Imagined Worlds and Constructed Differences in the Hebrew Bible

The purpose of this volume is twofold: to introduce readers to the study of cultural memory and identity in relation to the Hebrew Bible, and to set up strategies for connecting studies of the historical contexts and literature of the Bible to parallel issues in the present day.

The volume questions how we can better understand the divide between insider and outsider and the powerful impact of prejudice as a basis for preserving differences between "us" and "them"? In turn the contributors question how such frameworks shape a community's self-perception, its economics and politics. Guided by the general framework of Anderson's theory of nationalism and the outsider, such issues are explored in related ways throughout each of the contributions. Each contribution focuses on social, economic, or political issues that have significantly shaped or influenced dominant elements of cultural memory and the construction of identity in the biblical texts. Together the contributions present a larger proposal: the broad contours of memory and identity in the Bible are the products of a collective desire to reshape the social-political world.

• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction: Imagined Communities, Constructed Identities, and Biblical Studies - Jeremiah W. Cataldo, Grand Valley State University, USA
• Part I: Models and memories: theories on the formation and impact of cultural memories
  • 2. Migrations of Memory and Imagination - Jon Berquist, Disciples Seminary Foundation;Claremont School of Theology, USA
  • 3. Social-Scientific Models and Mnemonic/Imagined Worlds - Ehud ben Zvi, University of Alberta, USA
• Part II: Imagined worlds with real impacts: strategies for interpreting economic, political, and social impacts of imagined communities
  • 4. The Assassination of King Amon of Judah and the Crisis of Imperialism - Brad Crowell, Drake University, USA
  • 5. Nehemiah's Social-Economic Reforms - Kyong-Jin Lee, Fuller Theological Seminary, USA
  • 6. Veiled Resistance - Carolyn Alsen, University of Divinity; Australian Catholic University, Australia
  • 7. Judah in Jeremiah - Carly Crouch, University of Nottingham, UK
  • 8. Poor Shaming and the Corruptive Nature of Wealth in Judah - Matthew Coomber, St. Ambrose University, USA
  • 9. A Taste for Wisdom - Mark Sneed, Lubbock Christian University, USA
• Part III: Benedict Anderson's "Nationalism" and the Outsider: Building Communities by Rejecting Differences; and the Limits of the Bible's Imagined World/Community
  • 10. Biblical Strategies for Interpreting Refugee Crises - Jeremiah Cataldo, Grand Valley State University, USA
  • 11. Multinationality and the Utopian Project: The Case of 'Israel' - Roland Boer, Renmin University of China, China
• Index