The Oxford Handbook of the Prophets

This volume explores historical, literary, and ideological dimensions of the books of the Latter Prophets of the Hebrew Bible—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve—along with Daniel. The prophetic books comprise oracles, narratives, and vision reports from ancient Israel and Judah spanning several centuries. Analysis of these texts sheds light on the cultural norms, theological convictions, and political disputes of Israelite and Judean communities in the shadow of the empires of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia. This Handbook features discussion of ancient Near Eastern social and cultic contexts; exploration of focused topics such as divination and other ritual practices of intermediation; textual criticism of the prophetic books, constructions of the persona of the prophet, and the problem of violence in prophetic rhetoric; historical and literary analysis of key prophetic texts; issues in reception history, from early reinterpretation of prophetic texts at Qumran and readings in rabbinic midrash to medieval ecclesial interpretations and modern Christian homiletical appropriations; and feminist, womanist, materialist, postcolonial, and queer readings of prophetic texts in conversation with contemporary theorists.