Subversive Humor and the Critique of Imperial Hubris in Prophetic Texts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21408400 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marcel Krusche (0000-0002-6886-9453, Universität Hamburg Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie Gorch-Fock-Wall 7 Hamburg Germany, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 137 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 256-270 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0044-2526 • E-ISSN: 1613-0103 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/zaw-2025-2005 |
| OpenAlex | W4410532598 |
| Language | EN |
In prophetic texts, humor is frequently employed to mock the hubris of imperial powers and rulers. This article describes various forms and stylistic devices of mockery such as caricaturing exaggerations, irony, alienation of genres, the grotesque, and mythical coloring, thereby working out the subversive function of »humor from below«. This type of humor serves to critique power and to expose and shame the (once) powerful. In 2Kgs 19:21 par. Isa 37:22, this mockery of imperial hubris is even personally embodied by daughter Zion
Aesthetics · Art · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Hubris · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Theology · Academic Freedom and Politics · Philosophy · Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
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