Prophetic Writings Research Articles

Properties of Biblical Historiography and Historical Thought

Biblical historiography arose at the eve of the monarchial period and ceased with the demise of the Jewish statehood. Two major trends are extant: a quasi-secular one and a kerygmatic. Various attempts at periodization appear in the historical books. Periodization also features in the prophetic writings. This historical consciousness is not present in etiologies, but at times this lack was rectified. Anachronism is present, but historical sense tried to curb it, introducing distinctions between past and present. An opposed category of historical thought is catachronism i.e., an attempt at describing the past as different from the present. This is done mainly by borrowing features from an alien milieu, e.g. the נשיא. Sometimes catachronism resorts to sheer inventions, such as the שוטר. When sources were available, biblical authors indiscriminately accepted them: legends along historical accounts. At times authors recast sources in order to express with them their own ideas.

Charles V as Last World Emperor and Jewish Hero

Charles V, king of Spain and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled over vast regions of central and western Europe and the Americas for much of the first half of the sixteenth century. This concentration of power, together with the emperor’s claim to universal monarchy, polarized his contemporaries’ views of him. Pro- and anti-imperial rhetoric and historiography abound, casting Charles V as hero or villain, protagonist or antagonist, depending on the author’s religious, dynastic, or national affiliations, political thinking, and pragmatic interests. While scholars have discussed competing Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim perspectives toward this emperor, Jewish views have not previously been analyzed. This article illuminates how sixteenth-century Jews evaluated Charles V as their own hero. It explores how Jewish witnesses of Charles’s reign perceived the Catholic emperor and his politics of crusade and church reform, contextualizing their reactions within Jewish messianic thought, on the one hand, and political realism, on the other. The article demonstrates that selected contemporaneous sources in Hebrew depict Charles V as a shared hero for European Jews and Christians. Jewish historiographical and prophetic writings from that time drew on the Christian apocalyptic notion of the “Last World Emperor,” adopting widespread Christian tendencies to identify Charles V as the glorious universal monarch who would reign at the culmination of human history as a quasi-messianic figure. Applying Amos Funkenstein’s and David Biale’s approach of counterhistory to these Jewish sources reveals the entangled history of a heroic image that was common to early modern Jews and Christians, albeit ideologically contested.

PROPHETIC CRITICISM OF TEMPLE RITUALS: A REFLECTION ON MALACHI’S IDEA ABOUT YAHWEH AND ETHICS FOR FAITH COMMUNITIES

This article presents some perspectives about Yahweh and ethics from Malachi’s criticism of the rituals of the temple. Malachi’s theological and ethical uniqueness is observed somehow most clearly in the preponderance of negative emphasis the prophetic book places on temple rituals and the way the language of the cult dominates its analysis of malpractices. Prophetic criticism of temple rituals, as this article demonstrates, lies at the heart of the controversy between the prophets and the priest; namely the role of cult and ethics in the religion of Ancient Israel. While scholars have yet to explain fully the phenomenon of criticism of the cult in prophetic writings, this article brings the prophets and the priests closer by proposing that the one way to explain the discrepancy is to advocate that these prophets could not see the importance of rituals for the improvement of ethical life. If the cult is understood to be the vertical dimension of the Law and ethics its horizontal dimension, one would notice that these dimensions go together, both are expressions of God’s will. When the vertical dimension (worship, offering, sacrifice) is experiencing some degree of dysfunction, the horizontal dimension (social justice, etc.) will be affected. Malachi’s emphasis on the temple obviously helps one to see that there was nothing wrong with the cult unless it was not used appropriately and effectively to enhance the ethical life of the people as an essential component of the larger framework of the covenant relationship that Yahweh had with them as his people. The article thus emphasizes some underlying theological reflection on the uniqueness of Malachi’s oracles about Yahweh and ethics for faith communities.

