Exile (Forced Migrations) in Biblical Literature

Call For Papers: We plan to hold two sessions and to co-sponsor a third. For the first session, we seek papers on the relationship between a systems approach to exile and a more literary one. If we recognize that exile is at once an instrument of imperial policy, a state of mind in the exiled and their hosts and the state actors connecting the two, a literary product created at the intersection of collective memory and artistic creativity, a remembered series of events that shapes subsequent identity formation, and now a topic of historical inquiry, we might ask: How do these elements relate to each other? For the second session, we seek papers on the following: Joseph, the protagonist of Gen 37–50, is an involuntary migrant. He is captured by his brothers, trafficked into Egypt, and imprisoned. The denouement of the Joseph story finds him reunited with his family, which would not have happened were they not environmentally induced involuntary migrants fleeing to Egypt to survive famine in Judah. This year's session on these these aspects of Gen 37–50 will explore these themes and others related to migration through invited papers employing interdisciplinary methods to analyze these texts. For the third session, a joint endeavor with The Bible and Visual Art program unit, we seek papers on the theme of "Exile in Biblical Art."

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