Worth More than Many Sparrows - Essays in Honour of Willi Braun - Sarah E. Rollens
From Liturgy to Polemic and Back: Social Identity issues in the Use of Two Psalms
Worth More than Many Sparrows - Essays in Honour of Willi Braun - Sarah E. Rollens
Steven Muir [+]
Concordia University of Edmonton
Steven Muir is a Professor of Religious Studies at Concordia University of Edmonton (Canada). His research interests include New Testament and early Christianities in light of group relations and ritual.
Description
This is an examination of the use and interpretation of Psalms 82 and 110 in four settings: pre-and post-exilic Israelite, Rabbinic Judaism, New Testament/early Christianity, and Greek Orthodoxy. I use the analytical lens of Social Identity theory. These Psalms are striking case studies in the multi-generational and multi-community appropriation of texts, with radical shifts of interpretation and usage at each stage. What emerges is a picture of the utility of texts which speak of group conflict – those texts can be adapted to fit a variety of conflict settings.