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An exploratory and innovative online scholarly journal for biblical studies. The journal explores the intersections between critical theory, understood in the broad sense, and biblical studies. It publishes peer-reviewed articles that investigate the contributions from critical theory to biblical studies, and contributions from biblical studies to critical theory. Several book reviews are also published in each issue.
News
The Globethics library contains vol. 1(2004)-14(2018) no.1
License:CC BY-NC
Recent Submissions
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Review of S. Brent Plate’s Walter Benjamin, Religion, and AestheticsErin Runions reviews S. Brent Plate’s Walter Benjamin, Religion, and Aesthetics: Rethinking Religion Through the Arts (New York: Routledge, 2005).
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From Plato to Adam: The Biblical Exegesis of Walter BenjaminWalter Benjamin finds the Bible a slippery text. For all his interest over a number of writings, especially ‘The Task of the Translator’, ‘On Language as Such and the Language of Man’ and The Origin of German Tragic Drama, and for all the efforts to develop a theory of history deeply indebted to the Bible, the biblical text trips him up, refusing to provide what he wishes to find. This article traces those difficulties.
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The Relationship of Canon and Messiah: The Convergence of Jan Assmann and Walter Benjamin on a Theory of Monotheistic CanonThis paper focuses upon the relationship between the German Egyptologist Jan Assmann and the German-Jewish late modern literary critic Walter Benjamin as regards the movement from canons to messianic forces. It therefore traces the evolution in Assmann’s thought from issues surrounding the processes of canonization to his development of a form of “weak thought” in relation to religious violence before then turning to Benjamin’s portrayal of a “weak messianic force” moving through history which is only conceivable in close proximity to a scriptural legacy and a divine (or “pure”) violence, as he saw it. Additionally, this paper draws a line connecting the work of each in order to solidify the structure and function of the monotheistic canon as being not only at the heart of western civilization, but also at the heart of all cultural transmissions today. That is, the formal elements at work in the canonical-messianic relationship are universally applicable for all identity formation of modern subjectivities, whether political, cultural or religious, insofar as the entire realm of representations appears to be governed by a canonical sense of normativity. A closer inspection then of how these elements were brought together in their original religious context might therefore better enable us to discern the effects that canons have upon the construction of identities in a globalized world today.
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Review of Joy et al’s Religion in French Feminist ThoughtPeter D. Miscall reviews Religion in French feminist thought: Critical perspectives, edited by Morny Joy, Kathleen O’Grady and Judith L. Poxon (London/New York: Routledge, 2003).
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Review of Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd Penner, Contextualizing Gender in Early Christian Discourse: Thinking Beyond Thecla. London/New York: T & T Clark, 2009.Marianne Bjelland Kartzow and Anna Rebecca Solevåg review of Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd Penner, Contextualizing Gender in Early Christian Discourse: Thinking Beyond Thecla. London/New York: T & T Clark, 2009.
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Review of Gail P. C. Streete, Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early ChristianityPhilip Michael Forness reviews Gail P. C. Streete, Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early Christianity. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009.
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Review of Carolyn Osiek and Margaret Y. MacDonald’s A Woman’s PlaceJennifer Bird reviews Carolyn Osiek and Margaret Y. MacDonald’s A woman’s place: House churches in earliest Christianity, with Janet H. Tulloch (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006).
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Review of Mark Manolopoulos, If Creation is a Gift. New York: State University of New York Press, 2009.Norman Wirzba reviews Mark Manolopoulos, If Creation is a Gift. New York: State University of New York Press, 2009.
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Review of Allan Stoekl, Bataille’s Peak: Energy, Religion, and PostsustainabilityKathryn Imray reviews Allan Stoekl, Bataille’s Peak: Energy, Religion, and Postsustainability (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007).
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"Make yourself at home": the tensions and paradoxes of hospitality in dialogue with the BibleHospitality is a well-identified biblical theme; the consensus among most modern Christian authors is that it is both demonstrated by the deity and expected of humanity, throughout both Old and New Testaments. Often, however, such discussions rely on an assumed transparency of the nature and definition of hospitality, and on the assumption that the biblical attitude to the subject is univocal. However, the biblical witness is not unambiguous, but demonstrates tensions reflecting both the complex nature of hospitality, and the development of the theme through the Bible. In recent years the ambiguous nature of hospitality has been argued in theoretical terms by the deconstructionist Jacques Derrida, and its complexities of praxis by post-colonial critics. This paper sets out to bring these modern critical voices into dialogue with the biblical texts, and it will be shown that when read with a sensitivity to the paradoxes enunciated by these contemporary theorists, the biblical understanding of the hospitality theme is more complex than it at first appears. It will be argued that a more subtle understanding of the developing and complex biblical view of hospitality will aid the development of a more robust Christian ethic, especially in the light of the contemporary challenge of migration.
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Dostoevsky's New Testament: The Significance of Random ReadingThe Bible was a lifelong companion for Dostoevsky, who often read it and sometimes annotated it. But what meaning lies in the marking of a text? The first critic to examine the markings in Dostoevsky’s Bible was the Norwegian professor in Russian literary history, Geir Kjetsaa. He did so in the early 1980s and wrote a book on the subject. This essay will discuss Kjetsaa’s method of reading Dostoevsky on the basis of the annotations. Kjetsaa’s analyses are intriguing but not immune to criticism, as too much focus on the markings tends to neglect the significance of the randomly read passages. After a short introduction (1) I will closely examine Kjetsaa’s analysis of Dostoevsky’s novels (2), and then add my own critical remarks (3). Finally I will compare Kjetsaa’s reading of Dostoevsky with theological readings of him (Romano Guardini and Karl Barth/Eduard Thurneysen). Unlike Kjetsaa, the theologians were unaware of the markings in Dostoevsky’s Bible. The overall question of the essay is, then: how do we approach Dostoevsky's use of the Bible in the light of his annotations to the New Testament, and when numerous voices clamour to inform us how they should be read?