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Book: Worth More than Many Sparrows

Chapter: From Liturgy to Polemic and Back: Social Identity issues in the Use of Two Psalms

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.43715

Blurb:

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.


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