The Prophets

Abstract

The Prophets Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, and Thomas Hieke 857. [Prophets as Performers] Jeanette Mathews, Prophets as Performers: Biblical Performance Criticism and Israel's Prophets (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2020). Pp. viii + 247. $31. ISBN 978-1-5326-8552-1. The prophetic performances described in this book include acts of truth-telling, direct challenge, behind-the-scenes civil disobedience, miraculous acts of compassion, disturbance of the peace, silent protest, creative and provocative artistic installments, confrontational street theater, and mystic visions. Three case studies are presented: Elijah, Ezekiel, and Jonah. M. has written a number of short scripts for each of them, with stage directions, prop suggestions, scenes with dialog and a narrator who provides biblical background for the audience. Elijah appears out of nowhere as a man called by Yhwh. He encounters a poor widow and her son who have been on the point of starving to death and performs a miracle that keeps them alive. It is a sign that God cares about the poor in the land, while Israel's monarchy clearly does not. Then we hear about Elijah's conflict with Jezebel on Mt. Carmel and his confrontation with Ahab in the matter of Naboth's vineyard. In the second case study, Ezekiel has suffered through the trauma of the Babylonian invasion, the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple. In the script M. has written for Ezekiel, he struggles to describe the visions of God he has seen while in exile. In the third case study, the actor who plays Jonah tries to explain to the sailors in the storm-tossed ship why God has sent this storm—it is because Jonah is trying to flee from the task God has given him. In the next scene Jonah prays from the belly of the fish that God has sent to swallow him up and take him all the way to Nineveh. After Jonah preaches the shortest sermon on record, [End Page 306] the audience hears from the king of that wicked city how they all repented and turned to the Lord. In the final scene, there is a dialog in which Jonah tells God how angry he is for God's showing mercy to his enemies. For more on this approach to Scripture, see Dwight Conquergood, "Performance Studies: Interventions and Radical Research," The Drama Review 46 (2002) 145-56, and Peter Perry, "Biblical Performance Criticism: Survey and Prospects," Religions 10 (2, 2019) 117-32.—F.W.G. 858. [Isaiah] James Charlesworth (ed.), The Unperceived Continuity of Isaiah (Jewish and Christian Texts 28; New York: Bloomsbury, 2019). Pp. xiv + 236. $100. ISBN 978-0-5676-8424-0. From August 23 to 26, 2015, scholars from China, Australia, the United States, Poland, and Israel met in Jerusalem to discuss the composition of Isaiah. They focused on the following questions: "Does the Book of Isaiah represent the thoughts of the eighth century b.c.e. or does it reflect additions and insertions that take us down to the third century b.c.e., and has Isaiah been exceptionally influential on the Dead Sea Scrolls, John the Baptizer, Jesus, Paul, the Evangelists, on through Jewish and Christian liturgies until today?" Is there an unperceived continuity of Isaiah or is Isaiah a seamless book that reflects the career of the eighth-century prophet? Any additions and expansions or divisions would not be apparent in the Isaiah Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves, since the evolution of the text would have been completed before 150 b.c.e. For abstracts of the individual essays see ##575, 577, 578, 584, 586, 594, 597, 735, 740. [Adapted from published abstract—F.W.G.] 859. [Isaiah; Advent; Jewish Neighbors] Tyler D. Mayfield (with a foreword by Walter Brueggemann), Unto Us a Child Is Born: Isaiah, Advent, and Our Jewish Neighbors (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). Pp. xvi + 192. Paper $19. ISBN 978-0-8026-7398-9. In the section entitled "How to Read This Book" of his introduction, M. provides (pp. 10-11) this statement about the book's content: "Part One of this book introduces a bifocal way of reading the Book of Isaiah...