Unveiling the depths of trauma and the profound impact of rape and shaming on the Babylonian women in Isaiah 13:16 - a trauma and resilience reading of the violent narrative in Isaiah 13:16
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Date
Authors
Esterhuizen, Elizabeth
Groenewald, Alphonso, 1969-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Africa Journals
Abstract
The book of Isaiah is one of the world’s oldest surviving resistance literature. Isaiah 13
describes God who collects an army for the battle against Babylon which will lead to Babylon’s
utter desolation and destruction. Isaiah 13:16 deeply shocks the reader when it states that the
wives of the Babylonians shall be raped and ravished by the men of this marching army. A
literary, contextual, and historical methodology will be applied. Integrated insights from trauma
studies will be used as a multidisciplinary approach to engage with these texts. A trauma
perspective helps the reader to look squarely at the violence that the Bible often advocates
and it can only become comprehensible if understood as the reaction of a dominated people
to their domination. The oracles against the nations express the hope of freedom and return
to their land, but also the hope of a triumphant reversal of the role of oppressors and
oppressed. Insights from trauma studies suggest that these features transform this oracle into
a work of resistance, recovery and resilience.
Description
Keywords
Babylonia, Judah, Rape, Trauma, Theory, Book of Isaiah, SDG-05: Gender equality
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG-05:Gender equality
Citation
Esterhuizen, E. & Groenewald, A. 2024, 'Unveiling the depths of trauma and the profound impact of rape and shaming on the Babylonian women in Isaiah 13:16 - a trauma and resilience reading of the violent narrative in Isaiah 13:16', Pharos Journal of Theology, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 1-14. https://DOI.org/10.46222/pharosjot.105.320.