The Rabbis and the Prophets: The Case of Amos

The Prophets of Scripture are subverted by the Rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash. In the Rabbinic canon the writings of the Prophets are represented as a mass of prooftexts, made up of one clause or sentence at a time. Scripture’s prophetic writings cited in clauses and phrases in the Rabbinic canon thus lose their integrity and cease to speak in fully coherent paragraphs and chapters. So the Rabbis of late antiquity took over writings from what they recognized as remote and ancient times and of divine origin, and they re-presented selections of those writings in accord with their own project’s requirements, glossing clauses of the prophetic Scriptures but not whole, propositional discourses. This article illustrates how they did so, portraying the formal patterns of the Rabbis’ subversive glosses.

Czas kresu czasów w literaturze apokaliptycznej

Czas kresu czasów w literaturze apokaliptycznej

Power of the Spoken Word

Power of the Spoken Word Gus Palmer (bio) According to Walter Ong, in the overwhelming number of spoken languages in the world, possibly tens of thousands, only around 106 have ever been committed to writing to a degree sufficient to have produced literature, and most have never been written at all.1 Of the some three thousand languages spoken that exist today in the world, as few as seventy-eight have a literature. There is yet no way to calculate how many languages have disappeared before writing occurred among those speakers. There are hundreds of languages spoken today that have no writing. Languages are essentially oral in nature worldwide and may perhaps remain that way always. Many language scholars believe the Greek alphabet was invented after the Phoenician alphabetic system around the eighth century bce.2 Before it was written, the Bible was itself an oral recitation.3 William Schniedewind, the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies at ucla, explores when and why the ancient Israelite accounts—once conveyed only orally—came to be written down and attain the status of scripture. There was a cultural shift that occurred in ancient Palestine that democratized the written word and allowed it to gain religious authority in the book we now call “the Bible.” The textualization of ancient Israelite society marked one of the great turning points in human history, namely, the movement from an oral culture toward a written culture.4 Even today, facets of the oral nature of the Bible, or Torah, occur in the sacred readings in religious services. This is in keeping with the reading being vocalized from the reading podium, or bima, to the congregation, who respond at appropriate times. The haftarah (prophetic writings) is read aloud by both bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah [End Page 512] young men and women as a public demonstration of having reached adulthood and joining the adult Jewish community. The vocalized renderings allow the congregation to hear the prophetic reading aloud. It is an engagement of vocalized scriptural readings and an important benchmark in the life of observant Jewish young men and women that is celebrated at two strategic levels: the sacred reading of the selected text aloud and the responsive nature of the congregation. The scriptural reading aloud is a mutual meeting between the reader and his or her listeners. It is a combination of orality and literacy in a dynamic and meaningful way based on historical practice to modern times. Another religious observance in which Jews invoke meaning is the retelling of the exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt during Passover, when observant Jews reconnect themselves to their humanity, to God, and to the world at large. This occurs during the Passover seder meal when reading the story of the Exodus from the haggadah. The haggadah, meaning “order,” is the text participants at the seder employ to recount the events of the Exodus. The haggadah includes the Exodus story itself, ritual prayers, songs, and the blessings that accompany consumption of the leavened bread, or matzah. The story of the Exodus, in order to manifest itself securely in the minds of Jews, brings together the telling of the events surrounding Jewish history leading up to and after the Exodus. The ancient story attempts to transcend time and distance. The participatory nature within the seder and ritual readings assures the continuation of the people for all time. That is the main theme of the Passover observance. There are many similar religious observances by people the world over. The Passover seder is just one example of how the merging of the spoken word and texts brings about an interplay of the two in a meaningful way. There has always been a combination of speech and written texts not only in religious observances and rituals but also in other communicative situations and settings. It is, however, possible that when writing is applied to otherwise unwritten narratives, something is more or less lost of the original text.5 One obvious aspect is the absence of the participatory nature between speakers and the audience. Since oral production requires listeners, this naturally facilitates the active engagement between two important entities without which no communication...

