{"title":"The Purpose of the Book of Ruth","authors":"B. Adamczewski","doi":"10.21697/ct.2023.93.2.01","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Numerous scholars argue that the book of Ruth, with its story concerning mixed marriages of Judahites with Moabite women, consciously opposes the exclusivist rhetoric of the books of Ezra–Nehemiah. However, a detailed analysis of the narrative rhetoric of the book of Ruth, especially compared to the supersessive rhetoric of the roughly contemporary books of Samuel–Kings, reveals that the main purpose of the book of Ruth was to delegitimize the claims of the tribe of Ephraim to domination in Israel, and against this background to promote the tribe of Judah with its Davidic dynasty. Therefore, the book of Ruth most probably served as a rhetorical-ideological model for the much more elaborate, likewise consciously Judean narrative of the books of Samuel–Kings.","PeriodicalId":38491,"journal":{"name":"Collectanea Theologica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Collectanea Theologica","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2023.93.2.01","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Numerous scholars argue that the book of Ruth, with its story concerning mixed marriages of Judahites with Moabite women, consciously opposes the exclusivist rhetoric of the books of Ezra–Nehemiah. However, a detailed analysis of the narrative rhetoric of the book of Ruth, especially compared to the supersessive rhetoric of the roughly contemporary books of Samuel–Kings, reveals that the main purpose of the book of Ruth was to delegitimize the claims of the tribe of Ephraim to domination in Israel, and against this background to promote the tribe of Judah with its Davidic dynasty. Therefore, the book of Ruth most probably served as a rhetorical-ideological model for the much more elaborate, likewise consciously Judean narrative of the books of Samuel–Kings.
期刊介绍:
The main objective of the Collectanea Theologica journal is to present the current state of theology in Poland and its place in the world theology. The journal covers a rich spectrum of theological problems, ranging from biblical issues to the current pastoral and liturgical challenges. The quarterly goes to all theological libraries in Poland and some significant foreign libraries. According to the profile of the journal, the basic language of publication in the journal is Polish.