New Publication on Psalms as Resistance Poetry

I'm pleased to note that my article that examines the first century BCE Jewish text Psalms of Solomon in light of the features of resistance poetry has just been published in the Journal of Ancient Judaism 9 (2018): 366–385. Here is a link to the article: Psalms of Solomon as Resistance Poetry. The abstract is below:

Two trends in recent scholarship provide a new set of lenses that enable contemporary readers to appreciate more fully the contents and genre of Pss Sol. On the one hand, scholars such as Richard Horsley, Anathea Portier-Young, and Adela Yarbro Collins have now explored the ways in which early Jewish writers engaged in a kind of compositional resistance as they grappled with their traditions in light of the realities of oppressive empires. These approaches enable us to consider the extent to which Pss Sol also may embody a kind of resistant counterdiscourse for the community in which it was edited and preserved. On the other hand, scholars within biblical studies (e.g., Hugh Page's Israel's Poetry of Resistance) and beyond have examined the dynamics of the poetry of resistance. Such poetry has existed in many times, places, and cultures, giving a voice to the oppressed, protecting the memory of victims, and creating a compelling vision of a possible future in which the oppression is overcome. In this article the poetry of Guatemalan poet Julia Esquivel is interwoven with Pss. Sol. to illustrate these dynamics and to illuminate the kinds of concerns that scholars like Barbara Harlow and Carolyn Forché have highlighted within the poetry of witness. Since Pss Sol has yet to be explored through these dual lenses of resistance and resistance poetry, this article examines these early Jewish psalms in light of these scholarly trends. I argue that Pss Sol can be understood as a kind of resistance poetry that enabled a community of Jews in the first century BCE to resist the dominant discourse of both the Roman Empire and its client king, Herod the Great. The themes of history, identity, and possibility that pervade resistance poetry in other times and places are central features of Pss Sol.

Some of this research is reflected now in how I read the early Christian hymns that are embedded in the New Testament. Several of these hymns resonate strongly with the kind of "spirituality of resistance" that the Psalms of Solomon demonstrate, suggesting to me that the earliest Christian hymns were not strictly religious but also reflected other concerns of the early followers of Jesus in their Roman imperial context.

Psalms of Solomon and Pauline Studies

This weekend I’ll be presenting my paper on “Psalms of Solomon and Pauline Studies” at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. The session occurs on Sunday from 1 to 3:30pm at the Hilton Bayfront (Sapphire Ballroom M). I’ll make a case that the Psalms of Solomon have more to offer the study of Paul than has been realized. By reading the Psalms of Solomon as a kind of poetry of resistance we can be more attuned to the ways that these psalms functioned for their readers in helping them maintain their deuteronomic and covenantal perspective in the face of current events that might otherwise have led to despair and even abandonment of their cultural and religious traditions. We can also recognize that Paul would have been familiar not just with the theological content within the Psalms of Solomon but more so with the praxis of poetic resistance which they represented--a tradition with deep roots in the Hebrew Scriptures (see the work of Hugh Page along these lines). Thus when Paul uses bits of early Christian psalms or hymns about Christ, we can consider that these may likewise be instances of Paul’s own poetic practice of resistance as he offers his readers an alternative vision of reality from that which was on offer in the world around them.

In addition to the papers of my fellow presenters, prepared responses to my paper are to be given by Pamela Eisenbaum, Iliff School of Theology, Ward Blanton, University of Kent at Canterbury, and N. T. Wright, University of St. Andrews.

Resistance Literature and Biblical Studies

Thanks to several recent studies that succeed in examining early Jewish writings through the lens of resistance (Hugh Page’s Israel’s Poetry of Resistance; Anathea Portier-Young’s Apocalypse against Empire; Richard Horsley’s Revolt of the Scribes), I have begun working through some of the major works on the theory and history of resistance literature.

Barbara Harlow’s 1987 study, Resistance Literature (New York; London: Methuen), focused on the literature of 20^th century resistance movements that included the element of armed resistance. Looking at movements from Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, Harlow provided a rich picture of the ways in which literature contributes to resistance movements. While on the face of it, these movements in themselves do not appear immediately relevant to biblical studies, there are a number of elements of her analysis which can readily be seen to illumine the study of ancient texts. I enumerate six of these below.

First, Harlow is concerned with literature that is produced within a context of foreign domination, whether under occupation or in exile. Both of these notions, occupation and exile, figure prominently in the Hebrew Bible, early Jewish writings, and the New Testament.

