Alterity, Pain, and Suffering in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

This book explores alterity, pain, and suffering though readings of selected passages from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It uses reading methods drawn from modern literary theory, cultural geography, social psychology, and moral philosophy to read these ancient texts from the viewpoint of twenty-first century interests.Mills' aim is to focus on the absolute reality of pain, suffering, and difference in human experience and to find the values contained in these experiences; thus it produces a Narrative Ethics approach to the Old Testament. Mills argues that these selected biblical texts provide evidence of human interrogation of the meaning and value of pain and loss in human experience. The ways in which these texts interweave the subjective voice of the prophet with the life experience of the wider society offer the modern reader a resource for exploring contemporary concerns such as embodiment, landscape, and horror.