This article explores the issue of history within post-structuralist social models of investigation applied to the biblical text. Within the context of a biblical narrative of Judean history, such as the Hasmonean revolt, the author assumes the necessary exploration of social voices, narratives, and even "controversial" texts, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the Maccabean period. While historians have perceived the past as a reality to be reconstructed and collided, this article argues for the perception of the past as an ethnographic reality, where sociability and the authority of texts depend on conflicting memories. Narratives and historical narrations arise out of a concern for continuity and the future, more than out of the past and its singularity. Thus social and individual memories reflect social and individual experiences and cannot be discarded, even when they conflict with one another.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aguilar, Mario I.1997. Historical Anthropology and Anthropological History: Rethinking the Social Context of an African Past. Pp. 357-78 in RETHINKING AFRICAN HISTORY, edited by Simon McGrath, Charles Jedrej, Kenneth King , & Jack Thompson.Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh.
2.
Attridge, Derek, Geoff Bennington & Robert Young, eds. 1987. POST-STRUCTURALISM AND THE QUESTION OF HISTORY. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
3.
Bartlett, John R., 1973. THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF THE MACCABEES. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Bennett, Tony.1987. Texts in History: The Determination of Readings and Their Texts. Pp. 63-81 in POST-STRUCTURALISM AND THE QUESTION OF HISTORY , edited by Derek Attridge, Geoff Bennington, & Robert Young.Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press.
5.
Bennington, Geoff, & Robert Young.1987. Introduction: Posing the Question. Pp. 1-11 in POST-STRUCTURALISM AND THE QUESTION OF HISTORY, edited by Derek Attridge, Geoff Bennington , & Robert Young.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
6.
Blenkinsopp, Joseph.1997. Memory, Tradition, and the Construction of the Past in Ancient Israel. BIBLICAL THEOLOGY BULLETIN27: 76-82.
7.
Cohen, David W.1994. THE COMBING OF HISTORY. London, UK /Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
8.
Cohn, Bernard S.1980. History and Anthropology: The State of Play, COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN SOCIETY AND HISTORY22, 198-221.
9.
Cousins, Mark.1987. The Practice of Historical Investigation. Pp. 126-36 in POST-STRUCTURALISM AND THE QUESTION OF HISTORY, edited by Derek Attridge, Geoff Bennington, & Robert Young.Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Derrida, Jacques.1991. Difference. Pp. 61-79 in A DERRIDA READER: BETWEEN THE BLINDS, edited by Peggy Kamuf.New York, NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf .
11.
Douglas, Mary.1993a. IN THE WILDERNESS: THE DOCTRINE OF DEFILEMENT IN THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. JSOT Supplement 158. Sheffield, UK: Academic Press.
12.
1993bBalaam's Place in the Book of Numbers, MAN (n.s.) 28: 411-30.
13.
Eisenmann, Robert.1983. MACCABEES, ZADOKITES, CHRISTIANS AND QUMRAN: A NEW HYPOTHESIS OF QUMRAN ORIGINS. Studia Post-Biblica34. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill .
14.
Esler, Philip F.1994. THE FIRST CHRISTIANS IN THEIR SOCIAL WORLDS: SOCIAL-SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO NEW TESTA, MENT INTERPRETATION. London, UK /New York, NY: Routledge.
15.
1987. COMMUNITY AND GOSPEL IN LUKE-ACTS: THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOTIVATION OF LUCAN THEOLOGY. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Feldman, Louis H.1996. Josephus' portrayal of the Hasmoneans compared with I Maccabees. Pp. 137-63 in STUDIES IN HELLENIS-TIC JUDAISM. Leiden, The Netherlands/New York, NY: Brill.
17.
Fentress, James, & Chris Wickham .1988. SOCIAL MEMORY. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
18.
G.Y.M.1971. Maccabees, First Book of (I Maccabees). In ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA11:656-58. Jerusalem: Keter .
19.
Gafni, I.M.1988. Josephus and I Maccabees. Pp. 116-31 in JOSEPHUS, THE BIBLE, AND HISTORY, edited by Louis H. Feldman & Gohel Hata.Detroit, MI: Wayne State University.
20.
Illife, John.1987. THE AFRICAN POOR: A HISTORY. Cambridge , U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Lang, Bernhard (ed.). 1985. ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE OLD TESTAMENT. London, UK: SPCK/Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
23.
Leach, Edmund.1985 [1976]. The Logic of Sacrifice. Pp. 136-50 in ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE OLD TESTAMENT, edited by Bernhard Lang.London: SPCK/ Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
24.
1983. STRUCTURALIST INTERPRETATIONS OF BIBLICAL MYTH. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
25.
1976. CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION. Cambridge, U.K. Cambridge University Press.
26.
1969. GENESIS AS MYTH AND OTHER ESSAYSLondon, UK: Jonathan Cape.
Pitt-Rivers, Julian.1977. THE FATE OF SHECHEM OR THE POLITICS OF SEX. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Rapport, Nigel.1996. The "Contrarieties" of Israel: An Essay on the Cognitive Importance and Creative Promise of Both/and, JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (n.s.) 3: 653-72.
30.
Sanjek, Roger.1991. Ethnographic Present, MAN (n.s.) 26:609-628
31.
Sievers, Joseph.1988. The Role of Women in the Hasmonean Dynasty. Pp. 132-46 in JOSEPHUS, THE BIBLE, AND HISTORY, edited by Louis H. Feldman and Gohei Hata.Detroit: Wayne State University.
32.
Strenski, Ivan.1976. FOUR THEORIES OF MYTH IN TWENTIETH CENTURY HISTORY: CASSIRER, ELIADE, LEVI-STRAUSS AND MALINOWSKI. London: Macmillan.
33.
Tonkin, Elizabeth.1991. NARRATING OUR PASTS: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ORAL HISTORY . Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
34.
Van Henten, Jan W.1967. THE MACCABEAN MARTYRS AS SAVIOURS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE: A STUDY OF 2 AND 4 MACCABEES. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill.
35.
Villalba I Varneda, Pere, 1986. THE HISTORICAL METHOD OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill.