Second, she focusses on literature that reflects an arena of struggle in which the culture and cultural heritage of the oppressed engages with the cultural, social, and political intervention of the oppressor. The writings of the ancient Israelites as well as those of Second Temple Jews show an awareness of and an engagement with cultural forces both within and without Israelite society or the author’s particular Jewish community.

Third, one important dimension of the struggle which she notes is that of the struggle to control the historical record. Early Jewish and Christian literature is heavily focused on the past, and particularly in remembering the events of the past in a way in which highlights the significance of these events for the present community. Complementary and even competing portraits of the past are preserved within the pages of scripture.

Fourth, in addition to the historical record, resistance movements seek to control the means of cultural production, even against the challenges of censorship or oppression by the dominant culture. In one instance, an author’s book was banned in Arabic and so he published it in Paris in French. Utilizing the language of the colonizing power allows an indigenous writer to adapt, invert, and even create new forms in the language of the oppressor. While not responding to precisely the same challenges, the translation of Hebrew scriptures into Greek, and the production of new writings either in Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew, can be viewed, in a context of cultural struggle, as practices of resistance or accommodation or both.

Fifth, Harlow draws attention to the potential within resistance movements of utilizing a “rhetoric of nostalgia” which seeks to return to a previous ideal age, a stance which can create a tension even within resistance movements between the need to deal with the pragmatic needs of the moment and the need to hold out a vision of a utopian future. Such dynamic tensions are observable within the biblical texts and traditions as well.

Finally, Harlow points out that Western readers can inadvertently fail to engage with non-Western literary products on their own terms by using reading strategies that are culturally conditioned. In particular she mentions the notion of looking for the universal element and ignoring the historical particularity in a given text. Such a recognition provides a valuable reminder to readers of ancient texts as well to beware of uncritical reading strategies which seek to domesticate ancient texts so that they fall within the framework of what is culturally acceptable in contemporary culture, whether Jewish, Christian, or secular.

Such considerations suggest the value of further studies which seek to appreciate the ways in which some biblical texts themselves may have been written, or at least utilized, to inspire resistance within their readers to hegemonic social forces and cultural ideals.

Hugh Page on Israel's Poetry of Resistance

I just finished reading through Hugh Page’s Israel’s Poetry of Resistance: Africana Perspectives on Early Hebrew Verse (Fortress Press, 2013). In this stimulating volume, Page (associate professor, associate provost and dean at the University of Notre Dame) offers fresh readings of the earliest poems within the Hebrew Bible examining the ways in which these poems facilitated the promotion of communal identity for early Israelite society. With careful attention to the historical context of these poems as well as their placement within the larger narratives and collections of the Old Testament, Page is able to read these poems as offering a kind of resistance to cultural, social, and historical forces that threatened the Israelite community. Page writes, “One assertion that can be made with confidence is that the curating of the poems, and of the Hebrew Bible as a whole, was a means of dealing with at least some of the uncertainties associated with living in dispersion and under foreign domination” (15). And further, “One can see manifest in them [early Hebrew poems] some of the realities that typify diasporan life, such as pressure to adapt and assimilate. One also finds in places a concomitant impulse to resist, or at least to challenge the privilege of, established orthodoxies” (17). Central to his approach here is the conscious reading of these poems in conversation with similar kinds of cultural factors at work within the world of the African diaspora.

By taking this approach Page offers readers a fruitful juxtaposition of the ancient and the contemporary. He thoughtfully identifies contemporary elements from within the Africana community that involve dynamics similar to those at play in each early Hebrew poem. Then he allows the two distinct cultural worlds to inform and interrogate each other. The result is a series of chapters that illumine both the dynamics of the biblical text as well as some facets of contemporary Africana culture. The interplay is provocative. For example, Moses in Deut 31:30 “began woofin' in the presence of the entire Israelite assembly,” and David “sang the blues concerning Saul and his son Jonathan” in 2 Sam 1:17. The real heart of Page's treatments, however, is not in his translations (as compelling as those are). The real impact is felt as he brings the Song of Deborah (Judges 5) into contact with figures like Harriet Tubman and Benjamin Banneker, or Balaam into contact with practices of indigenous African spirituality, or the Song of Hannah into contact with “Black women who have relied on mother wit and common sense” (79) and are now at the end of their lives. Such readings highlight issues of justice, cultural adaptation and assimilation, and the struggle for freedom, among others.

