Reflection on Lecture 2 & 3

Saturday's workshop further developed the concept of the rivalry between the purity and prophetic projects but first I would like to refer back to the second lecture. The beginning of the material is to understand that the bible (in particular the first testament) is a text which was revised and edited over many generations and in this context the meaning of the events depicted in the first testament can be understood. The central event of the first testament is the exodus, the liberation of the hebrew people from the oppression of egypt and the pharoah. It is worth noting that names like hebrew, jew and israelite did not emerge in history until sometime after the event and this gives a hint that the text was written to fit in with the sentiment and understanding of writers after the fact. It is quite probable that the people referred to are the Apiru, a poor, citizenship-less underclass that existed throughout the city states of the area.

The exodus is a sign of God's preference for the poor, which is not to say that God does not care for the wealthy but that when God acts he acts in defence of the poor at the expense of the rich. The exodus can be seen as a primitive social uprising of one people over the oppressors and the project can be called the promised land project. Having escaped into the desert, Moses hands down the decalogue and all the associated laws. This is a necessary part of the formalization of the process that Moses had started but also gives berth to a rival project of achieving purity through obedience. Having recieved the law the Israelites proceed into Canan and develop their own sovereign state although perhaps this did not happen in the conquering manner depicted in the bible, it could have been that the Israelites expanded the promised land project to include all sorts of downtrodden people in Canan. After sometime the project grows stale and the people who had been liberated begin to lose the meaning of the original exodus, this heralds the time of the prophets. Throughout biblical history one of the main duties of the prophets is to speak out against the nations who had started to oppress people and lost the original sense of God. From here on the two rival projects are the prophetic project, concerned with justice and the purity project, concerned with the law. This bief outline of the bible sets up the theme of lecture three.

Around one thousand years after the exodus, the figure of Jesus emerges in history.

Note to Michael: I'm still writing this post. Will add more shortly.