found in the bible related to this context can be analyzed by using Postcolonial theory. R.S. Sugirtharajah, in his book with the title The Postcolonial Biblical
Reader said that What postcolonial biblical criticism does is to focus on the whole issue of
expansion, domination and imperialism as central forces in defining both biblical narratives and biblical interpretation Sugirtharajah, 2006: 17.
From this statement, Sugirtharajah wants to say that the focus of postcolonial biblical criticism is all about the problem of the development of
imperial power which becomes the main forces or factors of defining the biblical narratives and the way it is interpreted or understood by people.
In this research, the writer uses a bible as a primary source. This research tries to see the society in the gospels which in this case are the Jewish people who
live in a postcolonial context as they, first, are the ex-colonized nation and, second, are still living under the Roman Empire. Living in this kind of situation,
the Jews must undergo the consequences of being the colonized nation; the crisis of identity. Despite of the fact, they still struggle and do their best to defend their
national identity, a valuable thing that unites them all and become one nation as the Jewish nation. This research scrutinizes the problems of the two main agents,
the Jewish authorities and Jesus. This research also observes what makes the conflict appear between those parties, and then mainly aim at how the problems,
from postcolonial view, perform the Jews ’ struggle of defending their national
identity. Using the additional and supporting historical background, the history of the Jewish people is observed in this research to see what colonial factors affect
and shape their identity, their way of thinking and act, and why Torah is
considered as one of their national identities which they respect so much. The reason of choosing this topic is because the writer wants to observe many
problems appeared in the Jewish nation as a colonized nation and how this condition shapes their way of thinking, deeds and actions which then leads to the
conflict with Jesus. There are many studies which also use postcolonial theory that discuss the problem similar to what this topic does but those studies have
different objectives. This research manages to develop the study of the Jewish nation as a colonized nation by adding some more objectives and findings
different from what other studies do. What makes this research worth studied is the developing of the new way of illuminating biblical texts. Sugirtharajah says
that the biblical studies have already used external sources and historical criticism in order to enlighten the bible Sugirtharajah, 2006: 5. Postcolonialism, however,
is the new critical theory that can develop the study of biblical text. Fernando Segovia says in his essay that postcolonial theo
ry is the “most appropriate, most enlightening and most fruitful” theory to analyze the bible as this theory has its
three ways of identifying the problems; “the inescapable and omnipresent reality of empires” which constructs Judaism and early Christianity texts, Western
interpretation of Jewish and Christian writings that is affected by the colonial influences, and the biblical critics came from the earlier empires who tried to
threaten the received readings Sugirtharajah, 2006: 5. Although this research uses bible as a primary source, the theory,
methodology and the analysis do not use a theological perspective or criticism to scrutinize the problems. Rather, as a literary research, it certainly uses some
literary approaches and theories. This research elaborates the problems related to Jesus and the Jewish authority then analyzes it using some related theories which
are supported also by some related studies and backgrounds.
B. Problem Formulation
As the effort to see the resistance of the Jews toward Jesu s’ criticism of
Torah, the writer divides the problems into three research questions. 1.
What are Jesus’ reinterpretations of Torah? 2.
How do Jesus’ reinterpretations of Torah bring conflict in the society especially with the Jewish authorities?
3. How does this conflict reinforce the Jewish authorities’ effort of defending the
Jewish national identity?
C. Objectives of the Study
The writer’s aim of this study is first, to know Jesus’ reinterpretations that show his attitude of Torah. The second one is to know how these reinterpretations
lead to the resistance of the Jews. In this part, the writer wants to see the reason why Jesus
’ reinterpretations of Torah can have a clash with the Jews and emerge as their resistance to it. The last one is to know how this conflict and resistance
actually reflect the Jewish authorities’ effort of defending the Jewish national
identity.
D. Definitions of Terms
1. Torah :
Torah refers to all tradition of the Jews but the Torah refers to five books of Moses. It is the most important document used by the Jews for ages.
The Jews believed that it is a given from God to Moses in Mount Sinai during
their journey
to the
land of
Israel. http:www.bbc.co.ukreligionreligionsjudaismtextstorah.shtml
2.
Jewish authorities:
Known also as the Sanhedrin which comes from the Greek word Sunedrion
which means “the council”, consists of seventy one persons. It is composed of three professional groups; the High Priests, the Elders, and
Scribes. At the time of Jesus, there are two parties in this group; the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The authority of this group was broad and
far-reaching, legislation, administration, justice. They have responsibility in identifying and confirming the Messiah http:billpetro.comhistory-of-
the-sanhedrin.