For my part, what first attracted me to the volume was the notion of reading these biblical poems as “poetry of resistance” since that is an angle I have been pursuing particularly with regard to the Colossian hymn (Col. 1:15-20) and with regard to the Psalms of Solomon (more on that in a future entry). By placing ancient Hebrew poetry in conversation with poets and figures from within the African diaspora, Page is able to draw attention to dynamics within the Hebrew text that are typically overlooked in more traditional scholarly treatments. By attending to the dynamics of diaspora, Page reads these poems with an ear that is attuned to some of the muted overtones, and can thereby make connections with the contemporary world as well. Among the features he identifies are:

·         “Disparate social groups forging a collective identity while struggling to maintain their uniqueness” (Gen 49; Dt 33)

·         “Ancestral traditions, particularly those relating to communal origins, being codified and curated” (Ex 15; Dt 32; 2 Sam 22; Ps 18)

·         “The adaptation and inversion of indigenous and externally appropriated legend and lore” (Pss 29, 68)

·         “Resistance strategies being negotiated and tested” (Judges 5)

·         “The costs and benefits of cultural exchange and assimilation being contemplated” (Num 23-24)

·         “The fate of women, the poor, and others on the social margins being pondered” (1 Sam 2)

·         “The tragic dimensions of intergroup strife being debated” (2 Sam 1)

·         “The relationship between centralized forms of governance and the social welfare of communities in transition being considered” (Ps 72)

·         While some of the poems are “unapologetic in their opposition to political hegemonies that foment diasporas” (Ex 15; Judges 5) others “deftly engage and subtly transmute motifs well known from the mythological lore of Canaan and the cultural milieu of Israel’s socially diverse mélange” (Ex 12:38) (taken from pp. 17-18)

Part of what makes Page’s investigation so meaningful is his taking into account of the dynamics associated with living in diaspora—a dynamic he sees at work in ancient Israelite as well as contemporary Africana culture. He explains, “Whether they are physical, emotional, spiritual, imagined, eschatological, or of some other type, diasporas require complex negotiations between locations and social groups. Removal from an actual or illusory homeland, through either coercion or voluntary relocation, is often an occasion for rethinking identity. It can also lead to a reassessment of the relationship between those living remotely and the kin they have left behind. Feelings of grief, loss, and disorientation are not uncommon by-products of such an experience” (15). When these dynamics are kept in the foreground, the early Hebrew poems that Page examines show that they are compositions designed to speak into just those kinds of situations.

While Page’s focus is on the earliest biblical poetry and peoples, one can readily notice that some of these kinds of pressures and dynamics, or ones very similar to these, were also faced by Jews living in the period of the Second Temple, as well as by the early Christians. Thus, Page’s study provides many suggestive connections between the kind of reading of these early Hebrew poems that he offers and the kinds of readings of Second Temple Jewish and early Christian psalms and hymns that still need to be contemplated. For my part, I intend to utilize some of Page’s work in the coming months in my current research on Psalms of Solomon and on early Christian hymns.

While I came to the volume for its analysis of the ancient Hebrew poetry, I found that Page’s exegesis of the cultural dynamics facing people of color, and particularly those of African descent, to be even more significant. Page’s candor and honest reflections of his own experiences growing up in Baltimore add a richness and depth to the volume that is not normally found in scholarly writing. Page’s book is also very challenging as he rightly encourages contemporary readers to emulate the boldness of the biblical poets in embracing their cultural-rootedness and engaging the dynamics of their own cultures, both positively and critically. This is a very rich volume and one that offers a promising model for scholars wishing to read the poetry of the Bible in a way that honors both the biblical text as well as the context of the reader and his or her community.

In the final paragraph of the book, Page summarizes: 

Early Hebrew poetry gives us ready access to the spiritual musings of some of our ancient Jewish spiritual forebears. It takes us to the fountainhead of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the root from which the branches of Second Temple Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would later grow. It brings us face-to-face with the intractable mysteries surrounding the formation of community. It shows us the role that poets and poetic language played in shaping our conceptions of the divine and our understanding of how God’s self-disclosure to humanity unfolds. It forces us to deal with the symbolic nature of theological and poetic language and asks that we stretch ourselves intellectually as people of faith. (129-130)

By bringing these biblical texts into conversation with the experiences of contemporary Africana peoples, Page models a fruitful and provocative way of doing just those things.