Poets, Prophets, and Texts in Play

by Ben Zvi, Ehud; Camp, Claudia V.; Gunn, David M.; Hughes, Aaron W.

• ISBN13: 9780567224095
• ISBN10: 0567224090
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-08-13
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

In this volume, a list of esteemed scholars engage with the literary readings of prophetic and poetic texts in the Hebrew Bible that revolve around sensitivity to the complexity of language, the fragility of meaning, and the interplay of texts. These themes are discussed using a variety of hermeneutical strategies.

In Part 1, Poets and Poetry, some essays address the nature of poetic language itself, while others play with themes of love, beauty, and nature in specific poetic texts. The essays in Part 2, Prophets and Prophecy, consider prophets and prophecy from a number of interpretive directions, moving from internal literary analysis to the reception of these texts and their imagery in a range of ancient and modern contexts. Those in Part 3, on the other hand, Texts in Play, take more recent works (from Shakespeare to Tove Jansson's Moomin books for children) as their point of departure, developing conversations between texts across the centuries that enrich the readings of both the ancient and modern pieces of literature.

Author Biography

Ehud Ben Zvi is a professor in History and Classics at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Claudia V. Camp is the John F. Weatherly Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University, USA.

David M. Gunn is Distinguished Research Professor at Brite Divinity School, USA.

Aaron W. Hughes holds the Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester, USA.

Table of Contents

Preface - Ehud Ben Zvi and Aaron W. Hughes
Introduction - David M. Gunn and Claudia V. Camp
Part 1: Poets and Poetry
1.Nostalgia, the Love of the Land, the Impossibility of Speaking/Writing and the Making of Poetry
J. Cheryl Exum, University of Sheffield, UK
2.Poetry amid Ruins
Peter Sabo, University of Alberta, Canada
3.The Poet's Silence: Language and non-Language in Rosenzweig
Aaron W.Hughes, University of Rochester, USA
4.'A Bird on the Roof':Trauma, Gender and Affect in Psalm 102
Fiona Black, Mount Allison University, Canada
5.'Look, O Daughters of Jerusalem': The Gaze in the Song of Songs
Lauren Chomyn, University of Alberta, Canada
6.On Femininity, Dressing, and Undressing
Daphna Arbel, University of British Columbia, Canada
7.One or Two Interesting Things about the Universe: The Cosmology of Job 38
David Clines, University of Sheffield, UK (emeritus)
Part 2: Prophets and Prophecy
8.Human and Divine Wisdom in the Book of Hosea,
Kåre Berge, NLA University College, Norway
9.Remembering Hosea: The Prophet Hosea as a Site of Memory in Persian Period Yehud
Ehud Ben Zvi, University of Alberta, Canada
10. The Divine Gardener in Prophetic Texts in the Hebrew Bible
Diana V. Edelman, Independent Scholar
11. The Slavery of Canaan
Philip R. Davies University of Sheffield, UK (emeritus)
12. Prophecy and prognostication: the prophet Elijah and the 'prophet' Enoch in medieval apocalyptic texts
Andrew Gow, University of Alberta, Canada
13. Reflections on the Reception Exegesis of Isaiah,
John F. A. Sawyer, University of Durham, UK
Part 3: Texts in Play
14. Of an Imagination All Compact: The Garden, The Forest and the Wasteland as the Apple of the Biblical Poet's Eye,
James R. Linville, University of Lethbridge, Canada
15. Loving the Highwayman: Reading Proverbs 1-9 in the Company of Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Barbara Cartland, and Alfred Noyes
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University, USA, and David M. Gunn, Brite Divinity School, USA
16. The Bible in Moominland: Sensibility, Sense and Sentiment in Biblical Interpretation
Hugh S. Pyper, University of Sheffield, UK
17. The Politics and Poetics of Mercy
Benjamin Berger, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada
Index