An Ecology of Scriptures

Description

In this volume, Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski examines the experiences of domestic and quotidian space that contributed to the extant form of many foundational early Jewish and Christian scriptures. His analytical approaches are derived from diverse sources including modern psychological science, Gaston Bachelard’s critical theories of domestic space, and Henri Lefebvre’s observations regarding “spatial practice.”
The result of this attention to textual “ecology” or “home-logic” is an innovative exploration of classic texts yielding exciting new interpretive possibilities for the Gospel of John, the undisputed Pauline letters, the Parables of Enoch, the Book of Revelation, the History of the Rechabites, and Augustine’s De Trinitate. Experiences of loss, homelessness, imprisonment, and marginal dwelling lie behind these texts and contributed to their authors’ re-imagination and re-establishment of home. Pruszinski proves inescapably that while the most familiar of experiences are often overlooked, they are also among the most important of formative influences on the early Jewish and Christian literary imagination.

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski is a Lecturer in the Departments of History and Religion at Princeton University, USA.

List of Figures
AbbreviationsForeword – James Charlesworth
Preface
Introduction Chapter 1. The Ecology of the Fourth Gospel: Bachelard’s Hermeneutics of Home and Martyn’s “Two-Level Drama.”
Chapter 2. Space Matters for Scripture and Ecology Matters for Space: Critical Observations from John 4.
Chapter 3. The Undisputed Pauline Corpus and Gentile Believers as the Dwelling of God.
Chapter 4. Identification with a Marginal Home: Waters of Judgment as the Oppressed in the Parables of EnochChapter 5. Pit and Prison, Doors and Dwelling: Phenomenologies of the Familiar in the Book of Revelation
Chapter 6. “Real” Visions of the Ideal Home: From Ascetic Dwellings to the Isle of the Blessed Ones in the History of the RechabitesChapter 7. Augustine’s Christological Emphasis in De Trinitate: An Affirmation of the Human Ecology.
Chapter 8. Conclusion: The Core Function of “Ecology” in Scriptural Production and Interpretation.
Acknowledgements
Selected Bibliography
Index

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