Babylonian Exile, Ezra, Prophets, Prophecy, and the Latter Prophets, & Book of Isaiah

Postcolonial Studies

gives attention to how texts reflect ongoing negotiations between 1) the reality of imperial oppression and 2) the desire to maintain indigenous identity (e.g., colonial mimicry)

Trauma Studies

gives attention to how texts portray, are shaped by, and originate from traumatic circumstances

Cyrus II (or, the Great)

first imperial king of Persia; sends exiled peoples home

Scribes

writers/readers in the ANE (royal, religious etc)

Cyrus Cylinder

an official Persian document declaring victory over Babylon and releases of exiled peoples to homelands

Yehud

Persian-imperial province of Jerusalem and surroundings

- Inhabitants referenced as "Yehudites"

- Reinstitution of Jerusalem and the Temple as center of life

Diaspora

the scattering of people beyond their homeland

Ezra

priest/scribe "skilled in laws of Moses"; oversees religious laws

- Reads Torah to Yehud at Temple --> weeping --> celebration

Nehemiah

governor; leads reconstruction effort of Jerusalem walls

Prophecy

the subject matter of divine words, omens/signs, or symbols that commentate on present circumstances and near-future consequences

The Latter Prophets (Prophetic Literature)

anthologies of oracles recorded, organized, and preserved in the biblical canon

Oracle

short poetic speeches (spoken or written) communicating divine words

Retributive justice

principle illustrated in the Former and Latter Prophets; YHWH's response to Israel corresponds with their conduct (do good get good do bad get bad)

Literary Appropriation

taking a text from one context and applying it to another (usually for the sake of interpreting later events)

Who is Isaiah

Zion Theology

belief that Jerusalem is indestructible and center of world with YHWH's blessing

Colonial Mimicry

the practice of claiming and reframing imperial forms/propaganda as an expression of ideological resistance