The Production of Prophecy

The Persian and Hellenistic periods saw the production and use of a variety of authoritative texts in Israel. 'The Production of Prophecy' brings together a range of influential biblical scholars to examine the construction of prophecy and prophetic books during the Persian period. Drawing on methodological and comparative research and studies of particular biblical texts, the volume explores biblical prophecy as a written phenomenon, examining the prophets of the past, setting this within the general history of Yehud. The relationship between prophetic and other authoritative, written texts is explored, as well as the general social and ideological setting in which the prophetic books emerged.

"An important contribution to the history of biblical interpretation." - The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Diana V. Edelman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. Her research has focused on the King Saul in history and tradition, Israelite religion during the time of the monarchy, and now is centering on the emergence of Judaism in the Persian period with the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. She is the author of The Origins of the 'Second' TemplePersian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem (Equinox, 2005) and King Saul in the Historiography of Judah (Sheffield Academic Press, 1991) and editor of The Fabric of History: Text, Artifact and Israel's Past (Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), You Shall not Abhor an Edomite for He is your Brother: Edom and Seir in History and Tradition (Scholars Press, 1995) and The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms (Kok Pharos 1995; reprinted by Eerdmans).Ehud Ben Zvi is a professor (History & Classics, and Religious Studies) at the University of Alberta. A former president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, his publications include, History, Literature and Theology in the Book of Chronicles (2006); Hosea (2005); Signs of Jonah: Reading and Rereading in Ancient Yehud (2003); Micah (2000) and A Historical-Critical Study of The Book of Obadiah (1996) as well as many articles on the historical books of the Hebrew Bible in which he explores the ways in which ancient Israelites construed their past and the significance of these images of the past for them. He is also a co-author of Readings in Biblical Hebrew. An Intermediate Textbook (1993). He serves as the general editor of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures.

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 enquiry 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. R'mer, 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).

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