ABSTRACT
In Ruskin Diaspora's time and place cultural dissemination was viewed primarily in terms of the history of western civilisation and the grand narratives of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The radically conflicted function of the prophet empowered him to lead his people back to the paths of righteousness while disempowering him as a crazy eccentric, ousted into the wilderness. The prophetic tradition in Jewish history arose from the Assyrian destruction of the Kingdom of Israel leading to the process of fragmentation which ultimately found expression in the word diaspora, after the Bible was translated into Greek. The Victorian prophetic mission offered to lead the people away from the worship of Mammon and out of bondage to their contemporary civilisation into the Promised Land. The prophet Zechariah first designated the location for God's chosen people as 'The Holy Land', and Canaan became the site of origin for Christianity in the New Testament as the place of Christ's birth and death.
