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Glocal Perspectives in Biblical Studies

Glocal Perspectives in Biblical Studies is a series published by IAKBS through Walter de Gruyter.

Volume 1

King, State, Empire in the Hebrew Bible: Postcolonial Perspectives and Contemporary Relevance in Korea (eds. Jaeyoung Jeon, JiSeong James Kwon, and Daewook Kim)

Description

This volume showcases a series of essays by distinguished scholars in biblical studies and ancient Near Eastern literature on the theme of kings, states, and empires in the Hebrew Bible. The contributors employ various perspectives and methods to investigate how the biblical writers engaged with and challenged the political realities and ideologies of their times, and how they constructed alternative narratives and identities for themselves and their communities. The volume also considers the contemporary relevance and implications of the biblical texts for the situations and struggles of Korea and Asia in relation to postcolonial issues and challenges.

Some of the questions that this volume addresses are:

  • How do the authors of the Hebrew Bible depict kings, states, and empires?
  • How did the ancient Israelite/Judean community deal with and resist the dominant powers and empires that confronted them?
  • How do the biblical texts reveal the lives of the colonized people of Palestine in exile, who suffered under the oppressive and exploitative rule of the Persian Empire as a subaltern region?
  • How did the biblical writers reinterpret and transform the traditions of Josiah, David, and the monarchy in light of their postcolonial situation?
  • How were the relations between Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and the Greco-Roman empires and the inhabitants and communities of the land of Palestine shaped socially, politically, and culturally?
  • How did the social-historical evaluation and understanding of kingship change during different periods in the formation of the texts of the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Psalms, and Prophets?
  • What was the relationship between the ruling class, government authorities, empires, and the formation of the Hebrew Bible in those times?
  • What models are there for comparing and analyzing the Korean or Asian situation with the postcolonial situation in the Hebrew Bible?

Contents

Part I: Torah

  1. “United we stand, divided we fall”?: A Postcolonial Reading of Gen 11:1–9 (Thomas Römer)
  2. “The Land That Devours People”: Struggles Against Colonial Ideology in the Bible (Ezek 6; Num 13) and Christianity in Korea (Jaeyoung Jeon)
  3. The “Anti”-Royal Theology in the Priestly Writings? (Kishiya Hidaka)

Part II: Nevi’im

  1. Conflicting Memories in Post-Colonial Textual Traditions: Remembering the Story of Nob (1 Sam 21:1–9; 22:6–23) (JiSeong James Kwon)
  2. A Postcolonial Reading of Sheba’s Revolt (2 Sam 19:41–20:22) (Daewook Kim)
  3. Literary Historiography as a Method for State-Building: Competing Traditions and Transhistorical Memories of Saul and David’s Kingship (Ki-Eun Jang)
  4. The Gibeonites’ Migration and Resettlement in Persian Yehud in Light of the Korean Historical Context Through the Lens of Postcolonialism (Yitzhak Lee-Sak)
  5. Otherizing Violence: Dismemberment and Remembrance of Jezebel (Young Gil Lee)
  6. YHWH and Babylon in the Book of Jeremiah (Moon Kwon Chae)
  7. Understanding Two Jonahs in the Reader’s Context (Naeyoun Cho)

Part III: Ketuvim

  1. Davidic Resurgence in the Shadows of Empire: A Postcolonial Reading of Books 3–5 of the Psalms and Related Hebrew Texts (Jiseung Choi)
  2. Secrecy and Subversion in Esther (Song-Mi Suzie Park)
  3. Geography as Destiny in Achaemenid Ideology and Ezra-Nehemiah (David Janzen)