Propuesta de modelo pedagógico de los gestos y acciones simbólicas de los profetas

<p align="justify">El artículo desarrolla los elementos que conforman un modelo pedagógico, identificados en los escritos proféticos del siglo VIII a. C., es decir, en los libros de Amós, Oseas, Miqueas e Isaías, considerados la época clásica del profetismo bíblico. Estos elementos incluyen la concepción de hombre, de sociedad, de conocimiento, y también la gestión de los procesos de enseñanzaaprendizaje. En primer lugar, se presenta una aproximación a las propuestas pedagógicas para la enseñanza bíblica. Luego se indican los elementos constitutivos comunes a las diferentes propuestas de modelos pedagógicos. Posteriormente, se desarrollan dichos elementos en los libros proféticos mencionados, referenciando su contexto histórico, sociocultural y religioso y los perfiles humano y vocacional de cada uno de los profetas en mención.</p>

Power of the Spoken Word

According to Walter Ong, in the overwhelming number of spoken languages in the world, possibly tens of thousands, only around 106 have ever been committed to writing to a degree suffi cient to have produced literature, and most have never been written at all.1 Of the some three thousand languages spoken that exist today in the world, as few as seventyeight have a literature. Th ere is yet no way to calculate how many languages have disappeared before writing occurred among those speakers. Th ere are hundreds of languages spoken today that have no writing. Languages are essentially oral in nature worldwide and may perhaps remain that way always. Many language scholars believe the Greek alphabet was invented after the Phoenician alphabetic system around the eighth century bce.2 Before it was written, the Bible was itself an oral recitation.3 William Schniedewind, the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies at ucla, explores when and why the ancient Israelite accounts— once conveyed only orally— came to be written down and attain the status of scripture. Th ere was a cultural shift that occurred in ancient Palestine that democratized the written word and allowed it to gain religious authority in the book we now call “the Bible.” Th e textualization of ancient Israelite society marked one of the great turning points in human history, namely, the movement from an oral culture toward a written culture.4 Even today, facets of the oral nature of the Bible, or Torah, occur in the sacred readings in religious services. Th is is in keeping with the reading being vocalized from the reading podium, or bima, to the congregation, who respond at appropriate times. Th e haft arah (prophetic writings) is read aloud by both bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah

Nietzsche's enlightenment: the free-spirit trilogy of the middle period

While much attention has been lavished on Friedrich earlier and later works, those of his so-called middle period have been generally neglected, perhaps because of their aphoristic style or perhaps because they are perceived to be inconsistent with the rest of his thought. With Nietzsche's Paul Franco gives this crucial section of oeuvre its due, offering a thoughtful analysis of the three works that make up the philosopher's middle period: Human, All too Human; Daybreak; and, Gay Science. It is Nietzsche himself who suggests that these works are connected, saying that their common goal is to erect a new image and ideal of the free spirit. Franco argues that in their more favorable attitude toward reason, science, and the Enlightenment, these works mark a sharp departure from earlier, more romantic writings, and differ in important ways from his later, more prophetic writings, beginning with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Nietzsche these works reveal is radically different from the popular image of him and even from the Nietzsche depicted in much of the secondary literature; they reveal a rational Nietzsche, one who preaches moderation instead of passionate excess and Dionysian frenzy. Franco concludes with a wide-ranging examination of later works, tracking how his outlook changes from the middle period to the later and how the commitment to reason and intellectual honesty in his middle works continues to inform his final writings.

Revelation in the Present Tense: On Rethinking Theological Interpretation in the Light of the Prophetic Office of Jesus Christ

Abstract Revelation is often assumed to be what God does, and interpretation what persons do in response. The latter is a matter of making the former real or relevant in relation to a new situation. But what if revelation, understood as Christ's self-attestation, were present to and active in our interpretation of itself? This article deploys the munus propheticum Jesu Christi in conversation with John's Gospel so as to disrupt the usual construal of the objective/subjective relationship as regards revelation and interpretation. This is undertaken in order to advance an account of revelation in the present tense and thus of interpretation as being a human hearing of and correspondence to what Christ says and does. Such an emphasis strengthens the theological interpretation of Scripture by yielding to the written Word as the locus of Christ's prophetic presence and activity. Interpretation is thus a matter of becoming transparent to the humanizing presence and contemporaneity of the risen One who speaks himself by the power of the Spirit in the prophetic and apostolic writings.

