Constructions of Space V Place, Space and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World

This is a collection of papers given at SBL International Meetings 2009-2011, which investigate the inherent spatiality of human existence. The contributors discuss ancient Mediterranean texts and societies from a decidedly spatial perspective, debating over such issues as narratological space, critical spatiality, sociological theories on space, space and identity, space and body. The volume consists of three parts and commences with three studies focusing on theoretical approaches towards spatial analysis and application of the theory to specific Old and New Testament texts. The essays in the second part examine the sacred space and the formation of identity, with particular attention to Jerusalem and the temple seen as sacred space and the lived experience of authors describing this space in various ways. The third part discusses the spatial theory and its application to a variety of texts ranging from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the New Testament.

Gert T.M. Prinsloo is Professor of Semitic Languages in the Department of Ancient Languages at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Christl M. Maier is Professor of Old Testament at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany.

Introduction: Place, Space, and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World - Christl M. Maier and Gert T. M. Prinsloo/ Part I: Prospectives, Perspectives and Methods/ 1. Space and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Theory and Practice with Reference to the Book of Jonah, Gert T. M. Prinsloo/ 2. Fiction and Space in Deuteronomy, Michaela Geiger/ 3. Critical Spatial Theory 2.0, Matthew Sleeman/ Part II: Sacred Space and the Formation of Identity/ 4. The Implied Transcendence of Physical and Ideological Borders and Boundaries in Psalm 47, Jo-Mari Schäder/ 5. Jerusalem, the Holy City: The Meaning of the City of Jerusalem in the Books of Ezra-Nehemiah, Maria Häusl/ 6. Whose Mother? Whose Space? Jerusalem in Third Isaiah, Christl M. Maier/ 7. The Meaning of the City of Jerusalem in the Book of Tobit: An Analysis of the Jerusalem Hymn in Tobit 13.8-18, Johanna Rautenberg/ Part III: Place, Space, Identity: Theory and Practice/ 9. From the Walls of Uruk: Reflections on Space in the Gilgamesh Epic, Gerda de Villiers/ 10. Family as Lived Space: An Interdisciplinary and Intertextual Reading of Genesis 34, Reineth and Gert Prinsloo/ 11. (Re-)Siting Space and Identity of Gibeonites and Japanese Americans, Johnny Miles/ 12. Narrative Space and the Construction of Meaning in the Book of Joel, Mary Mills/ 13. Unfocused Narrative Space in Tobit 1.1-2.14, Ronald van der Berg/ 14. From Urban Nightmares to Dream Cities: Revealing the Apocalyptic Cityscape, Carla Sulzbach

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