Post: Week 1

Weitzel_Week 1

Weitzel_Week 1

by Jennifer Weitzel -
Number of replies: 3

Judy Fentress-Williams uses critical biblical scholarship through the social world approach, among others, to make sense of Exodus. Her use of “remix” is fascinating and enlightening because it uses a present-day term which dialogues with the past (82). She claims that the Exodus is a story to be remembered and does so with a modern cultural understanding of musical terms (80-82). 


Fentress-Williams makes six claims about understanding Exodus through this lens. The first two remixes focus on the ancient world of the text when she discusses the role of midwives and Moses’ mommies (82-83). The third and fourth remixes point toward more recent events in history for parallels (i.e. slavery and freedom) (83-86). The fifth remix focuses on the biblical world (Decalogue) (86), while the sixth remix takes a present-day approach when she uses the metaphor of “house parties” (87). 


I think the author has supported the social world approach well because she addresses the ancient world, biblical text, modern world, and shows relevance to today. In her short chapter, she brings a lot of clarity about each context/world and brings the passage to life in a way unfamiliar to me. 


She uses musical terms to relate to familiar stories, which also engaged me as the reader. I was particularly fascinated by the roles of midwives in the ancient world, as well as Pharaoh's daughter’s words that paralleled God’s words in later verses (83). The author helped me to approach the text with these various social worlds; worlds that I was not previously very knowledgeable about.

In reply to Jennifer Weitzel

Re: Weitzel_Week 1

by Michelle Price -
Thank you for sharing this. I personally took this assignment and pulled apart one Remix that she shared and the various forms used within that one section. Your view of backing the lens up and looking at all of the Remixes as a whole seems on point. She worked through various forms throughout the lumping together of remixes. But I also found it interesting that within each remix there are various forms. The Moses and Mommies section she is comparing prior texts and looking at patterns (form criticism). She also pulled apart some source criticism when looking at how God is described through the words describing Pharaoh's daughter and Moses. And she used some translation analysis, all within Remix 2. She seems fairly crafty at organizing her work to keep the interest level up and understanding clear.  
I was immediately hooked when she started with her remix section, which made me think she was going to look how the different voices were pieced together (source criticism). However, the various methods used within this small chapter, and the small sections, helped bring more life to the reading, especially from a racial/gender/cultural standpoint. 
She opened my eyes to the fact that despite the barriers we see, God finds ways around them to fulfill redemption for everyone. She was able to share her point in various ways, making sure that everyone would be able to walk away with understanding they would able to be redeemed. That race didn't stop God during Moses' time and it won't stop Him today.

In reply to Jennifer Weitzel

Re: Weitzel_Week 1

by Julia O'Brien -

Jenn, you've well described how Fentress-Williams engaged you as a reader by using musical metaphors.

Usually, "social world" approaches bring sociological insights about ancient cultures to bear on biblical texts. That is, they bring in sociological information about other cultures--the "world behind the text." I didn't see as much *ancient sociological information* as you did. I did see Fentress-Williams closely reading the "world in the text," showing us the order in which events happen and suggesting what particular Hebrew words mean. 

I did her bringing in the *world in front of the text* when she remixed contemporary literature with biblical texts. 

Can you point to some of the places where you saw her bringing in *world behind the text* approaches?

In reply to Julia O'Brien

Re: Weitzel_Week 1

by Jennifer Weitzel -

Dr. O'Brien, 

Thank you for your reflections and for inviting me to think more deeply about my response. 

In Remix 1, I understand the midwives in a "position of very little power" to be explanatory of the time period, thus the "world behind the text." I was also considering the "foreshadowing" as a sociological connection to the period of the time since the Hebrew people would have understood the connections between stories much more intrinsically than I have ever considered. 

In Remix 2, I focused on the sentence that says the "use of the familiar phrase reminds the reader that the baby born under a death sentence is a part of God's created order." Fentress-Williams goes on and continues to make further parallels to the Genesis story regarding the "salvation of the child." I also thought these explanations would have made more sense to the reader of the time in drawing out connections between stories and were not necessarily understood by reading the text directly. 

Regarding your point, I also see how both of these remixes would fit into the category of the "world of the text," when I read the contextual and literary parts of Fentress-Williams' argument. 

Thanks, again, for helping me to think more deeply about the text.