Conceiving a Nation
eBook - PDF

Conceiving a Nation

The Development of Political Discourse in the Hebrew Bible

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Conceiving a Nation

The Development of Political Discourse in the Hebrew Bible

About this book

Current conflicts in both national and international arenas have undermined the natural, organic concept of nationhood as conventionally espoused in the nineteenth century. Conceiving a Nation argues that the modern understanding of the nation as a contested concept—as the product of a fluid and ongoing process of negotiation open to a range of livable solutions—is actually rooted in the Bible.

This book draws attention to the contribution that the Bible makes to political discourse about the nation. The Bible is particularly well suited to this open-ended discourse because of its own nature as a text whose ambiguity and laconic quality render it constantly open to new interpretations and applicable to changing circumstances. The Bible offers a pluralistic understanding of different models of political development for different nations, and it depicts altering concepts of national identity over time.

In this book, Morgenstern reads the Bible as the source of a dynamic critique of the ideas that are conventionally considered to be fundamental to national identity, treating in successive chapters the ethnic (Ruth), the cultural (Samson), the political (Jotham), and the territorial (Esther). Throughout, she explores a number of common themes, such as the relationship of women to political authority and the "strangeness" of Israelite political existence. In the Conclusion, she elucidates how biblical analysis can aid in recognition of modern claims to nationhood.

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Yes, you can access Conceiving a Nation by Mira Morgenstern in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politique et relations internationales & Nationalisme et patriotisme. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Contents
  4. Preface
  5. Introduction
  6. Joseph: The Politics of Dreaming
  7. Moses: The Politics of Alienation
  8. Ruth: The Politics of Difference
  9. Jotham: The Politics of Parable
  10. Samson: The Politics of Riddling
  11. Esther: The Politics of Metaphor
  12. Conclusion
  13. Bibliography
  14. Index
  15. Back Cover