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This is the story of the transformation of the ways in which the increasingly Christianized elites of the late antique Mediterranean experienced and conceptualized linguistic differences. The metaphor of Babel stands for the magnificent edifice of classical culture that was about to reach the sky, but remained self-sufficient and self-contained in its virtual monolingualism – the paradigm within which even Latin was occasionally considered just a dialect of Greek. The gradual erosion of this vision is the slow fall of Babel that took place in the hearts and minds of a good number of early Christian writers and intellectuals who represented various languages and literary traditions. This step-by-step process included the discovery and internalization of the existence of multiple other languages in the world, as well as subsequent attempts to incorporate their speakers meaningfully into the holistic and distinctly Christian picture of the universe.
Chapter 5 explores the violence of arrogant speech. If scheming was considered a hidden form of verbal violence, gloating and taunting are its public forms. I focus first on ways that enemies join themselves to – and thus become complicit in – acts of violence through gloating. Edom is an example. Edom joined in the Babylonian violence against Judah and was held liable. When describing violent acts, biblical writers also tend to fixate on the taunts that accompany them. They are the verbal dimension of public acts of violence. In taunting, the enemy brings another into a state of reproach and seeks recognition for that act of verbal violence. In turn, that verbal expression of violence plays an important role in characterizing the moral affront of the boastfully violent against the protective prerogatives of Yhwh, and against his rightful claims to power.
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