Debt-Slavery Passages in the Tanakh as a Lens for Reading Joseph's Enslavement of the Egyptians in Genesis 47:13–26: Explorations in Canonical Hermeneutics
Significant dispute exists over the ethicality of Joseph's enslavement of the Egyptians in Genesis 47:13–26. Some read this action as malicious and oppressive, while others believe it shows wise administrative skills. While this question could be approached from many angles, one area of content...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
2016
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In: |
Biblical theology bulletin
Year: 2016, Volume: 46, Issue: 4, Pages: 177-185 |
Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B Canon B Joseph B Childs B Hermeneutics B debt-slavery |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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Summary: | Significant dispute exists over the ethicality of Joseph's enslavement of the Egyptians in Genesis 47:13–26. Some read this action as malicious and oppressive, while others believe it shows wise administrative skills. While this question could be approached from many angles, one area of contention that has received surprisingly little attention is the various portrayals of and perspectives on the use of debt-slavery in the rest of the Old Testament. For this material to be utilized, a relevant methodological approach is the canonical approach of Brevard Childs, which views the canon as the ultimate horizon of meaning of an individual passage, and seeks to perform exegesis by using relevant canonical materials as an interpretive lens. The present study seeks to demonstrate that when Joseph's enslavement of the Egyptians is compared with other materials offering explicit evaluations of slavery, his employment of slavery proper is nonobjectionable, but his practices in the area of resource distribution are less than ideal. |
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ISSN: | 1945-7596 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical theology bulletin
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0146107916664052 |