The Production of Prophecy

The editors have organized a long-term research program on Israel and the Production and Reception of Authoritative Books in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods at the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies. The first announced topic of inquiry was the construction of prophecy and prophetic books during the Persian period, for which dedicated sessions were held at the EABS meetings in 2006 and 2007. The present volume includes revised versions of the presentations made by Rainer Albertz, Ehud Ben Zvi, Philip R. Davies, Diana Edelman, Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Ernst Axel Knauf, Thomas C. Romer, and Rannfrid I. Thelle.The general image that emerges from the volume is that of biblical prophecy as a written phenomenon, though perhaps open to selected public readings. The relationship between prophetic and other authoritative written texts (e.g., the "Book of Kings", the "Deuteronomistic History") is explored, as well as the general social and ideological setting in which the prophetic books emerged. The volume deals with the construction of images of prophets of the past and relates them to the general construction of the past in Yehud. It includes both general, methodological and comparative contributions and studies on particular issues/books (e.g., Deutero-Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Jonah).Read less