Shame and Prophecy: Approaches Past and Present (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Construction of Shame in the Hebrew Bible: The Prophetic Contribution
2002
This thesis explores the phenomenon of shame in the context of the Hebrew Bible, focusing particularly on the three major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel), because it is here that shame vocabulary is most prevalent. Shame is prominently discussed in the literature of psychology and anthropology. In the first chapter psychological explanations for the origins of the apparently universal human emotion of shame are described. In the course of this, phenomenological similarities between shame and guilt, grounded in the shared centrality of negative self-evaluation are outlined. The role of shame in social contexts is described with regard to stigma and, more fully, in the second chapter, in the light of socio-anthropological field studies conducted primarily in the Levant. In the Mediterranean studies shame is usually paired with its binary opposite honour. The honour/shame model is characterised especially by defined gender roles and challenge-ripostes. Shame is associated parti...
2019
In this paper, I will bring together a theological and philosophical analysis of shame in the book of Revelation. It is a theological analysis in the sense that it delves into the text with an eye towards the broader biblical theme of shame and takes into account the theological influence of the Hebrew Bible on the author of Revelation. It is philosophical in the sense that it attempts to give a more nuanced understanding of the feeling of shame found in Revelation and utilizes a few influential philosophical theories in order to do so. I will argue that, in this book, shame appears in contexts of divine judgment and is symbolized in the image of nakedness. I will also argue for three characteristics of shame that seem to be implicit in Revelation.
“They Shall Be Clothed in Shame”: Is Shame an Emotion in the Hebrew Bible?
Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2021
The modern conception of the self as bifurcated between inner and outer realms has and continues to hold sway as an unchecked presumption in biblical interpretation. The past decade of biblical scholarship, however, has seen a burgeoning effort to problematize this imposition with regard to emotion and interiority. The present study joins this conversation by challenging the presumption of “shame” as an emotional and interior category in the Hebrew Bible, a challenge that has already been initiated but is ripe for further probing. Informed by a practice theory of emotion and embodied cognition, and focusing on the metaphor Shame is Clothing, which appears in Job, Ezekiel, and Psalms, this study proposes material and enactive readings of “shame” wherein so-called shame roots as bwš, klm, and ḥpr center on bodily diminishment and practices of defeat as a matter of relational dynamics and power disparities.
Is Shame a Matter of Patronage in the Communal Laments
Within the Hebrew Bible, the concept of shame in both narrative and prophetic texts has received significant treatment. Typically, connections between gender identity and the shame/honor value complex are highlighted. In the Psalms, however, shame does not necessarily appear to be predicated upon gender identity. This article offers some initial observations regarding shame in the Psalms by suggesting that the shame language in the Psalter is actually predicated upon another feature of ancient societies, the patron-client relationship. Drawing from the work of cultural anthropologists S.N. Eisenstadt and L. Roniger, this study notes the features of patronage present within the language of the Psalter itself and, in particular, Psalms 44, 74, and 79.
Old Testament Essays, 2017
Old Testament scholarship increasingly recognizes that honor and shame were ubiquitous cultural values in ancient Israel. While this development has led to several full-length studies on honor and shame in OT prosaic books, OT poetic books in which honor-shame terminology features even more prominently have yet to be studied in detail, especially the lament psalms and the related penitential prayers of the post-exilic era. This article therefore explores the semantic fields of honor and shame in the various kinds of OT lament—individual laments and communal laments in poetry, as well as penitential prayers in prose. Though distinctive in their own way, each lament tradition closely links the suffering supplicant’s shame to the honor of YHWH. This entwinement of divine and human identities empowers the supplicant to lean into shaming experiences—a cultural uniqueness of OT lament traditions when considered in the light of psychology and anthropology.
As well as describing dishonor itself, the Middle English word 'shame' can refer either to the emotion resulting from an awareness of dishonor or disgrace, or to the anticipation of dishonor, the potential for disgrace to be experienced. Late-medieval English literature reveals the interrelation between the personal experience of shame and the way it is produced in relation to others, typically through such kinds of exposure as showing and telling. This essay draws attention to the complex ways in which shame is imagined in late-medieval English literature. It begins by considering the two major focal points of late-medieval shame studies so far: chivalric literature and Christian shame. After surveying the approaches that have been taken to date, it suggests new themes that deserve critical attention in these areas. The remainder of this essay points to other literary contexts in which we might investigate shame more closely. While chivalric and devotional texts are significant areas in which shame was imagined, medical, conduct, and advisory texts also engage with the concept of shame in important ways.