9
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
This research is a Postcolonial research which observes the problem of Jewish people as colonized nation. Therefore, in order to support this research, the
writer uses some related studies that have the same field with this research. First, the writer uses an essay written by Philip Chia with the title. “On Naming the
Subject: Postcolonial Reading of Daniel 1
”
. In this essay, Chia uses Postcolonial theory in order to see the problem of Babylonian Empire in the Jewish nation and
how this condition influences the writing of Daniel. Chia begins by mentioning four characters who play role and have conflict in Daniel 1; King of Judah or
Jehoiakim, King of Babylon or Nebuchadnezzar, God of Judah or Adonai, and God of Babylon or Shinar. Chia quotes what Fewell said that the conflict is
actually between God of Judah or Adonai and King of Babylon or Nebuchadnezzar Sugirtharajah, 2006: 172. Chia finds the irony in the story in
what these two characters involve. First, though Nebuchadnezzar thinks he and Adonai are enemies, he never knows that actually they are both allies and have the
same objective, it is to defeat Jerusalem. The second irony is though Nebuchadnezzar thinks he has Adonai defeated, he never knows that actually it is
Adonai who hands Jehoiakim and Jerusalem over to him. Chia quotes what Fewell argues about the exposing of these two ironies:
First, is to offer a theological explanation for the defeat of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Second, it is to present a world in which
Adonai is the sovereign Lord who is able to manipulate foreign rulers, even unbelievers, and is in control of events. Third, it is to reflect anger of
Adonai upon the people who have gone against Adonai‟s will. Fourth, by participating in the destruction of Jerusalem, Adonai brings an end to the
“older story” which “foreshadows” a “new story” about to be unfolded with the possibility of hope Sugirtharajah, 2006: 172.
From this statement, it can be said that the writer of Daniel theologically characterizes Adonai as the sovereign God who is powerful and able to control
anything based on his will even to give both destruction and hope to his adherents. Hence, Chia then relates his way of thinking with the concept of Postcolonialism.
Chia finds that the writer of Daniel‟s postcolonial ideology is mirrored by Daniel himself. Looking from what the narrator experiences, it can be said that there is a
problem of identity crisis in the story. Chia mentions some examples of this problem. First is the naming of the
subjects. Here, Jehoiakim and some of his friends are given new Chaldean names from Nebuchadnezzar Sugirtharajah, 2006: 176. The second example is the
giving of Babylonian‟s foods to Jehoiakim and his friends Sugirtharajah, 2006: 179. Though these Jerusalem people have no enough power to resist the
Chaldean names given by Nebuchadnezzar, they still can refuse to eat Babylonian‟s food Sugirtharajah, 2006: 179. What the writer of Daniel wants to
show from these e xamples is to “reclaim one‟s true past”. As food is the basic
distinctive custom of all cultures, changing it means putting the cultural identity into question Sugirtharajah, 2006: 181. Here, the narrator can articulate the
meaning of resistance toward the imperial system as the dominating power. Another reason of exposing the ironies, as the sequence of find a voice and
identity, is “to erode the colonizer‟s ideology by which their past had been devalued
”. Chia shows how the writer of Daniel characterizes Nebuchandezzar as “an arrogant fool” who never realized that it was the narrator‟s lord who makes
him victorious. By doing this, Chia argues that the writer of Daniel wants to share the history which devalues the colonizer. This means that the writer of Daniel
considers the colonizers “from a taker to a receiver”. This of course “upgrades” the identity of the colonized from the
“passive manipulated to active manipulator, and from powerless loser to powerful giver
”. Here, the narrator who mirrors the writer of Daniel shows how, as the colonized, experience the identity crisis as he
and his friends are in a hybrid situation; being in the identity of the nativity and the identity imposed by the colonizer. What lies behind the problems, according to
Chia, are religious factors implanted with culture. The faith of the narrator also takes part here. The narrator relies on no military power to defend him but
religious power. By relaying on faith, he is the victorious. What the writer wants to look from the findings of this study is the
problem of identity or the identity crisis undergone by the Jerusalem people as Jewish nation. Though they are in a hybrid situation, they still struggle to defend
their identity as Jewish people. This related study shows its relevance with this research as it also talks about the impact of colonialism experienced by the Jewish
people and how the Jewish people reacted to it. In this research, the idea of hybridity from this study is used as the background to see the context of
colonialism from where they start to conflict with Jesus.
