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Document Details :

Title: Eetlezen als program voor een Bijbelse hermeneutiek en antropologie
Author(s): ERBELE-KÜSTER, Dorothea
Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie
Volume: 52    Issue: 1   Date: 2012   
Pages: 19-32
DOI: 10.2143/TVT.52.1.3203339

Abstract :
‘Eat this scroll’ — This quote from Ezekiel invites the reader to absorb the Scripture into one’s body. It envisions reading as eating. As the entire passage in Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 shows, language is physical, and has to be understood with the body. This article focuses on some specific parts of the book of Ezekiel in which the body plays a prominent role, especially the female body. Answers will be sought to the questions: What kind of book are we asked to eat, along with Ezekiel? And, how does language transform our bodies? The background of the investigation is the cultural anthropological work by Mary Douglas, who states that in many societies, the (female) body functions as a symbol for that society’s norms and values. Ezekiel (mis)uses the female body to depict the disaster and misbehaviour of Israel. In four chapters in particular, the female body during menstruation symbolizes the awful and sinful situation of the land (Ez 7; 18; 22 and 36). First I describe how the female body is designated through language in these passages. In a second step I discuss the implications for anthropology and hermeneutics. In line with Ezekiel 3, reading as eating seems to be a program for a biblical anthropology and biblical hermeneutics.

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