Josef - död och uppstånden
(2020) BIVK10 20192Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Can the story of Joseph be read as a death and resurrection story? In Genesis 37:12 – 35, there is a vast amount of words, environments, and occurrences, which suggests that deadly horrors await. From the beginning to the end, of this thesis elected episodes, 32 death motifs can be argued for, cistern, Sheol, murderous assault, balsamic goods and being sold as a slave, to mention a few. The amount of death which seems to be formative for the story opens for the question, why? Why is the story of Joseph so filled with death? Is there a meaning for it? The story of Joseph has been researched for centuries by exegetes and theologians. Some argue that the story is a wisdom story, belonging to the wisdom literature. Some discuss whether it is a... (More)
- Can the story of Joseph be read as a death and resurrection story? In Genesis 37:12 – 35, there is a vast amount of words, environments, and occurrences, which suggests that deadly horrors await. From the beginning to the end, of this thesis elected episodes, 32 death motifs can be argued for, cistern, Sheol, murderous assault, balsamic goods and being sold as a slave, to mention a few. The amount of death which seems to be formative for the story opens for the question, why? Why is the story of Joseph so filled with death? Is there a meaning for it? The story of Joseph has been researched for centuries by exegetes and theologians. Some argue that the story is a wisdom story, belonging to the wisdom literature. Some discuss whether it is a story composed by different sources. The amount of death motifs that can be noticed in the narrative, is rarely discussed.
This thesis focus on the death motifs in the Joseph story, mainly in Gen 37:12 – 35, by studying the story through a narrative critical method. Through the analysis it has been established that death is present throughout the story. The thesis then asks the question what this means for the understanding of the character Joseph. There are two aspects which has been lifted. First the Joseph character is a naïve young boy, with no thoughts to the feelings of others. This makes the reader feel like he only has himself to blame. Secondly, considering the death motifs, the reader feels compassionate towards him and sees him as a lamb brought to slaughter. Joseph is killed as a sacrifice. Through the analysis it is argued that the story may have been written for guiding the Israelites living in the diaspora and for those who returned to Jerusalem trying to rebuild the temple. Their lives were consumed by conflicts and the story thus aspired to give the people advice and show them that in separation they will face death, but together they will live. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9029835
- author
- Bergström, Jenny LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BIVK10 20192
- year
- 2020
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Joseph, death motifs, death and resurrection, בּוֹר, שְׁאוֹל, diaspora narrative, sacrifice, death.
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9029835
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-23 12:47:40
- date last changed
- 2020-09-23 12:47:40
@misc{9029835,
abstract = {{Can the story of Joseph be read as a death and resurrection story? In Genesis 37:12 – 35, there is a vast amount of words, environments, and occurrences, which suggests that deadly horrors await. From the beginning to the end, of this thesis elected episodes, 32 death motifs can be argued for, cistern, Sheol, murderous assault, balsamic goods and being sold as a slave, to mention a few. The amount of death which seems to be formative for the story opens for the question, why? Why is the story of Joseph so filled with death? Is there a meaning for it? The story of Joseph has been researched for centuries by exegetes and theologians. Some argue that the story is a wisdom story, belonging to the wisdom literature. Some discuss whether it is a story composed by different sources. The amount of death motifs that can be noticed in the narrative, is rarely discussed.
This thesis focus on the death motifs in the Joseph story, mainly in Gen 37:12 – 35, by studying the story through a narrative critical method. Through the analysis it has been established that death is present throughout the story. The thesis then asks the question what this means for the understanding of the character Joseph. There are two aspects which has been lifted. First the Joseph character is a naïve young boy, with no thoughts to the feelings of others. This makes the reader feel like he only has himself to blame. Secondly, considering the death motifs, the reader feels compassionate towards him and sees him as a lamb brought to slaughter. Joseph is killed as a sacrifice. Through the analysis it is argued that the story may have been written for guiding the Israelites living in the diaspora and for those who returned to Jerusalem trying to rebuild the temple. Their lives were consumed by conflicts and the story thus aspired to give the people advice and show them that in separation they will face death, but together they will live.}},
author = {{Bergström, Jenny}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Josef - död och uppstånden}},
year = {{2020}},
}