Love and violence : marriage as metaphor for the relationship between YHWH and Israel in the prophetic books / Gerlinde Baumann ; translated by Linda M. Maloney.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Baumann, Gerlinde, 1962-

Standardized Title:

• Liebe und Gewalt. English

Language:

• English
• German

Subjects (All):

• Bible. Prophets--Feminist criticism.
• Bible. Prophets.
• Marriage--Biblical teaching.
• Metaphor in the Bible.
• Feminist criticism.

Physical Description:

xii, 271 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Collegeville, Minn. : Liturgical Press, [2003]

Language Note:

Translated from the German.

Summary:

Love and Violence is a detailed study of the marriage metaphor in the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible and a challenge to the use of that metaphor for depicting the relationship between God and Israel. It examines the ways in which the metaphor is rooted in gender assumptions of the ancient world and the inherent tension in usage of the marriage metaphor in ancient Israel, as well as in today's church and society.

Contents:

• Part I. The Prophetic Marriage Imagery: Research and Background
• 1. Overview of Recent Scholarly Discussion and Definition of the Author's Position 7
• A. Preliminary remark 7
• B. Several earlier approaches 8
• C. Evaluation 21
• D. Violence against women as depicted in the Old Testament: Hermeneutical guidelines for this study 22
• 2. Understanding the Imagery 27
• B. What is a metaphor? 28
• C. The metaphor of marriage for the relationship between Yhwh and Israel/Jerusalem 29
• D. Further terminological distinctions: "imagery" and "personification" 30
• E. God imagery as a special case 31
• F. Another special case: sexual imagery 31
• G. Interaction as functional principle of the metaphor and its consequence: contextuality 32
• H. "Explaining" and "interpreting" metaphors: the procedure in this study 33
• I. The role of "feeling" in the interpretation of metaphors 34
• J. The "reverse action" of imagery 35
• K. The "morality of metaphors" or: questions of dominance and authority 36
• 3. Marriage, Adultery, "Harlotry": The Vocabulary of the Prophetic Marriage Imagery 39
• A. Marriage, adultery, and divorce in the Old Testament 39
• B. The vocabulary of the prophetic marriage imagery 41
• C. Some terms in the prophetic marriage imagery and their implications 43
• i. [characters not reproducible], "harlotry" or "whoring" 43
• ii. [characters not reproducible], "uncover" 46
• iii. [characters not reproducible], "nakedness" or "skirt hem" 52
• 4. Theological Location of the Prophetic Marriage Imagery: berit as a Related Idea 57
• A. Preliminary remark 57
• B. Terminological parallels between berit- and marriage imagery 59
• C. Content parallels between berit- and marriage imagery 61
• D. The relationship between berit- and marriage imagery 64
• 5. Ancient Near Eastern Ideas as Background for Prophetic Marriage Imagery 67
• A. The ancient Near Eastern background of the idea of the "city as woman/wife" in the prophetic marriage imagery 67
• B. The ancient Near Eastern background of the punishment of the "woman/wife" in the prophetic marriage imagery 69
• i. Punishment of concrete women 69
• ii. Ancient Near Eastern treaty curses 76
• iii. War, imprisonment, and deportation 79
• C. Evaluation 81
• Part II. Textual Studies
• 6. Hosea: "Primal Text" of the Prophetic Marriage Imagery 85
• A. Survey of marriage imagery in Hosea 85
• B. The use of metaphorical marriage terms in Hosea 91
• C. Metaphors of sexual violence in Hosea 95
• D. Feminist theological interpretations of Hosea's marriage imagery 98
• E. Marriage metaphors in the context of Hosea's religious imagery 100
• 7. Jeremiah: Yhwh's Marriages with Israel and Judah 105
• A. Survey of marriage imagery in Jeremiah 105
• B. The use of marriage terms in Jeremiah 113
• C. Metaphors of sexual violence in Jeremiah 117
• D. Feminist theological interpretations of Jeremiah's marriage imagery 124
• E. Marriage metaphors in the context of Jeremiah's religious imagery 126
• 8. Ezekiel: Climax of the Marriage Imagery 135
• A. Survey of marriage imagery in Ezekiel 135
• B. The use of marriage terms in Ezekiel 146
• C. Metaphors of violence against the "women" in Ezekiel 154
• D. Feminist theological interpretations of Ezekiel's marriage imagery 159
• E. Marriage metaphors in the context of Ezekiel's religious imagery 163
• Excursus: Lamentations: Jerusalem Wails 167
• 9. Isaiah: Destruction for Babylon, Salvation for Zion 175
• A. Survey of marriage imagery in Isaiah 175
• B. The use of marriage terms in Isaiah 177
• i. Proto-Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39) 177
• ii. Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) 180
• iii. Trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66) 186
• iv. Observations on the book of Isaiah as a whole 189
• C. Metaphors of sexual violence in Isaiah 191
• D. Feminist theological interpretations of Isaiah's marriage imagery 194
• E. Marriage metaphors in the context of Isaiah's religious imagery 196
• i. The use of feminine imagery in the book of Isaiah 196
• ii. The image of God in the book of Isaiah 200
• 10. The Twelve Prophets: The Marriage Imagery Completed 203
• A. The use of marriage terms in the Twelve Prophets 203
• B. Micah 206
• C. Nahum 209
• D. Malachi 213
• 11. The Marriage Imagery in the Individual Prophetic Books 223
• A. Summary of the results of the textual studies 223
• B. Systematic view of the results 225
• C. Metaphors of sexual violence in the texts? 226
• 12. Dealing With the Texts of the Prophetic Marriage Imagery: Critical Reading 229
• 13. The Problem of the God-Image 233
• 14. A Look Ahead 235.

Notes:

• "A Michael Glazier book."
• Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-258) and indexes.

ISBN:

081465147X

OCLC:

52121444