Egypt on the Pentateuch's ideological map : constructing biblical Israel's identity / F.V. Greifenhagen.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Greifenhagen, F. V.

Series:

Journal for the study of the Old Testament. Supplement series ; 361.

Journal for the study of the Old Testament. Supplement series ; 361

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Pentateuch--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. Pentateuch.

Egypt--In the Bible.

Egypt.

Physical Description:

xi, 325 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.

Summary:

This book explores the references to Egypt in the Pentateuch -- twice as dense as in the rest of the Hebrew Bible -- in the context of the production of the text's final form during the Persian period. Here, as Greifenhagen shows, Egypt functions ideologically as the primary "other" over against which Israel's identity is constructed, while its role in Israel's formation appears as subsidiary and as a superseded stage in a master narrative which locates Israel's ethnic roots in Mesopotamia. But the presentation of this powerful neighbour is equivocal: a dominant anti-Egyptian stance coexists with alternative, though subordinate, pro-Egyptian views, suggesting that the Pentateuchal narrative was produced within a context of ideological conflict over attitudes towards a land that provided a home for Jewish fugitives and emigrants.

Notes:

Revised version of the author's dissertation (doctoral--Duke University, 1998).

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-306) and index.

ISBN:

0826462111

OCLC:

51194813