Overview

Contemporary nativism gathers much of its steam from what many Westerners fear to be a free-for-all of desperate refugees invading peaceful Western countries to seek shelter from dictatorial violence and civil war, but in antiquity its impact is much more difficult to measure, given (a) that so few extant texts overtly or covertly reference it; and (b) that so many of those which do are inadequately, incompetently, even speciously interpreted. Complicating this is the fact that at root the allies-aliens polarity refers not simply to conflict between cultures, but to the challenge of measuring the gaps between cultures--what linguists call ""translation."" Allies or Aliens? examines six Jewish diaspora texts (and the traditions in their wake), engaging them intertextually in order to (a) identify the response(s) to nativistic prejudice featured in each text; (b) ascertain the effectiveness of each response; and (c) suggest which response(s) might best help readers struggling to deal with nativistic prejudice today.

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Reviews

""The xenophobia that fills our newsfeeds has parallels in the world that gave us the Bible, as this well-informed work explains. In a learned and pastorally sensitive way, Michael Moore explores versions of nativism in six Second Temple canonical and deuterocanonical texts (Jonah, Esther, Ruth, Daniel, Tobit, and Judith). He offers helpful ways of understanding this tragically ongoing phenomenon and hints--and more than hints--at paths for overcoming it."" --Mark W. Hamilton, Robert and Kay Onstead Professor of Biblical Studies, Abilene Christian University

Author Information

Michael S. Moore is Director of the Arizona Research Center for the Ancient Near East (arcaneaz.com). Dr. Moore teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary and Arizona State University and is the author of several books and articles on the Bible.

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