Myths of Exile: History and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
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Myths of Exile : History and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible. / Gudme, Anne Katrine de Hemmer (Editor); Hjelm, Ingrid (Editor).
London and New York : Routledge, 2015. 188 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
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TY - BOOK
T1 - Myths of Exile
T2 - History and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
A2 - Gudme, Anne Katrine de Hemmer
A2 - Hjelm, Ingrid
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The Babylonian exile in 587–539 BCE is frequently presented as the mainexplanatory factor for the religious and literary developments found in theHebrew Bible. The sheer number of both ‘historical’ and narrative exilesconfirms that the theme of exile is of great importance in the Hebrew Bible.However, one does not do justice to the topic by restricting it to the exile inBabylon after 587 BCE. In recent years, it has become clear that there areseveral discrepancies between biblical and extra-biblical sources on invasionand deportation in Palestine in the 1st millennium BCE. Such discrepancyconfirms that the theme of exile in the Hebrew Bible should not be viewed asan echo of a single traumatic historical event, but rather as a literary motifthat is repeatedly reworked by biblical authors.Myths of Exile challenges the traditional understanding of ‘the Exile’ as amonolithic historical reality and instead provides a critical and comparativeassessment of motifs of estrangement and belonging in the Hebrew Bible andrelated literature. Using selected texts as case-studies, this book demonstrateshow tales of exile and return can be described as a common formative narrativein the literature of the ancient Near East, a narrative that has been interpretedand used in various ways depending on the needs and cultural contextsof the interpreting community. Myths of Exile is a critical study which formsthe basis for a fresh understanding of these exile myths as identity-buildingliterary phenomena.
AB - The Babylonian exile in 587–539 BCE is frequently presented as the mainexplanatory factor for the religious and literary developments found in theHebrew Bible. The sheer number of both ‘historical’ and narrative exilesconfirms that the theme of exile is of great importance in the Hebrew Bible.However, one does not do justice to the topic by restricting it to the exile inBabylon after 587 BCE. In recent years, it has become clear that there areseveral discrepancies between biblical and extra-biblical sources on invasionand deportation in Palestine in the 1st millennium BCE. Such discrepancyconfirms that the theme of exile in the Hebrew Bible should not be viewed asan echo of a single traumatic historical event, but rather as a literary motifthat is repeatedly reworked by biblical authors.Myths of Exile challenges the traditional understanding of ‘the Exile’ as amonolithic historical reality and instead provides a critical and comparativeassessment of motifs of estrangement and belonging in the Hebrew Bible andrelated literature. Using selected texts as case-studies, this book demonstrateshow tales of exile and return can be described as a common formative narrativein the literature of the ancient Near East, a narrative that has been interpretedand used in various ways depending on the needs and cultural contextsof the interpreting community. Myths of Exile is a critical study which formsthe basis for a fresh understanding of these exile myths as identity-buildingliterary phenomena.
M3 - Book
SN - 978-1-138-88689-6
BT - Myths of Exile
PB - Routledge
CY - London and New York
ER -
ID: 162681476