Despite numerous helpful efforts to ascertain Habakkuk’s historical context, few scholars ask how Habakkuk addresses itself to audiences across varying contexts. Employing Jeffrey Alexander’s concept of cultural trauma, this essay argues that Habakkuk’s portrait of victims and perpetrators facilitates a didactic representation of ancient Israel’s collective trauma beyond its original settings. Examining Habakkuk’s trans-historical nature, this study demonstrates that the book’s portrayal of the prophet and the Babylonians communicates cultural trauma in two ways: through the personalization of trauma and through the universalization of evil. The prophet’s direct speeches to YHWH personalize trauma by deepening the identification to victims of trauma from earlier generations, while representing the prophet as an archetype of victims. Simultaneously, Habakkuk’s moral and religious critiques of past perpetrators of trauma correspond to the cultural phenomenon of universalizing evil, which raises readers’ moral awareness and increases resistance to re-traumatization.

中文翻译：

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从文化创伤的角度阅读哈巴谷书

尽管为查明哈巴谷书的历史背景做出了许多有益的努力，但很少有学者询问哈巴谷书如何在不同背景下向观众介绍自己。本文采用杰弗里亚历山大的文化创伤概念，认为哈巴谷对受害者和肇事者的描绘有助于对古代以色列超越其原始环境的集体创伤进行说教。研究哈巴谷书的跨历史性质，表明该书对先知和巴比伦人的描绘以两种方式传达了文化创伤：通过创伤的个性化和通过邪恶的普遍化。先知对耶和华的直接讲话通过加深对前几代创伤受害者的认同，将创伤个性化，同时将先知视为受害者的原型。同时地，