Already/Not Yet: Eschatological Tension in the Book of Tobit

Hicks-Keeton, Jill

doi:10.2307/23488239

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…21 As Hicks-Keeton argues, "Tobit's first prayer (3:1-6) reveals a Deuteronomic theology of sin and punishment … Tobit laments Israel's misfortunes and his own: he interprets his present circumstances through a lens of national relations with God." 22 This persuasive argument, which is well-supported by the textual evidence is helpful because it shows the prevalence of the norm. 23 An immediate connection is made by the character in front of the audience, or referent group, familiar with the norm between wrongdoing and retribution, or ask Lloyd puts it "the criminal and the sick."…”

Section: Positive Deviance In Tobitmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…9:17; Ps. 71:19; 106: [21][22]. But for Job, they are negative and menacing, they are the deity's needless displays of strength (Job 10:16).…”

Section: Positive Deviance In Tobitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although regularly thought of as "Deuteronomic," perhaps because of the highly somatic nature of the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28, the link between retribution and bodily dysfunction persists in many of the Psalms, Proverbs, and in biblical narrative (Dt. 28: [21][22][27][28]. Sometimes this connection is obvious and almost mechanistic, e.g., "he who digs a pit will fall into it" (Prov.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The resistance to mainstream assumptions about retribution in Job and Tobit as theologically positive deviance

Southwood

2022

AVAR

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This article uses material from organizational studies and medical anthropology and sociology to address the value of the idea that bodily dysfunction or illness depart from a norm of health. It argues that examples of positive deviance can be found in the books of Tobit and in Job. Positive deviance describes behavior that notably departs from expected norms, albeit in a direction that a referent group finds positive. In much of the Hebrew Bible, there is a tight connection between the ideas of wrongdoing, bodily suffering, and retribution. However, the books of Tobit and Job are examples of a departure away from this norm. In Job and Tobit the portrayal of circumstances in the text depart from expected norms with a view to encouraging the referent group (i.e., audiences) towards a positive assessment of the departure. The character Tobit, in line with dominant thought about retribution assumes his blindness is a result of some inadvertent or inherited sinfulness. However, Tobit’s characterisation and dramatic irony prevents audiences agreeing with Tobit’s assessment of circumstances. Similarly, the advice of Job’s friends betrays their assumption that his physical condition must be retribution for wrongdoing. However, Job’s characterisation and dramatic irony prevents audiences agreeing with his friends. More shockingly, the character Yahweh departs from the expected role and becomes a deviant actor. Through resisting simplistic assessments of somatic distress as caused by retribution for wrongdoing, both books are examples of positive deviance that encourage audiences towards more positive norms.

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Section: Positive Deviance In Tobitmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…9:17; Ps. 71:19; 106: [21][22]. But for Job, they are negative and menacing, they are the deity's needless displays of strength (Job 10:16).…”

Section: Positive Deviance In Tobitmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The resistance to mainstream assumptions about retribution in Job and Tobit as theologically positive deviance

Southwood

2022

AVAR

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“…is also an acutely theological work of literature." 13 It has long been known and studied as Jewish wisdom literature: beneath the surface of an entertaining narrative, it poses deep theological questions about the source and purpose of suffering, the benefits of righteousness, and the value of religious tradition. 14 The sapiential instructions are especially straightforward in Tobit's advice to Tobiah before his departure for Media.…”

Section: The Book Of Tobit In the Codex Indianorummentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Stories, Local Meanings: Knowledge Transfer and Acculturation Strategies in Nahua Sociocultural History

Olko¹

2022

The Americas

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In this paper I carry out a microphilological study of a section of the Codex Indianorum 7, a colonial devotional manuscript in Nahuatl preserved in the John Carter Brown Library. It contains wisdom teachings derived from the biblical Book of Tobit and directed to both parents and their children. I argue that this hitherto unstudied text reveals the Native author's liberty to creatively mold and adapt a culturally remote European prototype into the Native genre of oratorical art—the huehuehtlahtolli, or “words of the elders.” The author also skillfully embedded and contextualized the content of the biblical instruction in local cultural meanings understandable and valid to an Indigenous audience. As an example of cross-cultural translation and colonial textual production, this source provides new insights into Native forms of agency, intellectual autonomy, and acculturation strategies reflected in creative dialogues with European traditions, developed and maintained despite the seemingly substitutive Christianization policies imposed on Indigenous people in the sixteenth century.

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“…Indeed, at the moment these characters first appear in the narrative, their names mock their present circumstances. (Hicks-Keeton 2013): 107, referencing Moore 1996: 25). Refer also to Radday 1990.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comical moments and comical characterisations in Tobit: The undermining of self-righteous piety, simplistic retribution, and limited Yahwism

Southwood

2022

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

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This article argues that comic moments and comic characterisation are used in Tobit as a means of satirically exposing a type of Yahwism characterised by inward-looking piety, religious and ethnic endogamy, and simplistic notions of retribution. Comic moments and comic characterisation, are therefore important ethical devices in Tobit used to expose the problematic nature of an obsessive emphasis on religious boundary maintenance as demonstrated by the extreme version of endogamy that Tobit endorses. The article argues that the theme of “insults” in Tobit, and the distinction between public and private behaviour serves to destabilise the main character’s hyper-religiosity. The article suggests that Tobit’s restrictive form of Yahwism and his overzealous Yahwistic piety are exposed and undermined in Tobit to illustrate for audiences that the deity Yhwh does not operate within a mechanistic moral calculus. The article pays close attention to the significance of the language and translations of Tobit when making this case.

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Already/Not Yet: Eschatological Tension in the Book of Tobit

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

The resistance to mainstream assumptions about retribution in Job and Tobit as theologically positive deviance

The resistance to mainstream assumptions about retribution in Job and Tobit as theologically positive deviance

Remote Stories, Local Meanings: Knowledge Transfer and Acculturation Strategies in Nahua Sociocultural History

Comical moments and comical characterisations in Tobit: The undermining of self-righteous piety, simplistic retribution, and limited Yahwism

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