Imperial Desires: Constructions and Maintenance of Race in Biblical Interpretation

Steed Vernyl Davidson

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2 Imperial Desires

Constructions and Maintenance of Race in Biblical Interpretation

In: Congress Volume Zurich 2022

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Steed Vernyl Davidson

Steed Vernyl Davidson
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 30–52

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004740471_003

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Abstract

In the Hebrew Bible, though empires bring disasters, they take on a theological utility that make them desirable. Depicted at times through erotic desire, empires function as a significant solution to the human condition to bring what might seem like unruly areas under subjection. Prophetic literature supports this view with its vision of a new world where other nations are subdued and their differences either eradicated or controlled at times in the form of the sexual discipline of women in patriarchal cultures. This essay examines the eroticized construction of empire in the Hebrew Bible and how that portrayal promotes the desirability of empire through notions of cultural superiority. These features of empire arguably shape the Bible’s role in the production and maintenance of race.

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Congress Volume Zurich 2022

Proceedings of the 24th Congress of the IOSOT

Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 201

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004740471

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 09 Oct 2025

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2 Imperial Desires

Constructions and Maintenance of Race in Biblical Interpretation

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Citation Info

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Congress Volume Zurich 2022

Proceedings of the 24th Congress of the IOSOT

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