Introduction: power and emotion in ancient Judaism: emotion discourses and Jewish feelings of power -- Emotional resistance to physical power-over: the performative power of the public spectacle in 4 Maccabees -- Emotional resistance to domination: feeling rules as proxies for power in Joseph and Aseneth -- Resistance to emotional stereotypes: emotional stereotypes and power dynamics in 3 Maccabees -- Overcoming divine power-over: reighteous anger in 1 Maccabees -- Feeling rules in the construction of communal identity: sectarian feelings in the Hodayot -- The power of fear: strategic manipulation of fear in the construction of a sectarian emotional community -- Sectarian ritual and the cultivation of emotional habitus.
Summary:
"In this book, Ari Mermelstein examines the mutually-reinforcing relationship between power and emotion in ancient Judaism. Ancient Jewish writers in both Palestine and the diaspora contended that Jewish identity entails not simply allegiance to God and performance of the commandments but also the acquisition of specific emotional norms. These rules regarding feeling were both shaped by and responses to networks of power-God, the foreign empire, and other groups of Jews-which threatened Jews' sense of agency. According to these writers, emotional communities that felt Jewish would succeed in neutralizing the power wielded over them by others and, depending on the circumstances, restore their power to acculturate, maintain their Jewish identity, and achieve redemption. An important contribution to the history of emotions, this book argues that power relations are the basis for historical changes in emotion discourse."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.