The cruel sea: an examination of Exodus 13.17-15.21 through the lenses of trauma theory and collective memory studies

Whiting, Simeon (2021). The cruel sea: an examination of Exodus 13.17-15.21 through the lenses of trauma theory and collective memory studies. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The Reed Sea episode is often read as a moment of liberation and vindication for the Israelites. However, it is also a moment of overwhelming violence and divine rage. This thesis offers a new perspective on the violence of the Reed Sea episode.

Exod 13.17 – 15.21 is likely to have been influenced by trauma deriving from the fall of Jerusalem and displacement to Babylonia. Some of the authors of the text, working during the Persian period, may not have directly experienced the destruction of Jerusalem at first hand, but inherited trauma from their parents and their wider community. Exod 13.17 – 15.21 contains evidence of several markers of trauma, giving strong grounds for seeing this text as influenced by the authors’ trauma: it has many features of survivor literature.

Trauma has a profound effect on a community’s shared identity and on the collective memory which underpins that identity. With insights from collective memory studies, we can see that the Reed Sea episode represented a foundational myth for the Yehud community and
that trauma affected how that memory was formed and communicated.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):