Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Oktober/2022 |
Spalte: | 919-921 |
Kategorie: | Bibelwissenschaft |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Bons, Eberhard, u. Karin Finsterbusch [Hgg.] |
Titel/Untertitel: | Konstruktionen individueller und kollektiver Identität (II). Alter Orient, römische Antike, frühes Judentum, frühes Christentum. |
Verlag: | Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Neukirchener Theologie) 2017. 241 S. m. 14 Abb. u. 2 Tab. = Biblisch-Theologische Studien, 168. Kart. EUR 30,00. ISBN 9783788731052. |
Rezensent: | Emmanouela Grypeou |
Neben dem angegebenen Titel in dieser Rezension besprochen:
Bons, Eberhard, u. Karin Finsterbusch [Hgg.]: Konstruktionen individueller und kollektiver Identität (I). Altes Israel/Frühjudentum, griechische Antike, Neues Testament/Alte Kirche – Studien aus Deutschland und Frankreich. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Neukirchener Theologie) 2016. 236 S. = Biblisch-Theologische Studien, 161. Kart. EUR 34,00. ISBN 9783788729974.
Present two-volume publication emerged out of conference co-organised by the University of Strassbourg and the University of Koblenz-Landau. The fourteen contributions gathered tackle issues of identity definition and construction of individuals as well as of groups. More specifically, the two volumes examine aspects of identity as these are manifested and contextualized in the ancient world, and especially in Ancient Israel and Ancient Orient, Ancient Greece and Rome, Hellenistic Judaism and Early Chris- tianity. Accordingly, a major focus of the collected essays deals with ques-tions related to definition and construction of ident- ity by religious traditions and how these are expressed and documented in ancient religious writings. Further questions which are highlighted refer to the complex of the construction of a collective identity as well as of potential and ability for transformation of a given collective identity. In this context, issues of definition and demarcation of community boundaries as exclusive or inclusive mechanisms regarding the construction of the image of the »stranger«/»other« become particularly relevant.
The first volume is a collection of the so-called »Basic Contributions« (Grundbeiträge) which mainly deal with Ancient Israel and Ancient Greece. Bernd Janowski examines the question of the »personal identity« in the context of Old Testament anthropology, taking as starting point the concept of the »person«. Janowksi suggests a »constellative person concept« in the Old Testament, not founded on individuality but on socialization and reciprocation, as evidenced in the use of the word for »heart«, that reflects a multi-layered understanding of this »synthetic« concept. Finally, he concludes that personal identity in the Old Testament is two-dimensional, as both individual and collective identity. Norbert Jacoby discusses the concepts of the individual and the collective in the so-called »Platonic-Aristotelian« antiquity. This is a philosophical essay, of a very different character and methodology compared to the other contributions and as such, it stands out in this volume because of its complexity and uniqueness.
Pierre Keith discusses issues of identity in the Book of Daniel, which according to the author offers a good variety of identity criteria. Keith demonstrates that in the apocalyptic chapters of Daniel, there is an increasing importance of the sense of belonging to the »holy people«, whereby ethnic-religious identity criteria acquire a new significance compared to ethnic-geographical criteria. Accordingly, the Book of Daniel demonstrates traces of a development of a new collective self-understanding as well as a new def-inition of »Jewish identity«, which points to shifting boundaries, a new mobility as well as adaptability.
Karin Finsterbusch examines constructions of collective ident-ity of »Israel« in crisis as documented in the post-exilic Deuteronomy and in the Damascus document. As Finsterbusch argues, the author of Deuteronomy constructs an ideal collective identity for Israel in the Promised Land in the future, whereas the inclusion of the nations is evaluated as positive as long as these are not per- ceived as threatening. The Damascus Document constructs a positive identity for the collective »children of light« based on the belief of their sole authority in the »correct interpretation of the Torah and in contrast both to the other« Israel and to the »nations« in the persuasion that only those who strictly follow the Tora will be saved in the end-of-times.
Thierry Legrand studies a prophetic commentary of the Qumran community, the Pesher Habakuk, as an expression of group identity based on the belief in the privileged relationship of the community with God on account of a (new) covenant as well as in the belief of their special role in history before the end of times. Denis Fricker looks into aspects of religious identity in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Epistle of James, with special attention to the collective identity of the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew and the so-called »dipsychoi« (probably the rich people) in the letter of James as potential exclusive identity criteria. Nathalie Siffer considers the group identity features of the earliest church in the Acts 2:42, as behavioral modes that promoted the construction of a new identity in tension between continuity and innovation for the community in Jerusalem and for the nascent early Church. Daniel Gerber examines ideas about collective identity »in Christ« in Paul’s I Cor 5. Françoise Vinel is looking at polemical and normative identities in two writings of a largely apologetic character, namely, Justin’s Apology and in the Great Catechetical Homily by Gregory of Nyssa; both writings, which articulate a defense of faith against the »others« – that is Jews, Pagans and Heretics –, demon- strate a varied understanding and new definition of their own identity at a given time, as well as according to the different his-torical contexts.
The second volume includes contributions on issues of identity from the ancient Orient, Hellenistic Judaism, ancient Rome and the early Church. Astrid Nunn examines identity in the imagery of ancient Orient and demonstrates that the purpose of the portray-al of persons aimed at a depiction of the status of the person on account of certain »signature elements« and not at a specific depic- tion of individual features. Ulrike Steinert discusses Mesopotamian concepts regarding a person, identity and individuality and stresses the importance of the community for the individuals. Eberhard Bons reads the Book Judith as a witness to the importance of the Jerusalem Temple as a cultic center as well as to the faith in the God of the ancestors for the identity of Israel. Patrick Pouchelle stresses the importance of the holy scriptures for the authors of the Psalms of Solomon as an identity-bond rather than community contexts such boulé or ekklesia or synedrion and synagogue. Werner Eck is asking about the possibility of a »Roman identity« in the multi-national and multi-lingual Imperium Romanum. Günter Stemberger examines the question of the influence of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in 70 CE on the emerging Jewish identity. Judith Hartenstein discusses group identity as regards the so-called apocryphal gospels and suggests that specific writings could become attractive as identifying factors for certain (possibly marginal) early Christian groups. Wolfgang Grünstäudl examines aspects in the development of early Christian identity and the challenging construction of »Otherness« in the context of a literary marking of boundaries, as evidenced in the Epistle of Jude and in Justin’s dialogue with Trypho.
The articles collected in these two volumes not only cover a considerably broad historical period but also address a wide range of themes on the understanding, delimitation, construction of – mainly collective – religious identities in the ancient world. There is, however, a certain imbalance, unclarity and disparity in the methodology, conceptualization of the topic, and definitions. The contributions appear quite heterogeneous and seem to express different and even confounding understandings of such a complex category. A concise or clearly outlined methodological approach which could have functioned as a connecting golden thread in this volume is largely missing. Albeit the presence of some interesting articles, present collection remains a mélange of various and, occasionally, vague or unclear intepretations and approaches to identity – collective and/or individual.