Esegesi AT: Libri profeticiRA0104

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the phenomena of biblical prophecy, understanding of the role of the prophet, and the forms of prophetic activity undertaken as well as to present an overview of the prophetic books of the Old Testament taking into account their historical context and theological meaning.

I. An introduction to prophetic literature: a) prophetic books in the Hebrew and Christian canons, b) the Ancient Near Eastern context of biblical prophecy, c) the phenomena of prophecy in the Bible, d) forms of prophetic activity as well as literary genres in the prophetic books, e) reading and understanding the prophetic message in Judaism and Christianity. II. The prophetic books are to be discussed in the chronological order rather than a canonical one. It will be established on the basis of the content of the books dealing with the time and circumstances of each individual prophet. The books will be classified in groups in order to show their authors’ teaching in line with their common historical background. a) Prophets of the 8th century BC: Amos (760-750 BC), Hosea (750-724 BC), Micah (740-715 BC), Proto-Isaiah [chs. 1-39] (740-700 BC). The date the books of the prophets of the time focus upon is 721 BC, that is the fall of the Northern Kingdom. The years 699-643 were the reign of Manasseh, followed by that of his son Amon (643-641 BC). This is the 60-year-long period when the prophets are absent from the landscape of ancient Israel. After this period Josiah (641-609 BC) ascends the throne of Israel. b) Prophets of the 7th/6th century BC: Zephaniah (640-630 BC), Nahum (before 612 BC, according to some 615-612 BC), Habakkuk (most probably active in the years between 603/602 and 597 BC), and Jeremiah (620-585 BC). Important events from the period of these prophets are: • the death of Josiah, religious reformer, at Megiddo in 609 BC; • the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC, the imprisonment of king Jeconiah and his deportation along with social elites to Babylon (first deportation); • the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, blinding and deportation of king Zedekiah as well as the third deportation in 582 BC. c) Prophets of the 6th century BC: prophets of the Babylonian captivity: Ezekiel (592 –570 BC), Deutero-Isaiah [chs. 40-55] (550-539 BC); d) Prophets of the 6th century BC: prophets after captivity: Haggai (520 BC), Proto-Zechariah (chs. 1-8, 520-518 BC), Malachi (515-485 BC), Trito-Isaiah [chs. 56-66] (515-485 BC). e) Prophets of the 5th century BC: Joel, Obadiah, Jonah – due to the fact that their writings lack the historical clues permitting the determination of their age, it will be established on the basis of their theology. III. Eschatology and apocalyptic a) Isaiah's Apocalypses [Isaiah chs. 24-27; 34-35], b) Deutero-Zechariah (Zechariah chs. 9-14), c) Book of Daniel. IV. The message of the Book of Lamentations and Book of Baruch. Those belonging to the group of historical-didactic writings but due to their link to the person of prophet Jeremiah by his traditional authorship (Lamentations) or the link to the person of the author, prophet Jeremiah’s secretary (Baruch), will be discussed in connection with corpus propheticum.

Bible (Prophetic Books) Chalmers, Aaron. Interpreting the Prophets: Reading, Understanding and Preaching from the Worlds of the Prophets. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2015. Blenkinsopp, Joseph. A History of Prophecy in Israel. 3rd Edition. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1999. Heschel, Abraham. The Prophets. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007 [1962].