A Biblical Theology of Exile

The Christian church continues to seek ethical and spiritual models from the period of Israel's monarchy and has avoided the gravity of the Babylonian exile. Against this tradition, the author argues that the period of focus for the canonical construction of biblical thought is precisely the exile. Here the voices of dissent arose and articulated words of truth in the context of failed power.

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher is Professor of Theological Studies and Director of Peace Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Editor's Foreword

vii

Abbreviations

xi

Preface

xiii

Biblical Theology: On Matters of Methodology

1

(26)

The Emergence of Diasporic Theology

6

(9)

Questioning Nationalism in Cultural and Postcolonialist Studies

15

(6)

On a Theology of Exile

21

(6)

Violence and Exegesis: The History of Exile

27

(48)

The Shadows of Empire: The Exegesis of Violence as Theological Context

27

(3)

The Problem of Assessing the Importance of the Exile in Biblical Studies

30

(4)

Persian Authorization of the Pentateuch?

34

(1)

Resistance in the Persian Period

35

(3)

The Culture of Permission and the Royal Correspondence of Ezra 1-7

38

(7)

Summary: Ezra-Nehemiah, Religious Resistance, and Persian Authorization?

45

(1)

The Myth of the Empty Land: Doubts about the Exile

45

(4)

The Shadow of Empire: A Survey of Recent Literature

49

(5)

A Theology of Victims of Exile

54

(11)

The Status and Treatment of the Exiled Community

65

(10)

Listening to Cries from Babylon: On the Exegesis of Suffering in Ezekiel and Lamentations

75

(30)

Ezekiel, Lamentations, and Refugee Studies

76

(2)

A Survey of Refugee and Disaster Studies in Preparation for Reading Ezekiel and Lamentations

78

(5)

Ezekiel on the Couch?

83

(6)

Trauma Studies and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Ezekiel the Refugee

89

(6)

The Sign-Actions of Ezekiel: Reading Ezekiel with Lamentations

95

(1)

The Language of Lament: Does Literary Stereotype Mean Historical Nonexistence?

96

(7)

Preliminary Conclusions

103

(2)

Shame and Transformation: On Prayer and History in the Diaspora

105

(20)

A Sociology of Deuteronomistic History?

108

(3)

Penitential Prayer in the Postexilic Period

111

(9)

A Social Function of Shame?

120

(5)

Israelite Mission and Human Transformation

125

(12)

The Universalism of Late Isaiah Texts

125

(5)

Universalism in Jonah

130

(7)

``Purity'' as Nonconformity: Communal Solidarity as Diaspora Ethics

137

(26)

The Exile and Theologies of ``Community''

138

(1)

Who Is ``We''? Some Observations on the Biblical Vocabulary of Community

138

(6)

Issues of Community Formation after the Exile

144

(1)

The Priestly Theology of Policing the Boundaries: Purity and Social Solidarity

145

(15)

Purity and Nonconformity: Ezra as an Amish Elder

160

(3)

The Wisdom Warrior: Reading Wisdom and Daniel as Diasporic Ethics

163

(26)

On Tricksters and Wise Men

164

(2)

Reading Wisdom in Diaspora and Occupied Palestine

166

(5)

Ecclesiastes: Dark Humor in Occupied Palestine?

171

(2)

Rereading Proverbs from Below

173

(2)

The Wisdom Warrior: Diasporic Cleverness over Imperial Brute Strength

175

(3)

The Wisdom Warrior: An Ideal Type in Wisdom Literature

178

(4)

Daniel as the Wise Warrior

182

(5)

``And Daniel Laughed...''-Diasporic Nonviolence: Laughing at the State

187

(2)

Toward a Diasporic Christian Theology: The Theology of Tobit and Daniel Revisited

189

(16)

The Postcolonialist Mandate of the Church in Exile

195

(3)

Social Elements of a Christian Diasporic Theology

198

(7)

Index of Biblical Passages

205

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A Biblical Theology of Exile

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials