Joseph Scales: Motivating Violence in Ancient Judaism, Gebunden

Klappentext

The battle is about to begin. The commander takes their place in front of their troops and surveys the opposing horde. The odds seem stacked against them. Fear strikes the hearts of the soldiers. There is only one thing to be done: to fight by sheer force of will. This is the moment in which a rousing exhortation can secure victory. In the face of overwhelming odds, a heroic speaker calls upon their audience not to fear but to take courage.

In warfare, commanders incite combatants to violence by centring the oppositional identity of their enemies, the historic value of their fight, and the divine support for their cause. These incitements were often delivered in the immediate moments before combat - in other words, as a pre-battle speech. Joseph Scales collects and analyses every known pre-battle exhortation in Second Temple Jewish sources and earlier. These literary examples can shed light on aspects of identity creation for in-text audiences and their enemies. Their narrative arcs reveal and promote the deeply held convictions of the author channeled into a context of urgency and heightened emotion, making them all the more impactful. For this reason, these texts continue to provide a framework for self-understanding and perception of one's enemies, motivating violence throughout history.