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Forgetting is central to processes of cultural memory. It allows for synthesis to occur so that "sites of memory" can form and be transported over time. Jenna Kemp conducts three case studies of instances of scribal activity, drawing from theories of cultural memory and intertextuality to theorize the formation of the Bible as a process of cultural memory. As scribes inherit texts, they receive a wide range of potential meanings; they activate and change the texts in ways that change those potentials, eliminating some and unleashing new ones. This process allows the texts to signify in new presents - the texts are remembered - and at the same time, it relies on the forgetting of earlier meanings. From this perspective, forgetting is not necessarily about loss. It is a generative force that makes new meaning possible. Without forgetting there is no memory.
Price: £110.00
Pages: 194
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Imprint: Mohr Siebeck
Series: Forschungen zum Alten Testament
Publication Date:
22 September 2025
ISBN: 9783161639951
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
Born 1987; 2011-14 MA (Biblical Studies, Graduate Theological Union); 2014-21 PhD (Hebrew Bible, UC Berkeley); 2021-24 Postdoc (Universität Basel); lecturer at UC Berkeley.
Introduction1. Cultural Memory2. Method and Structure Chapter One: A Theory of Cultural Memory: Memory, Intertextuality, and Agency1. Theorists2. Literature as a Site of Memory3. Intertextuality and Agency4. Remembering and Forgetting5. Cultural Memory in Biblical Studies6. The Scribal Turn Chapter Two: Canon: Intertextuality in Exodus 34:11–171. Allusion as an Act of Remembering2. Relative Date of Exodus 34:11–263. Exodus 34:11–14, 15–16, 174. Canon as a Site of Memory Chapter Three: Isaiah the Seer: Metaphor and Temporality in Isaiah 21. Composition and Structure2. Old Poem: Isaiah 2:10.12–17*3. “Revision through Introduction” (and Conclusion)4. Isaiah the Seer: Temporality between Utterance and Fulfillment5. Conclusion Chapter Four: Divine History: Ambiguity and Resolution in 1 Samuel 13–151. Composition History2. Saul as Yahwist: 1 Samuel 13:2–14:52 Prior to the Insertions3. Saul Rejected4. Reading the Composite: Gaps and Ambiguities5. Conclusion: Divine History as a Site of Memory Conclusion