Title: A chorus of prophetic voices : introducing the prophetic literature of ancient Israel /
Authors: McEntire, Mark Harold, 1960-
Year: 2015
Subjects: Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Bible.
Abstract: While there are many textbooks about the prophetic literature, most have taken either a historical or literary approach to studying the prophets. A Chorus of Prophetic Voices, by contrast, draws on both historical and literary approaches by paying careful attention to the prophets as narrative characters. It considers each unique prophetic voice in the canon, in its fully developed literary form, while also listening to what these voices say together about a particular experience in Israel's story. It presents these four scrolls -- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve -- as works produced in the aftermath of destruction, works that employ prophetic characters, and as the words uttered during the crises. The prophetic literature became for Israel, living in a context of dispersion and imperial domination, a portable and adaptable resource at once both challenging and comforting. This book provides the fullest picture available for introducing students to the prophetic literature by valuing the role of the original prophetic characters, the finished state of the books that bear their names, the separate historical crises in the life of Israel they address, and the "chorus of prophetic voices" one hears when reading them as part of a coherent literary corpus.
Contents: Defining prophetic literature -- The scroll of Isaiah: introduction and response to the Assyrian crisis -- The scroll of the Twelve: introduction and response to the Assyrian crisis -- The scroll of Isaiah continued: response to the Babylonian crisis -- The scroll of Jeremiah: introduction and response to the Babylonian crisis -- The scroll of Ezekiel: introduction and response to the Babylonian crisis -- The scroll of the Twelve continued: response to the Babylonian crisis -- The scroll of Isaiah continued again: response to the restoration crisis -- The scroll of Jeremiah continued: response to the restoration crisis -- The scroll of Ezekiel continued: response to the restoration crisis -- The scroll of the Twelve continued again: response to the restoration crisis -- Hearing the scrolls together.