DANSK TEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 3/2000 - Anis

180 Marianne Schleicher
sammenligning understreges dels de mandlige tilhøreres eksistens,
dels det teologiske budskab bag kvindebillederne. Tilhørerne er
fænomener i verden uden en reel evne til at reflektere over deres situation.
Tilhørernes eneste chance ligger i at blive elsket og beskyttet af
Jahve på samme vis, som en kvindes eksistens afhænger af en faders
eller ægtemands kærlighed. Ved hjælp af sammenligningen skildrer
Jesajabogen, hvorledes Israels religiøse og dermed mandlige repræsentanter
er udleveret, og hvorledes deres overlevelse afhænger af en
accept af afhængighedsforholdet til Jahve. De mandlige tilhørere
skylder Jahve deres eksistens, og de må tage »andetheden« på sig, da
de under alle omstændigheder vil være et fænomen i Jahves hænder.
SUMMARY
In this article, I approach the problem of understanding the presence
of daughters, harlots, and mothers in the Book of Isaiah by exploring
the imagery primarily applied to Zion. The analysis of daughters, harlots,
and mothers has as its vantage point the observation that these
characters never gain access to language, self-justification or selfrepresentation
though the identity of these silent women seems to be
the major concern of Yahveh. The silence of the characters can be
described through the concept of »otherness« as couched by Simone
de Beauvoir. By focusing on the »otherness« of the female characters;
on the valuation and the activity in relation to their female gender;
and on the informative and performative function of the imagery
I reach the following conclusion: Due to the cultural context the typically
male addressee of the Book of Isaiah was accustomed to understand
woman as a phenomenon whose identity was described by her
male protectors. Therefore, when every male addressee in the Book
of Isaiah is described like a woman, man’s existence is specified.
Man is a phenomenon in this world without a real ability to grasp his
situation or to define his identity. It is the will of Yahveh that man
realizes that his survival depends on his relationship to Yahveh just
like a woman depends on her protectors. The male addressee must
take the »otherness« upon himself since every man in all aspects of
life will be a phenomenon in the hands of Yahveh.
Keywords: Isaiah – Zion – female imagery – Simone de Beauvoir –
Otherness.