 23”","authors":"Davis Hankins","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221689","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Job expresses several distinct desires in the poetic portions of the book of Job. Many interpreters have analyzed how Job uses legal language to express a desire to contend with God in court, and Job 23 is often cited as exemplary of this wish. However, in ch. 23 and elsewhere, Job rejects this imaginary courtroom scene as an impossibility because he experiences God’s presence as debilitating to his constitution as a subject. Job subsequently expresses a different resolve that is rooted in his actual experiences, which he describes in ways that correspond to certain psychoanalytic accounts of anxiety. In ch. 23, Job resolves to speak his way into the divine darkness that envelopes and effaces him, and this reorientation to Job’s experience and desire permits a fresh understanding of what makes Job’s perspective different from and problematic for traditional wisdom, which the three friends articulate and represent. The friends counsel Job to assume a pious posture of fear, which is unavailable to him because of his experience of anxiety. The desire that Job ultimately expresses in ch. 23 finds an intriguing echo in Job’s final words in 42:2–5, and this casts new light on the events narrated in the book’s prose introduction and conclusion, which in turn permits a new perspective on the book of Job as a whole.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44846693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Who is the Real “Model Minority”? An Asian American Reading of Ruth and Ebed-Melech in the Hebrew Bible","authors":"Jerry Hwang","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221683","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The label of “model minority” for Asian Americans has rightly come under scrutiny due to its role in constructing a new cultural narrative that repositioned them as desirable immigrants. Among Asian American Christians, the construct of “model minority” has often been mirrored in the biblical book of Ruth since she, as ancient Israel’s most famous daughter-in-law, is portrayed as compliant, loyal, and industrious despite being a “perpetual foreigner.”\u0000 Recent global developments have mounted a challenge to this account of the submissive “model minority.” Since Ruth’s character is ambiguous and has been (mis)used at times among Asian American Christians as a “biblical” example, the real “model minority” is found in Jeremiah’s portrayal of Ebed-Melech. He intervenes on behalf of a prophet about to be killed and speaks truth to power (Jeremiah 38). However, Ebed-Melech is frequently overlooked because of the unfounded assumption that, as a black Cushite, he must have been a slave and/or eunuch.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46027515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Jews as “Children of the Devil” (John 8:44) in Nazi Children’s Literature","authors":"K. Elkins","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221716","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Biblical interpreters have long wrestled with the vicious anti-Jewish rhetoric of John’s gospel including, mostly famously, when Jesus calls Jews “children of the devil” (8:44). Post-Shoah, the anti-Jewish rhetoric of John’s gospel is even more horrifying. This article seeks to highlight the use of John 8:44 and other anti-Jewish rhetoric from John’s gospel in children’s literature from Nazi Germany. The children’s books under consideration show a progression from advocating for forced displacement of the Jews to advocating for murder. Seeing the intensification and advancement of this rhetoric, even in something seemingly harmless like children’s literature, is a warning to biblical scholars who may try to downplay or overlook the hateful language of John’s gospel.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49529019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bethel, Dark Woods, and Taboo: 1 Kings 13 as a Cautionary Tale","authors":"K. Hong","doi":"10.1163/15685152-20221718","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-20221718","url":null,"abstract":"\u00001 Kings 13 in its present form features key traits of the cautionary tale. Through a comparison with Little Red Riding Hood, it is argued that many of the enigmatic features of 1 Kings 13 dissolve when read as a cautionary tale. On the surface, this tale functions as a didactic tale that warns against the naïve trust of a stranger on the road. On a deeper level, it inevitably colors Bethel as a dangerous and unruly place that doomed the protagonist to a tragic death.","PeriodicalId":43103,"journal":{"name":"Biblical Interpretation-A Journal of Contemporary Approaches","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48608329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}