"(Not) Her Husband": Hosea’s God and Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics of Suspicion and Trust

Hosea’s reception history shows the existence of two distinct interpretative traditions in relation to the metaphor "God is a husband" employed in the first three chapters of the book. Many commentators, reading with the grain, focus on the unfaithfulness of Israel, the justice of her puni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Chadžiev, Chavdar Stojanov 1971- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI 2022
In: Religions
Further subjects:B Hosea
B Feminist Hermeneutics
B hermeneutic of suspicion
B Love
B God
B Ricoeur
B Gender Violence
B Reception History
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Summary:Hosea’s reception history shows the existence of two distinct interpretative traditions in relation to the metaphor "God is a husband" employed in the first three chapters of the book. Many commentators, reading with the grain, focus on the unfaithfulness of Israel, the justice of her punishment and the love of God. More recently, feminist scholars have highlighted the problematic nature of this metaphor since it glorifies maleness and normalises gender-based violence against women. At first glance, these two approaches seem contradictory and mutually exclusive. However, Ricoeur’s discussion of the "conflict of interpretations" provides a fruitful way forward in dealing with this contradiction. Rather than being incompatible with one another, feminist and androcentric interpretations of Hosea are a particular example of the dialectical tension and integration of the hermeneutics of trust and the hermeneutics of suspicion. Both play a vital role in the reading process. One unmasks the idols produced by the false consciousness of the ego, the other opens oneself to hearing the voice of the Sacred, which comes into the text from beyond the realms of language.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel13020163