Rewriting the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon Verse: Becoming the Chosen People

The Bible played a crucial
role in shaping Anglo-Saxon national and cultural identity. However,
access to Biblical texts was necessarily limited to very few individuals
in Medieval England. In this book, Samantha Zacher explores how the
very earliest English Biblical poetry creatively adapted, commented on
and spread Biblical narratives and traditions to the wider population.
Systematically surveying the manuscripts of surviving poems, the book
shows how these vernacular poets commemorated the Hebrews as God's
'chosen people' and claimed the inheritance of that status for
Anglo-Saxon England. Drawing on contemporary translation theory, the
book undertakes close readings of the poems Exodus, Daniel and Judith
in order to examine their methods of adaptation for their particular
theologico-political circumstances and the way they portray and
problematize Judaeo-Christian religious identities.