The Epistle of Merlin on the Popes: A New Source on the Late Medieval Notion of the Angel Pope

“Two angels shall lead him,” predictsThe Prophecy of the True Emperor, offering signs by which the people will recognize a foreordained holy leader, sent to restore a divided, besieged, and weakened Christendom. Although this prophecy, which was translated from Greek into Latin in the second half of the thirteenth century, spoke only of an emperor, western Christians soon came to ignore or even change the word “emperor,” preferring to read the text as a prophecy concerning the papacy. The peculiar reception of that prophecy cannot be understood apart from a crucial conceptual development that occurred in Italy during the years surrounding the turn of the fourteenth century. Whereas many thirteenth-century hopes and fears of the future were expressed through the medium of prophetic writings, these texts mainly emphasized the influence of the emperor and other secular rulers on the future course of history, for better or for worse. However, the election of the hermit Peter of Murrone as Pope Celestine V in 1294 offered unprecedented hope — especially among groups of Spiritual Franciscans — that the papacy would become the vehicle of social, moral, and spiritual reform. So great the hope, so great the disillusionment, for Celestine stepped down a few months later. He was replaced and imprisoned by Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303), who shared none of his predecessor's sympathy for the Spirituals or their ideals. In the wake of this turmoil was born a prophetic narrative according to which the papacy first had to be usurped by one or more wicked popes before finally being restored by a particularly virtuous one. The latter would be no ordinary pretender to the throne of Peter, subject to the political machinations of cardinals and barons, for he would be elected by divine providence and crowned by an angel (Fig. 1). Thus originated the concept of the angel pope, thepastor angelicus, which was to remain a powerful image of dissent and reform in the following centuries.

The Epistle of Merlin on the Popes: A New Source on the Late Medieval Notion of the Angel Pope

“Two angels shall lead him,” predicts The Prophecy of the True Emperor, offering signs by which the people will recognize a foreordained holy leader, sent to restore a divided, besieged, and weakened Christendom. Although this prophecy, which was translated from Greek into Latin in the second half of the thirteenth century, spoke only of an emperor, western Christians soon came to ignore or even change the word “emperor,” preferring to read the text as a prophecy concerning the papacy. The peculiar reception of that prophecy cannot be understood apart from a crucial conceptual development that occurred in Italy during the years surrounding the turn of the fourteenth century. Whereas many thirteenth-century hopes and fears of the future were expressed through the medium of prophetic writings, these texts mainly emphasized the influence of the emperor and other secular rulers on the future course of history, for better or for worse. However, the election of the hermit Peter of Murrone as Pope Celestine V in 1294 offered unprecedented hope — especially among groups of Spiritual Franciscans — that the papacy would become the vehicle of social, moral, and spiritual reform. So great the hope, so great the disillusionment, for Celestine stepped down a few months later. He was replaced and imprisoned by Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303), who shared none of his predecessor's sympathy for the Spirituals or their ideals. In the wake of this turmoil was born a prophetic narrative according to which the papacy first had to be usurped by one or more wicked popes before finally being restored by a particularly virtuous one. The latter would be no ordinary pretender to the throne of Peter, subject to the political machinations of cardinals and barons, for he would be elected by divine providence and crowned by an angel (Fig. 1). Thus originated the concept of the angel pope, the pastor angelicus, which was to remain a powerful image of dissent and reform in the following centuries.

