Brijan, Bernice
(2023)
Ideas of Exile.
Research master thesis, Master Research Master Theologie en Religiewetenschappen.
Abstract
This thesis focused on the so-called “enduring exile motif” and its development in the context of early Judaism. This motif brings to expression the view of an ongoing state of exile in postexilic texts, after the ending of the historical events of the Babylonian exile. An understanding of this motif has been subject to debate, which is reflected in the various positions of the socalled enduring exile thesis as well as in work on the metaphorization of exile. Whereas the first, the enduring exile thesis, focuses predominantly on theological understandings of exile and theological interpretations of history, the latter, the metaphorization of exile thesis, focuses on the development of exile into a metaphor itself. In this context, a distinction has been made between two forms of the enduring exile motif: one that shows a concern with chronology (“exile prolonged”) and one that shows a concern with metaphor (“exile as metaphor”).
However, insufficient attention had been given to how those two forms of the enduring exile motif relate to each other and whether it is indeed adequate to make a strict distinction between chronology and exile, or theology and metaphor. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate this matter with the help of a theoretical framework and several case-studies.
It is argued that, although in post-exilic times a concern for one form of the enduring exile motif above the other may be reflected in texts, it is more adequate to understand the development of those two forms of the enduring exile motif in relationship and conversation with each other. Furthermore, it is argued that central to the enduring exile motif is the so-called sin-exile-repentance/return pattern, which provides the foundation for both theological and metaphorical conceptualizations of exile. It is suggested that theological and metaphorical conceptualizations can be better understood as two different “languages” that enable to understand the Babylonian exile as an event that had existential implications.
| Type: |
Thesis
(Research master)
|
| Supervisors (RUG): |
| Supervisor | E-mail | Tutor organization | Tutor email |
|---|
| Popovic, M. | | Faculteit GGW, Faculteit Religie, Cultuur en Maatschappij | M.Popovic@rug.nl | | Bakker, A.F. | a.f.bakker@rug.nl | Faculteit GGW, Faculteit Religie, Cultuur en Maatschappij | |
|
| Degree programme: |
Master Research Master Theologie en Religiewetenschappen |
| Academic year: |
2022-2023 |
| Date of delivery: |
16 Nov 2023 15:12 |
| Last modified: |
16 Nov 2023 15:12 |
| URI: |
https://rcs.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/774 |
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