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Assimilation Versus Separation - Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel (Hardcover)
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Assimilation Versus Separation - Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel (Hardcover)
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How to behave in the diaspora has been a central problem for Jews
over the ages. They have debated whether to assimilate by adopting
local customs or whether to remain a God-centered people loyal to
their temporal rulers but maintaining the peculiar customs that
separated them from their host nations. The question not only of
survival, but of the basis for survival, is also a central problem
in the Joseph stories of the Book of Genesis. The work shows its
readers the grand alternatives of Judaism, instilled in two
larger-than-life figures, so its readers can reassess for
themselves the road Judaism did not take, and understand why Joseph
though admirable in many respects, is left out of the rest of the
Bible.The question is answered through the stories about how
Joseph, the son of Jacob, saved his people/family from famine by
becoming a high-ranking administrator to Pharaoh. By analyzing his
behavior to the people over whom he exercises power, Joseph lords
it over his brothers, grieves his father, takes lands from Egyptian
farmers, and engages in forced deportation. Wildavsky explains why
Joseph-the-assimilator is replaced in the Book of Exodus by
Moses-the-lawgiver. The book ends by demonstrating that Joseph and
Moses are, and are undoubtedly meant to be exact opposites.As in
his earlier book on The Nursing Father: Moses as a Political
Leader, Wildavsky combines analysis of political and administrative
leadership with both traditional and modern study of texts:
thematic linkages via plot, grammar, dreams, poetry, and religious
doctrine. Thus the chapter on "Joseph the Administrator" is
preceded by a chapter on Joseph as The Dream Lord" and followed by
an analysis and explanation of why Jacob's obscure blessings to his
sons are more like curses. Always the emphasis is on the reciprocal
influence of religion and politics, on rival answers to questions
about how Hebrews should relate to each other and to outsiders.
New, in paperback, the book will be of interest to biblical
scholars and readers as well as those concerned with the
interaction of religion and political life.
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