The Violent Gift: Trauma’s Subversion of the Deuteronomistic History’s Narrative

The Violent Gift argues for an exilic source of the Deuteronomistic History which sought to provide an explanation for the trauma that the Judean community suffered in Babylon. As Janzen follows this explanation through the history, he also employs categories and concepts of trauma theory. He argues that we can trace a single, coherent narrative throughout the Deuteronomistic History that is an attempt to explain to its original readers why the exile occurred. The narrative offers two reasons for the exile that form the two main themes of Deuteronomy’s narrative: the people failed in their covenantal loyalty to God; and their leadership also failed to enforce this loyalty. These themes can be traced consistently through all of the component books of the History.