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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Problems of 'evil' in Jeremiah 2-6 a literary-theological study on ancient Judah's experience of the exile Yan, Anderson Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 Problems of ‘Evil’ in Jeremiah 2–6: A Literary-Theological Study on Ancient Judah’s Experience of the Exile A thesis submitted for examination in the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Anderson Yan Department of Theology and Religious Studies King’s College London 2020 ABSTRACT This thesis employs the contested notion of theodicy with reference to selected chapters of the book of Jeremiah and explores this theme in relation to the composition of Jeremiah 2–6. The study argues that responses to the traumatic experience of exile invite a judicious use of the term theodicy. A critical application of Ricoeur’s thinking on evil provides a way of taking seriously the significant distance between the modern and the ancient contexts; however, as interpreters are not passive, Gadamer’s notion of Wirkungsgeschichte establishes solid theoretical grounds for a hermeneutical sophistication where modern reflection can illuminate the interpretation of biblical texts. It is argued that the Babylonian exile was a catalyst for the composition of the book. The laments in Jer 4:5–6:30, in particular, were probably composed after the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 BCE and later expansions in this block associating the city with a woman were further developed in Jer 2:2–4:4 in terms of an adulterous woman. As a result, Jeremiah 2–6 presents a theological interpretation of the fall of Jerusalem in a discourse in which Judah’s apostasy is interpreted in the light of the retributive theology. i Acknowledgements “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Khalil Gibran My appreciation goes to a number of people who have helped and supported me through this long and arduous journey. I am particularly grateful to my supervisors at King’s College London, Professor Paul M. Joyce and Doctor Jonathan Stökl for their academic and pastoral guidance. I am immensely grateful to Paul for his insightful feedback, offering me many enjoyable hours of discussion and for showing me kindness during hardship. I am also very thankful for Jonathan’s attention to detail- his great knowledge of literature in this area of research was certainly crucial. The completion of this work would not be possible without the backstage support. The student service, particularly Vy-liam Ng, Hannah Bell and Margaret Gardiner, provided emotional support during difficult times. It is needless to say that without the hard work of the staff team of Maugham library, especially Chantal Tucker for her role as the subscription and interlending officer, the completion of my doctoral thesis could not have been achieved. For that I express my immense thanks to them. I am also grateful to my examiners, Professor David J. Reimer and Professor Mary E. Mills, who read my work with great interest and care. As experts in Jeremiah studies and theologians interested in the interface between faith and the issue of suffering, they both provided a thorough examination, but still a pleasant and insightful conversation. This study is a result of my theological education in various places in Brazil, the UK and different conferences. Each of them has contributed immensely to my growth, whether by their love for the Bible, by challenging my assumptions or by stretching me. I thank my friends Kengo Sato and Daniel Fujisaka, to whom I had my first academic contact with Jeremiah when I was still in Brazil. Special thanks go to Daniel for his expertise in Augustine and for introducing me to Ricoeur’s work on hermeneutics. I am immensely indebted to ii Seminário Teológico Servo de Cristo for guiding me in my first theological steps. I thank Estevan Frederico Kirschner and Luiz Alberto Teixeira Sayão for their spiritual guidance and love for biblical theology. My gratitude also goes to Deomar Ross ( in memorian ) for sharing his passion for the Old Testament and Paulo Chen (in memorian ) for my first lessons in biblical Hebrew. I am also thankful to Vicente de Paula for his great knowledge in biblical languages and Ricardo Quadros Gouvêa, whose thought-provoking lectures inspired me to study modern theology and had an important place in my critical thinking. My knowledge of Jeremiah and biblical