Interpreting Exile: Displacement and Deportation in Biblical and Modern Contexts(10 SBL - Ancient Israel and Its Literature)

Interpreting Exile considers forced displacement and deportation in ancient Israel and comparable modern contexts in order to offer insight into the realities of war and exile in ancient Israel and their representations in the Hebrew Bible. Introductory essays describe the interdisciplinary and comparative approach and explain how it overcomes methodological dead ends and advances the study of war in ancient and modern contexts. Following essays, written by scholars from various disciplines, explore specific cases drawn from a wide variety of ancient and modern settings and consider archaeological, anthropological, physical, and psychological realities, as well as biblical, literary, artistic, and iconographic representations of displacement and exile. The volume as a whole places Israel’s experiences and expressions of forced displacement into the broader context of similar war-related phenomena from multiple contexts. The contributors are Rainer Albertz, Frank Ritchel Ames, Samuel E. Balentine, Bob Becking, Aaron A. Burke, David M. Carr, Marian H. Feldman, David G. Garber Jr., M. Jan Holton, Michael M. Homan, Hugo Kamya, Brad E. Kelle, T. M. Lemos, Nghana Lewis, Oded Lipschits, Christl M. Maier, Amy Meverden, William Morrow, Shelly Rambo, Janet L. Rumfelt, Carolyn J. Sharp, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, and Jacob L. Wright.

Table of Contents:
Contents Abbreviations Foreword Rainer Albertz An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Exile Brad E. Kelle Part 1: Archaeology and History An Anthropological Model for the Investigation of the Archaeology of Refugees in Iron Age Judah and Its Environs Aaron A. Burke Shedding New Light on the Dark Years of the “Exilic Period”: New Studies, Further Elucidation, and Some Questions Regarding the Archaeology of Judah as an “Empty Land” Oded Lipschits Deportation and Demography in Sixth-Century b.c.e. Judah Avraham Faust The Deportation of Jerusalem’s Wealth and the Demise of Native Sovereignty in the Book of Kings Jacob L. Wright Assyrian Representations of Booty and Tribute as a Self-Portrayal of Empire Marian H. Feldman A Fragmented History of the Exile Bob Becking Part 2: Sociology and Identity The Cascading Eff ects of Exile: From Diminished Resources to New Identities Frank Ritchel Ames Lost Space and Revived Memory: From Jerusalem in 586 b.c.e. to New Orleans in 2009 Christl M. Maier Rebuilding Th at Wicked City: How the Destruction, Exile, and Restoration of New Orleans Elucidates Judah in the Sixth and Fift h Centuries b.c.e. Michael M. Homan Imagining Hope and Redemption: A Salvation Narrative among the Displaced in Sudan M. Jan Holton The Impact of War on Children: Th e Psychology of Displacement and Exile Hugo Kamya Part 3: Psychology and Trauma Reading War and Trauma: Suggestions Toward a Social-Psychological Exegesis of Exile and War in Biblical Texts Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Deuteronomy 7 in Postcolonial Perspective: Cultural Fragmentation and Renewal William Morrow Reading into the Gap: Refractions of Trauma in Israelite Prophecy David M. Carr A Vocabulary of Trauma in the Exilic Writings David G. Garber Jr. Reversing Fortune: War, Psychic Trauma, and the Promise of Narrative Repair Janet L. Rumfelt Part 4: Texts and Comparison The Prose and Poetry of Exile Samuel E. Balentine Sites of Conflict: Textual Engagements of Dislocation and Diaspora in the Hebrew Bible Carolyn J. Sharp The Emasculation of Exile: Hypermasculinity and Feminization in the Book of Ezekiel T. M. Lemos Daughter Zion as Homo Sacer: Th e Relationship of Exile, Lamentations, and Giorgio Agamben’s Bare Life Figure Amy Meverden Exiling in America: The American Myth and the Spectral Christ Shelly Rambo “There Was No Place for Cholly’s Eyes to Go”: (Black-on-Black) Crime and (Black Male) Displacement in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Nghana Lewis Contributors Index of Primary Texts Index of Modern Authors

About the Author :
Brad E. Kelle is Professor of Old Testament at Point Loma Nazarene University. He is the author of Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective (Society of Biblical Literature), co-author of Biblical History and Israel’s Past: The Changing Study of the Bible and History (Eerdmans), and co-editor of Writing and Reading War: Rhetoric, Gender, and Ethics in Biblical and Modern Contexts (Society of Biblical Literature). Frank Ritchel Ames is Professor of Medical Informatics and Director of Library Services at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a contributor to and co-editor of Writing and Reading War: Rhetoric, Gender, and Ethics in Biblical and Modern Contexts and Foster Biblical Scholarship: Essays in Honor of Kent Harold Richards (both from Society of Biblical Literature). Jacob L. Wright is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He is the author of Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and Its Earliest Readers (de Gruyter), which won a 2008 Templeton prize.