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The only large-scale critical introduction to Western Marxism for biblical criticism. Roland Boer introduces the core concepts of major figures in the tradition, specifically Althusser, Gramsci, Deleuze and Guattari, Eagleton, Lefebvre, Lukács, Adorno, Bloch, Negri, Jameson, and Jameson. Throughout, Boer shows how Marxist criticism is relevant to biblical criticism, in terms of approaches to the Bible and in the use of those approaches in the interpretation of specific texts.
In this second edition, Boer has added chapters on Deleuze and Guattari, and Negri. Each chapter has been carefully revised to make the book more useful on courses, while maintaining challenges and insights for postgraduate students and scholars. Theoretical material has been updated and sharpened in light of subsequent research and a revised conclusion considers the economies of the ancient world in relation to biblical societies.
List of contents
Introduction: Touchstones for Marxist Criticism
1. Louis Althusser: The Difficult Birth of Israel in Genesis
2. Antonio Gramsci: The Emergence of the 'Prince' in Exodus
3. Deleuze and Guattari: Scapegoats and Resistance
4. Terry Eagleton: The Class Struggles of Ruth
5. Henri Lefebvre (and David Harvey): The Production of Space in 1 Samuel
6. Georg Lukács: The Contradictory World of Kings
7. Theodor Adorno: The Logic of Divine Justice in Isaiah
8. Ernst Bloch: Anti-Yahwism in Ezekiel
9. Antonio Negri: Job: Bending Transcendence to Immanence
10. Fredric Jameson: The Contradictions of Form in the Psalms
11. Walter Benjamin: The Impossible Apocalyptic of Daniel
Conclusion: Marxism and the Sacred Economy
About the author
Roland Boer
Summary
The only large-scale critical introduction to Western Marxism for biblical criticism. Roland Boer introduces the core concepts of major figures in the tradition, specifically Althusser, Gramsci, Deleuze and Guattari, Eagleton, Lefebvre, Lukács, Adorno, Bloch, Negri, Jameson, and Jameson. Throughout, Boer shows how Marxist criticism is relevant to biblical criticism, in terms of approaches to the Bible and in the use of those approaches in the interpretation of specific texts.
In this second edition, Boer has added chapters on Deleuze and Guattari, and Negri. Each chapter has been carefully revised to make the book more useful on courses, while maintaining challenges and insights for postgraduate students and scholars. Theoretical material has been updated and sharpened in light of subsequent research and a revised conclusion considers the economies of the ancient world in relation to biblical societies.
Foreword
Shows how Marxist literary theory is relevant to biblical criticism, both in terms of particular approaches to the Bible and in interpreting selected texts.
Additional text
Roland Boer offers a fascinating ‘close reading’ of biblical texts with the help of Marxist hermeneutics. He connects the texts with the socio-economic context in which they are written, with respect to what those texts themselves want to express. Different from the historical-critical interpretation of the Bible, in which history is the critique of the text, he shows how the tensions in the text itself make possible an immanent critique of its ideology: the never-ending attempt to oppress the protest. After this book it will be very difficult to read the Hebrew Bible as only a historical or religious document.
