Identity In Exodus

Collective identity creates a sense of "us-ness" in people. It may be fleeting and situational or long-lasting and deeply ingrained. Competition, shared belief, tragedy, or a myriad of other factors may contribute to the formation of such group identity. Even people detached from one another by space, anonymity, or time, may find themselves in a context in which individual self-concept is replaced by a collective one. How is collective identity, particularly the long-lasting kind, created and maintained? Many literary and biblical studies have demonstrated that shared stories often lie at the heart of it. This book examines the most repeated story of the Hebrew Bible--the exodus story--to see how it may have functioned to construct and reinforce an enduring collective identity in ancient Israel. A tool based on the principles of the social identity approach is created and used to expose identity construction at a rhetorical level. The author shows that exodus stories are characterized by recognizable language and narrative structures that invite ongoing collective identification.

Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang examines the human exodus from China to Taiwan in 1949, focusing on trauma, memory, and identity.

"Shows how writers such as Absalom Jones, Daniel Coker, and W.E.B. Du Bois employed the Exodus metanarrative to ask profound, difficult questions of the African experience in America from the eighteenth century onward."--Jacket flap.

Tying in to a nationwide joint campaign by the Evangelical Alliance and Care for the Family, Krish Kandiah wants us all to take seriously Jesus's call to 'suffer the little children' by engaging with the needs of the many thousands of children up and down the country who are in care and whom the church could and should be helping. Krish and his wife Miriam have adopted and fostered children themselves and their experience - and that of the many others in this book - is very different from the popular myth which suggests social services seek to prevent Christians from getting involved. Krish argues that whatever the state's stance may be, it is a part of our calling as God's church to get involved where it's hardest, and to help these children out of the tough realities they find themselves in. Filled with stories from people who have adopted or were adopted themselves, alongside practical advice on how it all works and the challenges that will come, this book makes a compelling case that the church can and must make a difference in these children's lives, and asks us all to consider our response.

No nation has been subjected to a wider range of biblical attitudes and emotions than Edom. In some sources, Edom is perceived as Israel’s brother; in many others, the animosity toward Edom is tremendous. The book of Genesis introduces Isaac, his wife Rebecca, and their twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Rivalry between the brothers emerges even before their birth and escalates over the course of their lives. The question of which son should be favored also causes tension in the parents’ relationship, and most of the Genesis text concerning Isaac and Rebecca revolves around this issue. The narrative describes the fraternal conflict between Jacob and Esau at length, and many hold that this description is a reflection of the hostility between Edom and Israel. However, the relationship between the brothers is not always depicted as strained. The twofold relationship between the brothers in Genesis—brotherhood and fraternity coupled with hatred and rivalry—introduces a dichotomy that is retained throughout the Hebrew Bible. In this monograph, Assis elucidates the complex relationship between Edom and Israel reflected in the Bible, to attempt to clarify the source of this complexity and the function that this relationship serves in the various biblical texts and Israel’s early history. He shows how this relationship plays an important role in the formation of Israel’s identity, and how the historical interaction between the nations influenced the people’s theological conception, as reflected in prophetic literature, poetry, and biblical narrative.

In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Richard Lints argues that "idol" language in the Bible is a conceptual inversion of the "image" language of Genesis 1. He shows how the narrative of human identity runs from creation to fall to redemption in Christ, and examines the recent renaissance of interest in idolatry with its conceptual power to explain the "culture of desire."

Using Ricoeur’s theories of narrative and identity, and their ethical implications, this book offers a multi-disciplinary Asian reading of Moses’ reverse migration in Exodus 4:18-26, in light of the liminal experience of global economic migration. The work demonstrates the productivity of Ricoeur’s threefold movement of prefiguration, configuration, and refiguration for OT studies and contemporary realities. By bringing together the world of an ancient text, a nuanced reading of the text’s narrative movement and its history of interpretation, and the bittersweet realities of Filipino overseas workers, this creative study charts the way for an OT hermeneutic that opens up possibilities for the formation of a reader’s narrative and ethical identity.

Journeying through Exodus, Nikki T. White explores the topic of identity crisis, inviting us to discover an identity of purposed and purposeful mission.

We live only a small fraction of the lives God has for us, circling around the demands of the present moment while God whispers softly or even hollers for us to harness our whole hearts. These nine sessions LifeGuide® Bible Study follow the biblical themes as well as the journeys of women showing the way to embracing God's strength and wisdom to live whole lives.