Forming Prophetic Literature

These essays are written in honour of John D.W. Watts, formerly Professor of Old Testament at Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky and Old Testament editor of the Word Biblical Commentary, well known for his contributions, especially to scholarship on the prophetic books. Accordingly, the essays here address the literary, redactional and canonical questions posed by the Hebrew Bible's prophetic literature. The prophetic books have defied easy classification according to genre or facile explanation of their historical development. With a special focus on the books of Isaiah and of the Twelve Prophets, the nature and formation of prophecy as literature is probed from a variety of methodological standpoints, including textual criticism, synchronic literary analysis, tradition history and redaction criticism.

This unique introduction to the Prophetic books provides a comprehensive examination of one of the most important, and misunderstood genres of the Hebrew Bible. It examines the nature and purpose of prophetic literature, as well as providing an in-depth account of the origins and development of each individual book. The book begins by placing the prophets in their historical context and introducing the idea of a prophetic book. A series of chronological chapters focus on each prophetic book examining its literary structure, authorship, and the editorial processes that produced each book. Readers are also introduced to the most recent scholarly research into the formation of prophetic books and the ongoing task of the scribes in updating previous works to meet new situations. The Prophetic Literature offers rich and rewarding insights into a series of prophetic works whose profound influences and inspirational wisdom have endured to the present day.

In this volume, Marvin A. Sweeney builds upon his former work Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature (FAT 45, 2005). He introduces further studies that take up several key issues, including the reading of prophetic books in their final literary form and the significance of textual versions for this reading. He also observes the intertextual relationships between the prophets and other works of biblical and post-biblical literature, and the reception of the prophetic books. Following an introduction that lays out methodological perspective, it includes the title essay for the volume, Reading Prophetic Books, as well as selections of papers devoted to Isaiah, Jeremiah in both its Masoretic and Septuagint forms, Ezekiel, individual books from the Twelve Prophets, and the reading of biblical texts in Qumran, Rabbinic, and Targumic literature.

This book contains a collection of nineteen essays by Marvin A. Sweeney, some previously unpublished, that focus on the role of literary form and intertextuality in the study of prophetic and apocalyptic literature. The volume includes five major parts: Isaiah; Jeremiah; Ezekiel; The Book of the Twelve Prophets; and Apocalyptic Literature. Selected topics include the Book of Isaiah as Prophetic Torah; the role of Isaiah 65-66 as conclusion of the Book of Isaiah; the interpretation of the Masoretic and Septuagint forms of the book of Jeremiah; Jeremiah 2-6 and 30-31 in relation to Josiah's reform; Ezekiel's role as Zadokite priest and visionary prophet; the problems of theodicy and holiness in Ezekiel 8-11 and 33-39; the interpretation of the Masoretic and Septuagint sequences of the Book of the Twelve; and others.

Prophetic Literature: From Oracles to Books presents an in-depth introduction to the origins and development of the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, including an examination of the literary structure, authorship, and editorial processes that produced each book. The only introductory textbook that explores both how the prophetic books were composed and edited Accessible and engaging, the book contains numerous student features to encourage learning, including introductions, summaries, tables and boxes, etc Based on international scholarship on the individual prophetic books, including German scholarship that is otherwise inaccessible to most English readers

Edgar W. Conrad focuses on the prophetic books as composite collections and shows that (1) prophets are characters in the text, depicted as figures of the past whose words are significant for a later time; (2) reading and writing play a central role in the depiction of prophets; (3) prophetic books are presented as written words available to later generations through reading; (4) that read as a whole, the latter prophets depict the end of prophecy and the emergence of messengers of the Lord. Reading the Latter Prophets is an important contribution to the problems of both the formation and function of the prophetic literature.

Translated from the Hebrew.

Past decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the Book of the Twelve. James Nogalski and Paul House had been at the forefront of research in this regard in presenting approaches that account for the book as a whole. Meanwhile others like Ehud Ben Zvi have some reservations. This collection of essays discusses the hermeneutical, exegetical and theological significance of these opposing perspectives and explores venues for future research. The impact on reading and reflecting on individual books is of particular interest to the various essays. Die Entstehung des Dodekapropheton wird seit einigen Jahren engagiert diskutiert. Alternativen stehen sich teilweise unversöhnlich gegenüber. Einerseits werden die einzelnen Prophetenbücher klar voneinander abgegrenzt, andererseits liegen verbindende Elemente vor. Auch die Auslegungsgeschichte geht immer wieder von einem Buch aus. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes lenken die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Frage, welchen Unterschied die verschiedenen Entstehungsszenarien für die Auslegung der einzelnen Bücher und des gesamten Korpus haben. Diese Fragestellung, die bisher wenig Beachtung fand, wird aus hermeneutischer, exegetischer und theologischer Perspektive diskutiert.