Literary Forms/Techniques & Methods of Study

Abstract

Literary Forms/Techniques & Methods of Study Christopher T. Begg, William J. Urbrock, CFC Alan J. Moss, and George C. Heider 68. Ehud Ben Zvi, "Introductory Centre/Core Periphery Considerations and the Case of Interplaying of Rigid and Flexible Constructions of Centre and Periphery among the Literati of the Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Period," Centres and Peripheries, 21-41 [see #608]. B. Z.'s opening essay in the above collection serves as a methodological introduction to the volume as a whole and to the C-P (centre-periphery) concept in all its variety. Its main purpose is to provide readers with shared basic background from which to approach the other contributions of the volume. It includes a "theory" section (section "A") and then moves to "practical examples" (sections "B" and "C"). The latter sections are meant to clearly illustrate the existence and usefulness as well as the limitations of C-P cross-cultural/cross-historical patterns and their generative "grammars." To be sure, these general cross-cultural tendencies necessarily lead to unique historical outcomes, due to matters of historical contingency. The examples cited in section "B" mainly deal with: (a) self-constructions of groups that, while they are peripheral in terms of historical and economic capital, are central in terms of their cultural and symbolic capital; and (b) the construction of the "central" city of a group as "peripheral." The latter case serves to show that social-anthropological modes and underlying systematic generative grammars may work for "real" societies and social agents, but also for societies and social agents that existed only in the shared memory and imagination of a group. Section "C" stresses via examples that C-P constructions are often neither linear nor unidirectional and that often the system works through a set of related "axes" rather than a single such axis. In making this case, B. Z. discusses a variety of significant and substantially different cases, which make clear, beyond doubt, that at times, seemingly expected differentiations of what is central and peripheral were negotiated along a multiplicity of axes. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 69. [Genesis 12, etc.] Joshua Berman, "Juxtaposed Conflicting Compositions (Gen 1:1–2:4a / 2:4b-25; Exod 14–15; Judg 4–5): A New Kingdom Egyptian Parallel," JNSL 42 (1, 2016) 1-13. The Hebrew Bible records several instances of juxtaposed conflicting accounts (Genesis 1–2; Exodus 14–15; and Judges 4–5). To date, however, no example has been adduced from cognate literature of differing accounts of the same event juxtaposed with each other in this way. In the case of the Kadesh inscriptions of Ramesses II, B. points out here, the pharaoh commissioned two differing accounts of the Battle of Kadesh, and had these carved side by side at several monumental sites. B.'s study examines the discrepancies between the two versions, and how Egyptologists have explained their juxtaposition. On this basis, he then discusses the implications of this extrabiblical example for our understanding of juxtaposed conflicting accounts in the Hebrew Bible. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 70. [Jeremiah] Corrine Carvalho, "Whose Gendered Language of God? Contemporary Gender Theory and Divine Gender in the Prophets," CurTM 43 (3, 2016) 12-16. In the Book of Jeremiah, gender-bending takes place in the text on three planes: first, defeat of the nation is depicted through gender-bending metaphors; second, the prophet Jeremiah's own gender is called into question through his interactions with God and the community; third, the picture of restoration also involves gender reversal. Gender distortion [End Page 18] and reversal in the book are part of a larger rhetorical strategy to depict the defeat of the city as a disruption of every social category.—W.J.U. 71. Cynthia Ruth Chapman, "Modern Terms and their Ancient Non-Equivalents. Patrilineality and Gender in the Historical Study of the Bible," HeBAI 5 (2016) 78-93. Modern gender-critical methodological frameworks that have emerged within Western academic discourse can open new windows into ancient texts and worldviews, allowing the researcher to recognize and begin to theorize gendered language and categories. At the same time, however, modern methodologies...