Zen/Ch'an—Catholic Dialogue Opens New Quadrennium

Zen/Ch'an—Catholic Dialogue Opens New Quadrennium Francis V. Tiso The first in a second quadrennium of dialogues between Catholics and Buddhists on the West Coast was held at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Ukiah, California, on the topic "Abiding in Christ, Taking Refuge in the Buddha." The January 24–27, 2007, meeting was cochaired by Venerable Rev. Heng Sure of the Institute for World Religions, Berkeley, California, and by the Rev. Canon Francis V. Tiso, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Fr. Tiso was substituting for the Catholic cochair, M. R. John C. Wester, auxiliary bishop of San Francisco and newly designated bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah. The dialogue began with a public session, attended by Ukiah religious leadership and by monastics, students, and faculty of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (established by the late Ven. Master Hsü an Hua [1918–1995]). A panel of participants discussed the unique features of this dialogue, linking it to the original intention of Venerable Master Hua to promote interreligious dialogue, based on his long friendship with Paul Cardinal Yü Bin. In particular, the panel explored those great themes of our respective traditions that have been at the heart of our previous four years of dialogue: "Walking the Bodhisattva Path/Walking the Christ Path" (2003); "Transformation of Hearts and Minds: Approaches to Precepts" (2004); "Practice: Means Toward Transformation" (2005); and "Meeting on the Path" (2006). These dialogues have built strong bonds of friendship and have contributed to a deeper understanding of one another's terminologies, histories, and practices. The participants are now moving into a new series of dialogues that will ask religious questions arising from the conditions of contemporary secular culture. In the course of two days of spiritual exercises and closed-session dialogues, the participants examined the basis of Christian and Buddhist commitments. The Buddhist refuge practice, entailing "taking refuge in, or relying upon, the Buddha, his Teachings, and the enlightening Community" (the Three Jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha), was paired with the Catholic Sacraments of Initiation (baptism, confirmation, and eucharist): both constitute the basis for entry [End Page 147] into the spiritual life, and both continue to impact the integration of faith with daily life. Fr. Robert Hale of New Camaldoli Monastery, Big Sur, California, developed the topic of "Abiding in Christ" in writings of St. John and St. Paul in the New Testament. The classic images of organic unity—the vine and the branches, the body and its members—are the primary metaphors on which the New Testament writers base their presentation of abiding in Christ. The New Testament is rich in the language of embodiment, incorporation, enfleshment, and participation, even as it borrows the images of the guest, the friend, the beloved, and the spouse from Hebrew prophetic writings. All the relational images refer to the Christian's participation in the life of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, conferred in the sacrament of baptism. Because the metaphors are relational, they direct our attention to a dynamic participation in the shared love of God, which constitutes our deepest center and true self. All ascetic practice is ordered to that end: the gracious, divinizing participation in the life of God. Practices of the spiritual life dispose the Christian to receive the gift of divine life more fully, consciously, and fruitfully. Even the "language" of spiritual life is provisional and, as it were, "a stuttering," meant more to nudge human consciousness more deeply into communion with the gift given as "mystery" than to define stages and states of mystical attainment. Venerable Rev. Heng Ch'ih of Gold Buddha Monastery, Vancouver, British Columbia, examined the nature of faith as the basis for taking refuge in Buddha, dharma, and sangha in the Ch'an Buddhist tradition. One makes the choice of taking refuge on the basis of a faith that has been matured through reflection. The phenomenology of the act of taking refuge entails going before a qualified spiritual preceptor, who performs the rite in accordance with the traditions of the lineage. The prior action of reflection can then unfold in meditative practice...

