An Interpretive Model of Privileged Contempt: Understanding Disdain Toward Those of Lower Status, from Ancient Israel to the New American Politics

Abstract

Biblical studies has made strides in drawing meaningful connections between systemic poverty in the biblical worlds and today. However, perhaps just as important as connecting the tools and effects of these systems is understanding a human trait that makes their implementation possible: our propensity to act cruelly toward those of lower status. This essay draws upon psychological research on privileged contempt to offer an interpretive and heuristic model that responds to Job’s lament, “those at ease have contempt for misfortune.” The model of privileged contempt is first deployed as an exegetical tool through which to consider the potential psychological underpinnings of biblical texts that admonish abuses of privilege. Its lens is then shifted to offer a biblical critique of the anti-poor and anti-marginalized attitudes found in the new politics of Trumpian Republicanism.|Keywords: Bible, politics, psychology, privilege, liberation, exegesis, hermeneutics