Deuteronomy and Environmental Amnesia
£45.00
Although environmental amnesia may be the underlying diagnosis of our contemporary ecological problems, in Deuteronomy and Environmental Amnesia Raymond Person argues that environmental amnesia has roots in ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, and that ancient forms of environmental amnesia are evident in the book of Deuteronomy.
Modern Westerners suffer from environmental amnesia, our failure to remember properly our intimate connections to the places in our lives and to the other inhabitants of these places, both human and non-human. Although environmental amnesia may be the underlying diagnosis of our contemporary ecological problems, in Deuteronomy and Environmental Amnesia Raymond Person argues that environmental amnesia has roots in ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, and that ancient forms of environmental amnesia are evident in the book of Deuteronomy.
Raymond Person combines the ecological hermeneutics of the Earth Bible project for the first time with an emerging approach in environmental philosophy —that is, environmental hermeneutics which draws significantly from the works of Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas and Ricoeur. As he explores the presence of ancient forms of environmental amnesia in Deuteronomy, he draws extensively from other approaches to the ancient Near East and the Bible that emphasize the interactions between material culture and text and that take seriously the Other as portrayed in the Bible, especially household archaeology, zooarchaeology, feminist approaches, and postcolonial approaches. His analysis discovers not only forms of environmental amnesia that the Deuteronomic school suffered from and promoted ideologically, but also partial remedies for forms of ancient environmental amnesia in some of the Deuteronomic legislation. His reflection on environmental amnesia and its partial remedies in the text of Deuteronomy provides insights into our modern forms of environmental amnesia and how we may begin to lessen its effects on the Earth community.
Between the introduction and conclusion, the volume contains two parts. The first part consists of chapters on how environmental amnesia exists in various themes in Deuteronomy: the family household, land versus wilderness, Israel versus the nations, clean versus unclean animals, and urban versus rural. The second part is somewhat more like a traditional commentary, focusing on themes in selected passages, including herem in Deut. 7.1-26, the sabbath year in Deut. 15.1-18, war in Deut. 20.1-20, first-fruits and the third-year tithe in Deut. 26.1-19, and eschatology in Deut. 28.1-68 and 30.1-20.
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| table of contents | Introduction The ‘Emerging Field’ of ‘Environmental Hermeneutics’ The Earth Bible Project and Its ‘Ecological Hermeneutics’ Re-Placing ‘Ecological Hermeneutics’ and ‘Environmental Hermeneutics’ Methodological and Privileged Perspectives Format PART I: DEUTERONOMY AND ENVIRONMENTAL AMNESIA AS REVEALED IN ITS DICHOTOMIES 1. Family Household The Family Household in Ancient Israel The Patriarchal Household in Deuteronomy The Household as Primary Location of Emplacement Clingerman on Environmental Amnesia and Homecoming Re-Placing Environmental Amnesia in Ancient Israel 2. Land versus Wilderness ‘Land’ and ‘Wilderness’ in Deuteronomy The Effect of ‘Land’ versus ‘Wilderness’ on the Law The Environmental Amnesia of Land 3. Israel versus the Nations The Human Other in Deuteronomy Environmental Amnesia and the Rejection of the Human Other 4. Clean versus Unclean Animals ‘Clean’ versus ‘Unclean’ Animals in Deuteronomy 14.3-20 The Law’s Effect on Animals The Law’s Effect on Nonhuman Communities: A Case Study ‘Clean’ versus ‘Unclean’ Animals and Environmental Amnesia 5. Urban versus Rural Cities in Ancient Israel Deuteronomy 12.1-28 Deuteronomy 16.1-17 Centralization and Environmental Amnesia PART 2: COMMENTARY ON SELECTED PASSAGES IN DEUTERONOMY AS INFORMED BY ENVIRONMENTAL AMNESIA 6. Deuteronomy 7 7. Deuteronomy 15.1-18: The Sabbath Year 8. War and the Environment in Deuteronomy20 9. Deuteronomy 26: Firstfruits and the Third-Year Tithe 10. Eschatology Conclusions: Implications for Overcoming Environmental Amnesia in the Anthropocene Place, Environmental Identity, and Environmental Amnesia Deuteronomy as an Expression of Ancient Forms of Environmental Amnesia Deuteronomy’s Partial Remedies of Ancient Forms of Environmental Amnesia Deuteronomy as a Partial Remedy to Modern Forms of Environmental Amnesia Continuing the Struggle to Overcome Modern Forms of Environmental Amnesia |
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