Browsing by Author "Fry, Alexiana Dawn"

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    The Sin of Gibeah? : reading Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 in the context of migration and trauma
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-11-12) Fry, Alexiana Dawn; Claassens, L. Juliana M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation explores an intertextual connection of the texts Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 based on the phrase “the sin of Gibeah” through the methodological lenses of trauma hermeneutics and migration theory. With particular consideration of the impact of the Judean exile on texts not only in the exilic period, but also post-exilic, I propose in this study that the sin of Gibeah can best be understood as one of Othering. A central argument of this dissertation is that both Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 can be read as stories of migration, as writing impacted by exile, depicting the horrors the community had experienced. In these texts, we find that the literary figures of the bodies of the women Gomer and the nameless Concubine are characters through whom the trauma of migration played out in order to make sense of the senseless for the community in the form of narratives. Yet, from the position of the authorship of both texts, this understanding is not necessarily to be condoned. The sin of Gibeah as Othering demands that the history of exile be told with all truth, with all horror, even as it calls many to account. The importance of these biblical narratives of migration is brought into sharper focus when read also in the context of contemporary narratives of migration. The role of trauma narratives as formative, enabling the re-making experience for both individuals and communities impacted by migrating, manifests in biblical as well as contemporary stories of migration. In exploring the intersection of trauma, migration, and gender in contemporary discussions on migration, specifically in my context of the United States, this study’s understanding of the sin of Gibeah as the sin of Othering continues to point the finger at those in power, asking if we too will bear witness.