Sentiment und Sachlichkeit: Der Roman der Neuen Frau in der Weimarer Republik by Kerstin Barndt (review)

264 Reviews bite the bullet and use the latest edition. None the less, this is a work that challenges the prevailing orthodoxy on Tucholsky's dealings with France with important consequences for our understanding of the whole of the complex and frustrating career of a man whose prophetic writings were so disastrously ignored in his day. Royal Holloway, University of London Robert Vilain Sentiment und Sachlichkeit: Der Roman der Neuen Frau in der Weimarer Republik . By Kerstin Barndt. (Literatur?Kultur?Geschlecht, GroBe Reihe, 19) Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Bohlau. 2003. ix + 229 pp. ?34.50. ISBN 3412 -09701-2. In this excellent study, Kerstin Barndt examines the three best-known 'New Woman' novels of the Weimar Republic: stud. chem. Helene Willfiier (1928) by Vicki Baum, and Gilgi, eine von uns (1931) and Das kunstseideneMadchen (1932), both by Irmgard Keun. Barndt describes how Baum and Keun depict young women struggling with the emotional, professional, and familial conflicts to which their new role gives rise. Unlike much of the secondary literature to date, Barndt's study does not attempt to define the extent to which such texts present a genuinely 'emancipated' image of women. Rather, she argues that the dichotomy between 'feminist' and 'non-feminist' portrayals, as well as those between 'Neue Sachlichkeit' and 'melodrama', between 'high' and 'low' culture, between the politically afflrmativeand the politically oppo? sitional, and between producers and recipients of literary texts, do not hold when applied to 'middlebrow' novels by women writers of this period. After providing an illuminating history of the Weimar Republic's book industry, Barndt analyses how the three authors in question integrated elements from differentcontemporary dis? courses, such as that of popular science, to produce heterogeneous texts with a broad appeal for the women of their day. Their mixture of sentiment and sobriety should be seen, not as an aesthetic failing, but as a successful example of literary experimentation . Barndt's sensitive close readings are theoretically informed as well as firmlyanchored in their historical and literary context. Stud. chem.Helene Willfiier,she argues, is the most melodramatic of the texts, with a narrative shaped by the Lebensideologie of the period. In her analysis of Gilgi, Barndt diagnoses the heroine's crisis as a cri? sis of language; identifies the strategies Keun employs to convey the impression of 'authenticity'; and discusses Keun's refusal to take up a clear political position. She shows that Keun's second novel, Das kunstseidene Madchen, adopts a sophisticated and self-reflexive aesthetic approach, betraying the influence both of the picaresque novel and of the new medium of film. In this text, the New Woman heroine observes and comments on the construction of her own identity, Sentiment und Sachlichkeit addresses too many issues to offer a single, unified argument, an impression reinforced by the lack of a conclusion. This breadth may explain why, in her discussion of the reception of the primary texts at their period, Barndt does not quite deliver what she has promised in her introduction. Rather than demonstrating the mutual influence of author and reader in the production of images of the 'New Woman', she largely restricts herself to documenting the responses of particular readers. As Barndt argues is the case with the New Woman novels she discusses, however, the disparate range of her undogmatic, original, and well-researched study should undoubtedly be considered a strength. Birkbeck, University of London Anna Richards ...

The Composition of Metaphorical Oracles Within the Book of Ezekiel

AbstractEz. xv; xxi 2-4; xxii 17-22 and xxiv 3b-14 focus on the image of fire and heat representing divine anger and judgement. This basic metaphor is diversified by the objects exposed to fire and heat. Ez. xvi and xxiii unfold the metaphor of the spouse unfaithful to her husband as a retrospective of Jerusalem's sinning, thus providing the reason for severe punishment. The metaphor of a shepherd and his flock in Ez. xxxiv conveys a hopeful perspective, effectively contrasting to the composition of oracles announcing disaster. The imagery employed is basically familiar from prophetic writings preceding Ezekiel.Ez. xvii and xix are exceptions to the rule, because they combine diverse metaphorical elements that make up a story presenting animal and vegetable protagonists. As political allegories they foreshadow the political visions in the book of Daniel. They are a later insertion within the sequence of oracles in Ez. xv-xxiv (and xxxiv).

The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32.1-43) and Isaianic Prophecies: A Case of Early Intertextuality?

