Twelve Prophetic Emphases

There is generally no common material that binds together the works of the individual prophets that comprise the Twelve, but through Sweeney's commentary they stand together as a single, clearly defined book among the other prophetic books of the Bible. The Book of the Twelve Prophets is a multifaceted literary composition that functions simultaneously in all Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible as a single prophetic book and as a collection of twelve individual prophetic books. Each of the twelve individual books - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi - begins with its own narrative introduction that identifies the prophet and provides details concerning the historical setting and literary characteristics. In this manner each book is clearly distinguished from the others within the overall framework of the Twelve. By employing a combination of literary methodologies, such as reader response criticism, canonical criticism, and structural form criticism, Sweeney establishes the literary structure of the Book of the Twelve as a whole, and of each book with their respective ideological or theological perspectives. An introductory chapter orients readers to questions posed by reading the Book of the Twelve as a coherent piece of literature and to a literary overview of the Twelve. Sweeney then treats each of the twelve individual prophetic books in the order of the Masoretic canon, providing a discussion of each one's structure, theme, and outlook. This is followed by a detailed literary discussion of the textual units that comprise the book.

Protestant reformers found the prophet and biblical prophecy to be exceptionally effective for framing their reforming work under the authority of Scripture-for the true prophet speaks the Word of God alone and calls the people, their worship, and their beliefs and practices back to the Word of God. uses the prophet and biblical prophecy as a powerful lens through which to view many aspects of the reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. G. Sujin Pak argues that these prophetic concepts served the substantial purposes of articulating a theology of the priesthood of all believers, a biblical model of the pastoral office, a biblical vision of the reform of worship, and biblical processes for discerning right interpretation of Scripture. Pak demonstrates the ways in which understandings of the prophet and biblical prophecy contributed to the formation of distinct confessional identities. She goes on to demonstrate the waning of explicit prophetic terminology, particularly among the next generation of Protestant leadership. Eventually, she shows, the Protestant reformers concluded that the figure of the prophet carried with it as many problems as it did benefits, though they continued to give much time and attention to the exegesis of biblical prophetic writings.

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.

The Prophets Agree is the first study of its kind that offers a comprehensive analysis of the role Minor Prophets in the book of Acts, and how it has made a singular redemptive-historical contribution to that NT book.

The promise and peril in reading the Minor Prophets. Reading the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets confronts the unique challenges presented by this daunting section of the Old Testament. On Reading the Twelve Minor Prophets (David G. Firth and Brittany N. Melton) Hosea: Marriage, Violence, and Yahweh's Lament (Isabelle M. Hamley) Reading Joel within and without the Book of the Twelve (Tchavdar S. Hadjiev) The Use and Abuse of Technology: Habakkuk's Ancient Critique in a Modern World (Heath A. Thomas) Luther's Lectures on Habakkuk as an Example of Participatory Exegesis (Thomas Renz) Perspectives on Theodicy in Habakkuk and Malachi vis-à-vis Job (S. D. Snyman) The New Covenant in the Book of the Twelve (Anthony R. Petterson) Filled, Empowered, Dwelling, Trembling, and Fleeing: Mapping God's Spirit and Presence in the Book of the Twelve (Beth M. Stovell) Furry, Feathery, and Fishy Friends—and Insects—in the Book of the Twelve (Julie Woods) Twelve Books, One Theology? (John Goldingay) Authors from a variety of perspectives consider questions about hermeneutics and composition, reception history, theodicy, metaphors and characterization, and theology. These essays provide insights from the history of interpretation and the latest in scholarship.

This volume explores the themes of theodicy and hope in both individual portions of the Twelve (books and sub-sections) and in the Book of the Twelve as a whole, as the contributors use a diversity of approaches to the text(s) with a particular interest in synchronic perspectives. While these essays regularly engage the mostly redactional scholarship surrounding the Book of Twelve, there is also an examination of various forms of literary analysis of final text forms, and engagement in descriptions of the thematic and theological perspectives of the individual books and of the collection as a whole. The synchronic work in these essays is thus in regular conversation with diachronic research, and as a general rule they take various conclusions of redactional research as a point of departure. The specific themes, theodicy and hope, are key ideas that have provided the opportunity for contributors to explore individual books or sub-sections within the Twelve, and the overarching development (in both historical and literary terms) and deployment of these themes in the collection.