The Chronicler As Theologian

The fifteen articles in this volume, arising from work in the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, engage with the author's thought and message through analysis of certain critical texts or by identifying and tracing larger themes through the work. The collection follows The Chronicler as Historian and The Chronicler as Author. Like these previous volumes, this book also endeavours to show the diverse approaches employed in Chronicles scholarship. Contributors: Robert H. Smith, Allen W. Mueller, Gary N. Knoppers, Gerrie F. Snyman, Ehud Ben Zvi, Philip Abadie, Mark A. Throntveit, Leslie C. Allen, Christopher T. Begg, Roddy L. Braun, John C. Endres, Isaac Kalimi, Brian E. Kelly, William M. Schniedewind and John W. Wright.

The fifteen articles in this volume, arising from work in the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, engage with the author's thought and message through analysis of certain critical texts or by identifying and tracing larger themes through the work. The collection follows The Chronicler as Historian and The Chronicler as Author. Like these previous volumes, this book also endeavours to show the diverse approaches employed in Chronicles scholarship. Contributors: Robert H. Smith, Allen W. Mueller, Gary N. Knoppers, Gerrie F. Snyman, Ehud Ben Zvi, Philip Abadie, Mark A. Throntveit, Leslie C. Allen, Christopher T. Begg, Roddy L. Braun, John C. Endres, Isaac Kalimi, Brian E. Kelly, William M. Schniedewind and John W. Wright.

Peter Leithart, a respected theologian known for his ability to communicate to a broad audience, offers a theological reading of 1 and 2 Chronicles. Leithart uncovers the narrative logic of Chronicles, highlights the role of music and government in Israel and in the church, and shows how Judah's history moves from the world of the monarchy to the postexilic world in which Israel is scattered among Gentiles. This commentary is designed to serve the church, providing a rich resource for preachers, teachers, students, and study groups.

History, Literature and Theology in the Book of Chronicles presents a new way of approaching this key biblical text, arguing that the Book employs both multiple viewpoints and the knowledge of the past held by its intended readership to reshape social memory and reinforce the authority of God. The Book of Chronicles communicates to its intended readership a theological worldview built around multiple, partial perspectives which inform and balance each other. This is a worldview which emphasizes the limitations of all human knowledge, even of theologically "proper" knowledge. When Chronicles presents the past as explainable it also affirms that those who inhabited it could not predict the future. And, despite expanding an "explainable" past, the Book deliberately frames some of YHWH's actions - crucial events in Israel's social memory - as unexplainable in human terms. The Book serves to rationalise divinely ordained, prescriptive behaviour through its emphasis on the impossibility of adequate human understanding of a past, present and future governed by YHWH.

Bestselling author and theologian Scott Hahn offers a commentary on 1 and 2 Chronicles as a liturgical and theological interpretation of Israel's history.

The Chronicler wrote as a pastoral theologian. The congregation he addressed was an Israel separated from its former days of blessing by a season of judgment. The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles bring a divine word of healing and reaffirm the hope of restoration to a nation that needed to regain its footing in God's promises and to reshape its life before God. The Chronicler expounds the Bible as he knows it, skillfully weaving his commentary into the linear text of Israel's history. His theme is straightforward--the promises of God revealed in the Davidic covenant are as trustworthy and as effective as the God who first uttered them. In two volumes Martin Selman provides an excellent interpretation of these sorely neglected yet profound books of the Old Testament. The first volume on 1 Chronicles provides a full introduction that surveys the Chronicler's method, summarizes major theological themes and serves as a valuable entrée into the heart of the work we now know as 1 and 2 Chronicles. The original, unrevised text of this volume has been completely retypeset and printed in a larger, more attractive format with the new cover design for the series.

In a doctoral dissertation completed in 1995 (no institution noted), Vaughn takes the treatment of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29-32 as an opportunity to test the relationship between extra-biblical historical data and an interpretation of Chronicles. He combines archaeological and epigraphic evidence with a focused reading of the verses to argue that traditions or remembrances that were historically accurate were used to construct the ideological message for the post-exile community.