Joshua And The Rhetoric Of Violence

'Joshua and the Rhetoric of Violence' examines the book of Joshua as a construction of national identity. This pioneering New Historicist analysis shows how the Deuteronomist used war oracle language and epic historical lore to negotiate sociopolitical boundaries. It asserts that text and context interacted in a programme consolidating King Josiah's authority in the wake of Assyrian imperial collapse.

The book argues that the conquest narrative is not simple 'us against them' propaganda but a complex web of negotiations defining identity and otherness. The analysis draws on Foucault's principle that power is something exercised rather than merely possessed. Review: I found it fascinating from both a methodological and content stand point, because among other things it [Joshua and the Rhetoric of Violence] positioned and compared the texts she studied with other ancient non-Biblical Middle Eastern Battle narratives and suggest a particular historical function that the texts served during the process of their generation and transmission.

Even more interesting was her appropriate use of epistemological theorist such as Michael Foucault and a number of other to suggest the culture specific functions that the text she studied embodied. - --Philip Kaveny Midwest Book Review