Social Identity Approach: Identity-Constructing Elements In The Psalms Pesher

This chapter introduces insights from the social identity approach in order to conceptualize and hypothesize about group phenomena in general. It, then offers the observations on the Psalms Pesher (4QpPsa) as some examples of potential elements that construct identity. The chapter detects what groups and identities are about and what happens when group members express and construct their identity. It offers one illustration of these perspectives: the Psalms Pesher is interpreted in the light of its potential for promoting the salience of the social identity and on constructing positive identity. The Psalms Pesher is a fairly late text within the Qumran corpus, and although one text cannot reveal directly what happens in groups and in their identity construction, this chapter shows what are the possible factors in it that strengthen the social identity. Keywords: Psalms Pesher; Qumran corpus; social identity approach