The overall distribution and density of Deuteronomy 32 language affinities found in four key chapters in the book of Isaiah (chs. 1, 5, 28 and 30) demonstrate that the Song of Moses and the early Isaianic prophecies are linguistically linked. In addition, a comparison of the parallels, from a thematic perspective, shows a consistent pattern of theme reiteration or reversal. Moreover, viewing the parallels from a compositional angle brings to light a pattern involving their appearance in initial, final and framing positions in the literary units making up the Isaianic chapters. The linguistic, thematic and literary patterns seem too consistent to be coincidental or simply attributable to a common language and literary tradition. Rather, these points combined corroborate the conclusion that intertextuality involving the linguistic affinities has occurred. There is, therefore, a direct correlation between these early prophetic writings and ch. 32 of Deuteronomy. Moreover, the nature of the literary correlation suggests that the Isaianic prophecies, where intertextuality has occurred, borrowed from the Song.

Walka Wschodu i Zachodu w literaturze greckiej od Herodota do Prokopiusza z Gazy

Herodotus presented the conflicts between Europe and Asia on both the mythological and historical level and made them one of the main structural and ideological components of his work. The idea of war against the Achaemenids interpreted as central to the Greek historical destiny returned time and again in the Greek letters, always blended with the symptomatic feeling of superiority and simplified standard view of the Orientals. (Euripides, Xenophon of Athens, Plato, Isocrates). The efforts to unite the Greeks and Macedonians with the Orientals which were undertaken by Alexander the Great, found little understanding among the Greeks (Plutarch). His myth as a conqueror of Asia became an ideological trap of the Hellenic as well as Roman historical thinking (Cassius Dio). Renewed and unsuccessful efforts to follow Aiexander's steps brought interesting literary testimonies shaped by collective experiences of the insuperable climate, the fear of the epidemics, and confrontation with cunning, cruel and elusive adversaries (Plutarch, Procopius of Caesarea). The Greek literary testimonies had their alter ego in the Eastern prophetic writings, which expressed hostility towards the Greeks and Romans and predicted a final victory for the East over the West (Oracula Sibyllina, The Oracle of the Potter, The Oracle of Hystaspes). In the Wars of Procopius of Caesarea a pessimistic, purely militarist view came to the surface. It said that the loyalty of the Orientals could be secured only through the use of military power. In that period we also observe a factor of religious inspiration in the war propaganda on both sides (Procopius of Caesarea, Georgios Pisides).

Making sense of the Bible: literary type as an approach to understanding

No book in the Western world has evoked more diverse interpretations than the Bible. One reason for this multiplicity of interpretation is the vast historical gap lying between the writing of the Scriptures and our own time. Can ordinary persons today really make sense of this body of ancient literature? In Making Sense of the Bible Marshall Johnson gives readers the tools needed to better understand Scripture by teaching them to recognize and handle the diverse kinds of literature that make up the Bible. Focusing on the eight major literary forms in the Bible - wisdom literature, liturgical materials, quasi-historical material, prophetic writings, collections of laws and precepts, apocalyptic literature, letters, and Gospels - Johnson describes each form's central features and gives readers a sense of what to expect from each literary form and how to approach it. In addition, helpful appendixes discuss the forms of ancient Hebrew poetry, highlight the major literary types in biblical books, and provide suggestions for further reading. For inquisitive laypeople or students in search of the original meaning of the Bible, this book provides a thoughtful, concise, and nonsectarian introduction.

A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66 (review)

Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 292 Reviews A PROPHET READS SCRIPTURE: ALLUSION IN ISAIAH 40-66. By B. D. Sommer. Contraversions. pp. xiii + 355. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998. Cloth, $49.50. That Deutero-Isaiah (defmed broadly in this instance as comprising Isaiah 40-66 as well as Isaiah 35) is one of the most allusive of ancient Ismelite compositions is the fundamental thesis of this revised dissertation written at the University of Chicago under the direction of Michael Fishbane. Sommer's book proffers numerous examples of allusion in Deutero-Isaiah, describes the thematic and stylistic patterns that emerge from them, and concludes with a consideration of the significance of the bent toward allusion in relation to prophecy in the exilic and postexilic period. The argument for single authorship of Isaiah 40-66 and 35 is relegated to an appendix and is not central to Sommer's study of allusion in these chapters or to his conclusions. The introductory chapter (chapter 1) provides a useful discussion of pertinent literary categories. Sommer begins by distinguishing "allusion," an authorial reference to a text or texts, from "intertextuality," the participation of texts in broad linguistic and cultural contexts. He also breaks down the phmse "inner biblical exegesis" by separating "allusion," the use by an author of an earlier text to enrich his own articulation, from "exegesis," the attempt of a writer to explain an earlier text. Allusion, rather than intertextuality, is the focus of Sommer's study, and allusion, rather than exegesis, he argues, is the prevalent mode of textual reference in Deutero-Isaiah. The bulk of Deutero-Isaiah's allusions, Sommer claims, are to prophetic writings: to Jeremiah above all (a datum, he suggests, with implications for current scholarly interest in the integrity of the Isaian corpus); to Isaiah 1-39, and, occasionally, to the minor prophets. Chapters 2-3 describe five thematic types and four stylistic fonns of the prophetic allusions in Deutero-Isaiah. The thematic types include "reversal," in which a future restoration is portrayed in language that reverses earlier judgment oracles; "reprediction," in which the prophet recontextualizes former prophecies of restoration (or, less frequently, of judgment); "fulfIllment," in which allusions convey how earlier prophecies have been realized in the present; "typology ," in which figures and events featured in Deutero-Isaiah are presented as counterparts of those in an earlier text; and "echo," in which literary parallels simply connect Deutero-Isaiah to prophetic predecessors. In the discussion of these categories Sommer frequently demonstrates con- Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 293 Reviews vincingly how allusions are wielded in Deutero-Isaiah to intensify the force of its message. tI!msforming earlier texts into a different key while retaining their former resonance. Most characteristic of the four stylistic patterns in Deutero-Isaianic allusions . according to Sommer. and most significant for identifying allusions. is the "split up pattern" (pp. 68-69). This technique entails the expansion of a given phrase of Jeremiah. for example. by separating its elements and inserting words. phrases. and often several poetic lines in between. Sommer points to this technique as a deliberate playing with the language of a source that is indicative of allusion. as opposed to a coincidental parallel in language. He cites sound play and word playas similarly characteristic of Deutero-Isaiah and similarly a sign of conscious reworking of a particular text. Less frequent is the replication of shared vocabulary in the same order as in an earlier text. Sommer musters these stylistic traits as evidence of literary allusion in Deutero-Isaiah, but the question of how firm this evidence is, which he himself raises (pp. 32-35), should probably be underscored, at least with regard to the first three features. That these techniques are characteristic of Deutero-Isaiah need not imply that they are "a flag that points to the presence of an allusion or echo" with respect to a specific text (p. 71) rather than to a traditional phrase or word cluster. Perhaps the strongest argument for textual dependence is the presence of a notable cluster of words and phrases in a Deutero-Isaianic passage that is found in only one other text. Sommer suggests this when he links the likelihood of allusion to the...

Thomas Tymme and Natural Philosophy: Prophecy, Alchemical Theology, and the Book of Nature

Prophecy was a major theme in the early published writings of the English clergyman Thomas Tymme (d. 1620). However, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Tymme replaces his prophetic writings with Paracelsian alchemical studies. This article suggests that a relationship existed between prophetic and devotional literature and Tymme's alchemical studies, and places Tymme's Paracelsian alchemical studies within the larger context of his devotional writings. Alchemy allayed the fears and concerns that Tymme expressed in his earlier work; therefore, his alchemical writings were invested with profound eschatological and apocalyptic significance. Tymme's alchemical studies also led him to consider whether or not the Book of Nature was the more perfect expression of God's Word than the Book of Scripture. His alchemical studies anticipated the erosion of the position and status of the Bible in natural philosophy in the late seventeenth century.