Tag Archives: Exile

Reading on Exile

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Resources

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Jewish diaspora

Sometimes the best suggested reading lists come from footnotes. I recently read a book or two on the topic of exile and here is a list of books I compiled from the footnotes. This would be a fantastic summer (or winter) reading list!

 

Writing Exile: The Discourse of Displacement in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Beyond, edited by Jan Felix Gaertner (Brill)

Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives, edited by James M. Scott (Brill)

Exile and Restoration: A Study of Hebrew Thought of the Sixth Century B.C., by Peter R. Ackroyd (Westminster John Knox)

A Narrative Theology of the New Testament: Exploring the Metanarrative of Exile and Restoration, by Timo Eskola (Mohr Siebeck)

Leading Captivity Captive: ‘The Exile’ as History and Ideology, edited by Later L. Grabbe (Sheffield)

The Land of Israel as a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature: Recourse to History in Second Century B.C. Claims to The Holy Land, by Doron Mendels (J.C.B. Mohr)

The Crisis of Israelite Religion: Transformation of Religious Tradition in Exilic and Post-Exilic Times, edited by Bob Becking and Marjo C.A. Korpel (Brill)

Lord of the Banquet: Literary and Theological Significance of the Lukan Travel Narrative, by David P. Moessner (Fortress)

The Qumran Community, by Michael A. Knibb (Cambridge)

From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests After the Exile, by James C. VanderKam (Augsburg Fortress)

Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137, by David W. Stone (Oxford)

Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives, edited by James M. Scott (Brill)

Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile, by Andrew Mein (Oxford)

Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation, by Ralph W. Klein (Fortress)

Jesus and the Restoration of Israel: A Critical Assessment of N.T. Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God, edited by Carey C. Newman (IVP Academic)

Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of Exile: Restoration Eschatology and the Origin of the Atonement, by Brant Pitre (Baker Academic)

The Death of Jesus in Matthew: Innocent Blood and the End of Exile, by Catherine Sider Hamilton (Cambridge)

Ancient Jewish Letters and the Beginnings of Christian Epistolography, by Lutz Doering (Mohr Siebeck)

The Restoration of Israel: Israel’s Re-gathering and the Fate of the Nations in Early Jewish Literature and Luke-Acts, by Michael E. Fuller (De Gruyter)

Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life, by Jon D. Levenson (Yale)

Envisioning Judaism, edited by Ra’anan Boston, Klaus Herrmann, Remind Leicht, Annette Reed, and Giuseppe Veltri (Mohr Siebeck)

A Biblical Theology of Exile, by Daniel Smith-Chrstopher (Augsburg Fortress)

Exile and Restoration Revisited: Essays on the Babylonian and Persian Periods in Memory of Peter R. Ackroyd, edited by Gary Knoppers and Lester Grabbe (T&T Clark)

Enduring Exile: The Metaphorization of Exile in the Hebrew Bible, by Martien Halvorson-Taylor (Brill)

The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History, by Zvi Ben-Dor Benite (Oxford)

The Prophets Speak on Forced Migration, edited by Mark Boda, Frank Ames, John Ahn, and Mark Leuchter (SBL)

Exile as Forced Migrations: A Sociological, Literary, and Theological Approach on the Displacement and Resettlement of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, by John Ahn (De Gruyter)

Rejection: God’s Refugees in Biblical and Contemporary Perspective, edited by Stanley Porter (Pickwick)

Exile: A Conversation with N.T. Wright, edited by James M. Scott (IVP Academic)

 

 

 

Did Jesus think of Israel as still suffering exile?

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

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Did Jesus think of Israel as still suffering exile? Was part of his agenda the bringing to an end of Israel’s exile and the establishing of restoration as foretold in the prophets of old? These are some of the questions that Craig A. Evans wrestles with in a chapter titled “Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels” (found in the book Jesus in Context: Temple, Purity, and Restoration published by Brill).

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The chapter is fairly straightforward. Evans demonstrates (with plenty of examples from Second Temple literature) that many Jews during the intertestamental period considered themselves as still in exile. Although many Jews lived in the land again, nevertheless the fact that so many Jews remained in the diaspora indicated that the great in-gathering of Israel’s exiles had not happened. Exile continued. As for those who did live in the land of Israel, under Roman rule, they knew all to well that liberation from foreign oppressors had not obtained. They were still in exile awaiting national redemption. Further, Evans shows from the NT how this exile theology sheds light on many of Jesus’ words and actions. In the end he concludes, “Jesus identified himself and his mission with an oppressed Israel in need of redemption and that he himself was the agent of that redemption. He was the Danielic “son of man” to whom kingdom and authority were entrusted. He was the humble Davidic king of Zechariah’s vision who entered the Temple precincts and offered himself to the High Priest and took umbrage at Temple polity. And, of course, he was the eschatological herald of Second Isaiah who proclaimed the “gospel” of God’s reign and the new exodus. All of this suggests that, among other things, Jesus understood his message and ministry as the beginning of the end of Israel’s exile.” (293)

This is a stimulating topic that deserves careful study. Evans has done a great service by bringing together a host of texts from Second Temple literature and suggesting how they may contribute to our understanding of Jesus in his own context. Worth the read.