Hebrew is also immensely indebted to Doctors Alison Lo, Katherine Southwood and Dominik Markl during my studies in London School of Theology and Heythrop College. My gratitude is also extended to informal conversations in person or through email-exchange outside the classroom, especially to Professor Karl-Friedrich Pohlmann, who kindly shared his thoughts about Jeremiah during the SBL international meeting hosted at St Andrew’s University in 2013. I thank Professor Konrad Schmid for giving me my first opportunity to share my research in a Jeremiah conference hosted in Ascona in 2014. My appreciation is also extended to Hermann-Josef Stipp, Georg Fischer, Bernard M. Levinson, Christof Hardmeier and Mladen Popovi ć for sharing their thoughts on Jeremiah. I am also grateful to Professor Dalit Rom- Shiloni, whom I met in St Andrew’s in 2015, for her insights on Jeremiah 2 and to Professor James K. Aitken, after the biblical studies seminar hosted at King’s, for guiding me in terms of the Greek text of Jeremiah. My research is also remarkably indebted to dialogue- partners, particularly during OTSEM conferences hosted at Uppsala University and King’s College London in 2015 and 2019. My thanks go especially to Doctors Martin Hallasckha and Frederik Poulsen, who read and responded to my chapters 2–4 of my project and contributed with valuable comments. I also want to thank Professors Thomas Römer and Israel Finkelstein for their fruitful conversation during the excavations at Kiriath-Jearim in 2017. iii This project could not be completed without a number of bursaries and generous financial support over the years. I am thankful to King’s College London Theological Trust for the financial support from 2013 to 2015. My gratitude also is extended to St Luke’s College Foundation for the funds between 2014 and 2016 and the Foundation of St Matthias from 2014 to 2015 and the Mylne Trust in 2014. I am humbled by the support from Igreja Presbiteriana Vida Nova, my home church in Brazil, for the generous gift from Tai-An Church, where I last served in São Paulo, and Abbey Road Baptist Church. Special thanks go to Reverends Chen Li Hwei, Wu Tsu Hsing, Fernando César de Oliveira, my dear friends Daniel and Christiane Liau, Paulo Tsai, Leo Iwai, Jeff and Magali Nottingham and many who anonymously supported me for their generosity. I am grateful to Douglas Minei, Ilie Zubascu, Tursunoy Emmott and Sylvia Trotter for providing me meals and a place to stay in London. I must thank God for caring me through all these years even during times in which he seemed silent and absent and specially when I did not deserve his mysterious love, care and blessing. I am also grateful to my devoted family for their unconditional love and support during my lengthy academic studies. Thanks to Clara Sander, my sister-in-law for her German lessons. To my generous siblings, Cintia and Marcelo, to my parents-in-law for their long hours spent proofreading my drafts. Lastly, I am thankful for my wife’s unconditional love, support and patience, as this project deprived her of the time and attention that she deserved. I am grateful to my wife, Rebecca, and my mum, Yan Fuan Kwi Fua, whose personal experiences made me think in depth on the issue of suffering. iv Abbreviation ⅏ – Samaritan Pentateuch 1 c.s. – First person common singular 2 m.s. – Second person masculine singular 2 f.s. – Second person feminine singular 3 f.s. – Third person feminine singular 3 m.s. – Third person masculine singular A – Codex Aleppo a.C. – Avanti Cristo A/02 – Codex Alexandrinus AB – Analecta Biblica ABC – Anchor Bible Commentary ABD – Anchor Bible Dictionary ABR – Australian Biblical Review Ad Afric. – Epistula ad Africanum AECT – Ancient Egypt Canonical Texts AIL – Ancient Israel and Its Literature AIT – alexandrinishe AJBI – Annal of the Japanese Biblical Institute Am – Amos ANE – Ancient Near East(ern) ANEM – Ancient Near East Monographs ANF – The Ante-Nicene Fathers ANQ – Andover Newton Quarterly AOAT – Alter Orient und Altes Testament AOC – Apollos Old Testament Commentary AOTC – Abington Old Testament Commentary Ap John – Apokalypse von Johannes ATD – Das Alte Testament Deutsch AThANT – Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neun Testaments ATSAT – Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament AUNV – Avhandlinger Utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi AUSTR – American University Studies Theology and Religion AYBC – Anchor Yale Bible Commentary B.