Violence, Otherness and Identity in Isaiah 63:1–6: The Trampling One Coming From Edom

Description

Violence disturbs. And violent depictions, when encountered in the biblical texts, are all the more disconcerting. Isaiah 63:1-6 is an illustrative instance. The prophetic text presents the “Arriving One” in gory details (‘trampling down people’; ‘pouring out their lifeblood’ v.6). Further, the introductory note that the Arriving One is “coming from Edom” (cf. v.1) may suggest Israel’s unrelenting animosity towards Edom. These two themes: the “gory depiction” and “coming from Edom” are addressed in this book. Irudayaraj uses a social identity reading to show how Edom is consistently pictured as Israel’s proximate and yet ‘othered entity. Approaching Edom as such thus helps situate the animosity within a larger prophetic vision of identity construction in the postexilic Third Isaian context. By adopting an iconographic reading of Isaiah 63:1-6, Irudayaraj shows how the prophetic portrayal of the ‘Arriving One’ in descriptions where it is clear that the ‘Arriving One’ is a marginalised identity correlates with the experiences of the “stooped” exiles (cf 51:14). He also demonstrates that the text leaves behind emphatic affirmations (‘mighty’ and ‘splendidly robed’ cf. v.1; “alone” cf. v.3), by which the relegated voice of the divine reasserts itself. It is in this divine reassertion that the hope of the Isaian community’s reclamation of its own identity rests. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Overview of the Chapters Chapter 1: “Trito-Isaiah” and the Text 1.1. Introductory Remarks 1.2. “Trito-Isaiah”: Isaiah 56–66 1.2.1. Historical Pointers 1.2.2. Literary Structure 1.2.3. Theological Themes 1.3. The Text: Isaiah 63:1–6 1.3.1. Preliminary Considerations 1.3.2. Textual Notes, Scholarly Options, and a Translation 1.3.3. Unity and Function 1.3.4. Genre, Structure, and Poetic Elements 1.3.5. Intertextual Echoes 1.4. Concluding Comments Chapter 2: Social Identity Approach and Proximate “Other” 2.1. Introductory Remarks 2.2. Social Identity Approach: Methodological Overview 2.2.1. Origin 2.2.2. Social Identity Theory 2.2.3. Self-categorization Theory 2.2.4. Social Identity Approach 2.2.5. Merits and Limitations of SIA 2.2.6. SIA in Biblical Studies and Qumran Literature 2.3. The Proximate “Other” 2.3.1. Identity Construction 2.3.2. Persisting Category 2.3.3. Permeable Boundary 2.3.4. Ambivalence 2.3.5. Agonistic Context 2.4. Concluding Comments Excursus: Identity and Boundary: Fredrik Barth and Beyond Chapter 3: Coming From Edom: Ambivalent Depictions 3.1. Introductory Remarks 3.2. Animosity Towards Edom and Scholarly Appropriations 3.3. Edom, the Proximate “Other”: A Social Identity Approach Reading of Isaiah 63:1–6 3.3.1. Agonistic Space 3.3.2. Edom, the Persisting Category 3.3.3. Permeable Boundary 3.3.4. Ambivalence 3.3.5. Identity Construction 3.4. Concluding Comments Chapter 4: The Trampling One: Descriptions of Marginality 4.1. Introductory Remarks 4.2. The Trampling One: Survey of Scholarship 4.3. Violent Portrayals and Marginal Communities: A Correlation 4.3.1. The Case of Kālī 4.3.2. The Example of Grāmadevatā 4.3.3. The Rationale 4.3.4. Transformation in the Violent Depictions 4.3.5. The Correlation in the Biblical Contexts 4.4. Iconographic Exegesis 4.4.1. Role and Relevance of Images/Icons 4.4.2. Iconographic Exegesis: A Roadmap 4.4.3. Iconographic Exegesis and Third Isaiah 4.5. The Trampling One in Gory Depiction: Re-reading Isaiah 63:1–6 4.5.1. The Setting 4.5.2. The Challenged Divine 4.5.3. Description of the Trampling One 4.5.4. The Action: Vigorous Trampling or Laborious Treading? 4.6. Concluding Comments Chapter 5: Otherness, the Ultimate and the Proximate: Correlated and Revived Identities 5.1. Introductory Remarks 5.2. The Ultimate “Other” and Theological Identity Revival 5.2.1. Isaian Image of God: An Interplay 5.2.2. The Arriving One: An Interplay of Mighty and Marginal 5.2.3. Theological Identity Revival 5.3. Proximate “Other”: Ambivalent Descriptions 5.3.1. Edom, Israel’s Proximate “Other” 5.3.2. The Enduring Edom 5.4. Identity Affirmation 5.4.1. Challenge and Response 5.4.2. Correlated and Revived Identities 5.5. Concluding Comments Chapter 6: Retrospect and Prospect 6.1. Introductory Remarks 6.2. Retrospect 6.2.1. Gory Portrayals vis-à-vis Descriptions of Marginality 6.2.2. Coming from Edom: Ambivalence and Proximate “Other” 6.2.3. Otherness, the Connecting Thread 6.2.4. Violent Texts and Reading Strategies 6.3. Prospect 6.3.1. “The Treader of the Wine Press of Fury” in the New Testament 6.3.2. Owning Up to the Divine Warrior in My Own Cultural Milieu 6.3.3. Scope and Relevance of Proximate “Other” 6.4. A Disposition, an Analogy, and an Invitation Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors