J. Severino Croatto’s Rereading of Empire in Isaiah 47
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Anyone attempting to engage Latin America’s contributions to the field of biblical studies for the last fifty years cannot avoid the prolific scholarship of José Severino Croatto. His hermeneutical lens reflects a liberationist “rereading” strategy that ethically aims to privilege the lived experiences of oppressed and disenfranchised peoples of the world. Much of Croatto’s liberationist gaze focused on the Isaianic version of Israel’s “founding” message. Here, he oscillates between social critic and biblical exegete in a way that gives his rereading relevant specificity. As a case study into Croatto’s rereading of the materiality of empire in Isaiah, this essay interrogates his exegesis of empire in Isaiah 47 in order to better understand Croatto’s social critique of modern empire. In the end, Croatto’s assessment of empire has as its primary ethical concern the experiences of the oppressed people of Latin America. This explicit social obligation requires that he distill and sustain in full view the materiality of empire inscribed in Second Isaiah’s rhetoric. To achieve this, he harnesses a “sociopolítico” meaning within the text in such way that he makes accessible a theological rhetoric for critiquing the contemporary reality of empire.
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3
Fernando A. Cascante, “Strengthening Bible Institutes and Church Leadership: A Partnership to Develop a Viable Certification Process,” Colloquy 20 (Spring 2012), pp. 24–25. According to a 2011 Pew Hispanic study, between 2000 and 2010 the growth of the Latino population represented 56% of the population growth in the U.S.A., growing at a faster pace than the general population. See Flávia Cristina Drumond Andrade, “Overview,” in Jaqueline L. Angel, Fernando Torres Gil, and Kyriakos Markides (eds.), Aging, Health, and Longevity in the Mexican-Origin Population (New York, NY: Springer, 2012), p. 186.
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4
J. Severino Croatto, Biblical Hermeneutics: Toward a Theory of Reading as the Production of Meaning (trans. Robert R. Barr; New York: Orbis Books, 1987), p. 40. See also Croatto, Isaías, Vol. 2, p. 20; J. Severino Croatto, “ Latin America,” in Virginia Fabella and R.S. Sugirtharajah (eds.), The SCM Dictionary of Third World Theologies (London: SCM Press, 2003), p. 25); J. Severino Croatto, “Exegesis of Second Isaiah from the Perspective of the Oppressed,” in Fernando F. Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert (eds.), Reading from This Place, Vol. 2: Social Location and Biblical Interpretation in Global Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), p. 220.
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12
Croatto, “Inequity as Iniquity: Searching the Roots of Hunger in Isaiah,” p. 44.
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15
Croatto, “Inequity as Iniquity: Searching the Roots of Hunger in Isaiah,” p. 69.
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24
Klaus Baltzer, Deutero-Isaiah, p. 27. For further discussion on sanguine assessments of the Babylonian exile, see Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, A Biblical Theology of Exile (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002), pp. 27–74.
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36
Roy F Melugin, The Formation of Isaiah 40–55 (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1976), pp. 135–36; Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1969), p. 187.
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68
See Goldstone and Haldon, “Ancient States, Empires, and Exploitation,” pp. 1–29; Peter R. Bedford, “The Neo-Assyrian Empire,” in Morris and Scheidel (eds.), Dynamics of Ancient Empire, p. 35; and Scheidel, “Sex and Empire: A Darwinian Perspective,” pp. 258–57.
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69
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah: 40–66 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), p. 96.
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70
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah: 40–66 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), p. p. 159.
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73
Goldstone and Haldon, “Ancient States, Empires, and Exploitation,” pp. 18–19.
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87
See verse 1 and verse 5; ibid., p. 166.
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89
Eugene Walker Gogol, The Concept of Other in Latin American Liberation: Fusing Emancipatory Philosophic Thought and Social Revolt (Oxford, UK: Lexington Books, 2002), p. 24; see also Javier Corrales, “Neoliberalism and Its Alternatives” in Peter Kingstone and Deborah J. Yashar (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics (New York, NY: Routledge, 2012), p. 138.
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Croatto, “The Function of the Non-Fulfilled Promises,” p. 38.
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Brueggemann, Isaiah 40–66, p. 98; Croatto, Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 50.
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112
Walter Brueggemann, Out of Babylon (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2010), pp. 126–27.
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113
J. Severino Croatto, “Inequity is Iniquity: Raising Prophetic Voices Against US-Led Globalization,” Hospitality 22 (2003), pp. 1, 10.
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117
Croatto, “Inequity as Iniquity: Searching the Roots of Hunger in Isaiah,” p. 65.
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118
Junan Gonzalez, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2011), p. xviii.
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120
J. Severino Croatto, “¿Como releer la biblia desde su contexto socio-político?: Ejercicio sobre algunos temas del Pentateuco,” Revista Bíblica 44 (1991), pp. 193–212 (235).
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122
Elisabeth Shüssler Fiorenza, Democratizing Biblical Studies: Toward an Emancipatory Educational Space (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Know Press, 2009), p. 36.
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J. Severino Croatto’s Rereading of Empire in Isaiah 47
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Gregory L. Cuéllar in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Anyone attempting to engage Latin America’s contributions to the field of biblical studies for the last fifty years cannot avoid the prolific scholarship of José Severino Croatto. His hermeneutical lens reflects a liberationist “rereading” strategy that ethically aims to privilege the lived experiences of oppressed and disenfranchised peoples of the world. Much of Croatto’s liberationist gaze focused on the Isaianic version of Israel’s “founding” message. Here, he oscillates between social critic and biblical exegete in a way that gives his rereading relevant specificity. As a case study into Croatto’s rereading of the materiality of empire in Isaiah, this essay interrogates his exegesis of empire in Isaiah 47 in order to better understand Croatto’s social critique of modern empire. In the end, Croatto’s assessment of empire has as its primary ethical concern the experiences of the oppressed people of Latin America. This explicit social obligation requires that he distill and sustain in full view the materiality of empire inscribed in Second Isaiah’s rhetoric. To achieve this, he harnesses a “sociopolítico” meaning within the text in such way that he makes accessible a theological rhetoric for critiquing the contemporary reality of empire.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 242 | 18 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 223 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 54 | 13 | 1 |