Biblical feminist interpretation: The ruse of analogy? What does it mean when the tools of a raci... more Biblical feminist interpretation: The ruse of analogy? What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the narrowest perimeters of change are possible and allowable … For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change (Lorde 1983:93). Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article sets to create a discourse between methodologies in Old Testament Theology, biblical feminist ideologies, using critical race theory as interdisciplinary focus, critical fabulation, cinematic narrative analysis as conceptual frameworks in an effort to add to the arsenal of disobedient epistemes.
Qohelet is one of the most fascinating books in the Hebrew Bible because it falls outside of the ... more Qohelet is one of the most fascinating books in the Hebrew Bible because it falls outside of the confides of what it is deemed as orthodox in terms of genre, literary components and theology. Considered in both antiquity and contemporary interpretations as Wisdom Literature, the book holds rich material to be interpreted and classified in a myriad of ways. It is no secret that Qohelet is an idiosyncratic scholar whose position is defined by unusualness, to define it as defiance would be extreme. As traditional renderings of liminality are often but not always limited to spatiality and time, here liminality is defined as an intellectual exercise. The decision to locate Qohelet as a liminal intellectual is informed by the epistemology encountered in the book if the consensus is that Qohelet existed in post-exilic Israel and that the book borders mostly around philosophical themes and ideas. The aim of this article is to outline and state how, when and why Qohelet becomes a liminal int...
The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one ... more The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, t...
The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God e... more The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God exist, or is the divine entity just a figment of our dreams, a projection? Is God what Aribiah Attoe calls a "regressively eternal and material entity" or what Gericke calls "a character of fiction with no counterpart outside the worlds of text and imagination"? This paper aims to wrestle with those questions from a theological perspective and to look at the ontological status of Yahweh and how that worldview lends itself to African Traditional Religions in conversation with Attoe's method of inquiry from the perspective of African Metaphysics. This paper aims to be a part of the larger project undertaken by the author, showing that philosophy can and should be an auxiliary discipline in Old Testament Studies as it has been seen, both fields have ways of similar arguing and coming to the same conclusions. This paper is intended to be an interlocutory exercise or experiment and does not seek to validate any hypothesis about either view.
The putsch carried out by Jehu is one of the most violent stories in the Hebrew Bible. The text
j... more The putsch carried out by Jehu is one of the most violent stories in the Hebrew Bible. The text justifies the violence by portraying the rebellion as a case of retributive justice for the death of Naboth and as an attempt to purify Yahwism. This article presents a critical reading of the text as well as an overview of how the interpretation of the text changed after the discovery of the Tel Dan inscription. The article also presents recent views on the history of Yahwism and finally presents the story as a (failed) attempt to justify a coup that was probably only about acquiring power.
The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also
one ... more The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.
Biblical feminist interpretation: The ruse of analogy? What does it mean when the tools of a raci... more Biblical feminist interpretation: The ruse of analogy? What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the narrowest perimeters of change are possible and allowable … For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change (Lorde 1983:93). Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article sets to create a discourse between methodologies in Old Testament Theology, biblical feminist ideologies, using critical race theory as interdisciplinary focus, critical fabulation, cinematic narrative analysis as conceptual frameworks in an effort to add to the arsenal of disobedient epistemes.
Qohelet is one of the most fascinating books in the Hebrew Bible because it falls outside of the ... more Qohelet is one of the most fascinating books in the Hebrew Bible because it falls outside of the confides of what it is deemed as orthodox in terms of genre, literary components and theology. Considered in both antiquity and contemporary interpretations as Wisdom Literature, the book holds rich material to be interpreted and classified in a myriad of ways. It is no secret that Qohelet is an idiosyncratic scholar whose position is defined by unusualness, to define it as defiance would be extreme. As traditional renderings of liminality are often but not always limited to spatiality and time, here liminality is defined as an intellectual exercise. The decision to locate Qohelet as a liminal intellectual is informed by the epistemology encountered in the book if the consensus is that Qohelet existed in post-exilic Israel and that the book borders mostly around philosophical themes and ideas. The aim of this article is to outline and state how, when and why Qohelet becomes a liminal int...
The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one ... more The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, t...
The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God e... more The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God exist, or is the divine entity just a figment of our dreams, a projection? Is God what Aribiah Attoe calls a "regressively eternal and material entity" or what Gericke calls "a character of fiction with no counterpart outside the worlds of text and imagination"? This paper aims to wrestle with those questions from a theological perspective and to look at the ontological status of Yahweh and how that worldview lends itself to African Traditional Religions in conversation with Attoe's method of inquiry from the perspective of African Metaphysics. This paper aims to be a part of the larger project undertaken by the author, showing that philosophy can and should be an auxiliary discipline in Old Testament Studies as it has been seen, both fields have ways of similar arguing and coming to the same conclusions. This paper is intended to be an interlocutory exercise or experiment and does not seek to validate any hypothesis about either view.
The putsch carried out by Jehu is one of the most violent stories in the Hebrew Bible. The text
j... more The putsch carried out by Jehu is one of the most violent stories in the Hebrew Bible. The text justifies the violence by portraying the rebellion as a case of retributive justice for the death of Naboth and as an attempt to purify Yahwism. This article presents a critical reading of the text as well as an overview of how the interpretation of the text changed after the discovery of the Tel Dan inscription. The article also presents recent views on the history of Yahwism and finally presents the story as a (failed) attempt to justify a coup that was probably only about acquiring power.
The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also
one ... more The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.
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Papers by Lerato Mokoena
justifies the violence by portraying the rebellion as a case of retributive justice for the death of
Naboth and as an attempt to purify Yahwism. This article presents a critical reading of the text
as well as an overview of how the interpretation of the text changed after the discovery of the
Tel Dan inscription. The article also presents recent views on the history of Yahwism and
finally presents the story as a (failed) attempt to justify a coup that was probably only about
acquiring power.
one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and
male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in
this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account
for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic
projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This
article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the
framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and
philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of
Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end,
we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the
God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that
is male and violent in the Old Testament.
justifies the violence by portraying the rebellion as a case of retributive justice for the death of
Naboth and as an attempt to purify Yahwism. This article presents a critical reading of the text
as well as an overview of how the interpretation of the text changed after the discovery of the
Tel Dan inscription. The article also presents recent views on the history of Yahwism and
finally presents the story as a (failed) attempt to justify a coup that was probably only about
acquiring power.
one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and
male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in
this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account
for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic
projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This
article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the
framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and
philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of
Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end,
we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the
God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that
is male and violent in the Old Testament.