A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household?
Occasionally, the biblical term גר has been taken to refer to a “dependent worker” or “client” based on the thought that household membership can be gained through work provided to the household. Mention of household membership tests the identity of the sojourner in the ancient world as stranger or...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
2023-07-01
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| Series: | The Biblical Annals |
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| Online Access: | https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/ba/article/view/14712 |
| _version_ | 1797783212335824896 |
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| author | Bruno Clifton |
| author_facet | Bruno Clifton |
| author_sort | Bruno Clifton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Occasionally, the biblical term גר has been taken to refer to a “dependent worker” or “client” based on the thought that household membership can be gained through work provided to the household. Mention of household membership tests the identity of the sojourner in the ancient world as stranger or foreigner; a social category listed with widows and orphans—whose status is also defined by the household— as deserving of protection. Given its centrality as a basic social unit in the ancient Near East, we might expect that purchase in a household would grant a status that dissolves the social distance and attendant consequences (fragility of income, lack of patrimony, object of suspicion) thought to be borne by גרים. In what sense, then, is a “dependent worker” who secures membership in the household a גר ? This article reconsiders how distant a person must be from the society within which he resides to make him a ,גר shifting the semantic emphasis of this term away from origin and towards social integration.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:22:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-06f0add232b3476ab2610625cfc01a18 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2083-2222 2451-2168 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:22:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Biblical Annals |
| spelling | doaj.art-06f0add232b3476ab2610625cfc01a182023-07-11T10:15:31ZdeuThe John Paul II Catholic University of LublinThe Biblical Annals2083-22222451-21682023-07-0113310.31743/biban.14712A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household?Bruno Clifton0University of Oxford Occasionally, the biblical term גר has been taken to refer to a “dependent worker” or “client” based on the thought that household membership can be gained through work provided to the household. Mention of household membership tests the identity of the sojourner in the ancient world as stranger or foreigner; a social category listed with widows and orphans—whose status is also defined by the household— as deserving of protection. Given its centrality as a basic social unit in the ancient Near East, we might expect that purchase in a household would grant a status that dissolves the social distance and attendant consequences (fragility of income, lack of patrimony, object of suspicion) thought to be borne by גרים. In what sense, then, is a “dependent worker” who secures membership in the household a גר ? This article reconsiders how distant a person must be from the society within which he resides to make him a ,גר shifting the semantic emphasis of this term away from origin and towards social integration. https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/ba/article/view/14712strangergerclientdependent workerhouseholdsocial structures |
| spellingShingle | Bruno Clifton A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? The Biblical Annals stranger ger client dependent worker household social structures |
| title | A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? |
| title_full | A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? |
| title_fullStr | A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? |
| title_short | A Stranger in My Own Land: Can a Sojourner Belong to the Household? |
| title_sort | stranger in my own land can a sojourner belong to the household |
| topic | stranger ger client dependent worker household social structures |
| url | https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/ba/article/view/14712 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brunoclifton astrangerinmyownlandcanasojournerbelongtothehousehold AT brunoclifton strangerinmyownlandcanasojournerbelongtothehousehold |