Abram: Becoming the Outsider -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 10:32:22 04/14/08 Mon
Author: Kiernan
Subject: Abram: Becoming the Outsider

Not only is God a God of victim; God specifically protects the outsiders from victimage. When God calls Abram to begin his journey to Canaan, he promises to protect him even though he will be the outsider, "a stranger in a strange land":

"And the lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father's house to the land I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and those who damn you I will curse, and all the clans of the earth through you shall be blessed.'" (Genesis 12: 1-4, Alter)

God specifically calls Abram to become an outsider, making him marked as a potential victim in the community to which he goes (Canaan). God promises that, though Abram will be marked as a potential victim, he himself will become the nation; rather than being thrown out, he will become the center of the new community. Lest Abram think that this will come about because, as the exiled victim, the community divinizes him, God promises to protect him: "Those who damn you I will curse." Yet all nations will be blessed through him. God promises a cultural founding without violence, a culture which stems from a victim recognized, not divinized.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]