Full Description
This project examines two areas where there are important interpretive problems: the composition of the book of Jeremiah and, specifically, the provenance of and ideological functions served by the text of Jeremiah on the one hand; and the redactional interests in prophecy evident in the Deuteronomistic History on the other. The book argues that two distinct political groups can be seen to vie for theological authority via their literary portrayals of traditions about Jeremiah and prophets generally in the Deutero-Jeremianic prose - a group in Babylon after the deportations of 597 B.C.E. that is attempting to claim political and cultic authority, and a group remaining behind in Judah after 597 that counters the political claims and related interpretive moves made by the Babylonian traditionists. The book then illustrates through analysis of prophetic roles in Jeremiah, Kings, and Deuteronomy 18 that there are substantial and fundamental discontinuities between the view of prophecy and the prophetic word presented in the Deuteronomic texts and the view presented in the Deutero-Jeremianic texts. The results of the present study challenge the widely accepted scholarly thesis of monolithic redaction of the book of Jeremiah at the hands of the same 'Deuteronomists' whose work is evident in the Deuteronomistic History.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter I Redaction of Jeremiah and Kings: Theories and Problems
1 Jeremianic Prose and the Composition of the Book of Jeremiah
2 'Deuteronomistic' Language in Jeremiah Revisited
3 Redaction of the Book of Kings
Chapter II 'My Servants the Prophets': Exegetical Observations
1 Jeremiah 7
2 Jeremiah 26
3 Jeremiah 35
4 Jeremiah 44
5 Summary of Results
Chapter III 'A Prophet to the Nations'
1 Jeremiah 25
2 The Call of Jeremiah and Diaspora Politics
3 Summary of Results
Chapter IV False Prophecy in the Book of Jeremiah
1 Jeremiah 29
2 Divergent Traditions about False Prophecy in Jeremiah
Chapter V Prophets in Jeremiah, Kings and Deuteronomy 18
1 Functions of Prophets and the Prophetic Word
2 2 Kings 17: 7--23
3 Deuteronomy 18:15--22 and the Roles of Moses
4 Hermeneutical Implications
Chapter VI Conclusions
1 Profiles of Two Distinct Ideologies
2 The Formation of the Book of Jeremiah
3 Theological Implications for Reading Jeremiah
Bibliography
Index of Biblical and Extra-Biblical Citations
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
