Tradi tionally, in Isaianic studies, the aim of many commentators SInce the time of Duhm has been to try to rediscover the words of the eighth century prophet of Jerusalem. Descriptive words such as "a u then tic" and "secondary" betray the misconception tha t material which does not reach back to the time of the prophet is somehow less authentic and authoritative. The present study follows more recent trends in looking at the Book of Isaiah as a literary whole and in arguing that each section must be understood and interpreted not only in the light of its immediate context but also in the light of its place and function within the entire book. Six chapters (Isaiah 28-33) are analysed in two ways. Firstly the vocabulary is examined to establish linguistic and thematic similarities with other parts of the book and with the rest of the OT; secondly the many subsections within the six chapters are looked at contextually to determine how they relate to each other and consequently reveal a consistent and unified message. The way in which the material is arranged in chs 28-33 to highlight various themes may be seen as a microcosm of what is happening throughout the en tire book. One of the techniques used to actualize and unify composite traditions may be the concept of wisdom which seeks to instruct the reader in the way of righteousness. This analysis of chs 28-33 complements a similar one carried out by Sweeney [1988] on chs 1-4. The conclusions, too, are similar in that both studies emphasize that any section of Isaianic material, large or small, only makes sense ,*hen looked at in the light of the entire book.

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This study analyses the theological thought of Qoheleth. In the Introduction, a survey of Qoheleth studies in the last hundred years has shown that the literary structure of the book of Qoheleth is still crucial to the understanding of the theological thought of Qoheleth. Thus, Chapter One of this thesis Is devoted to discussing various approaches, i.e. traditional critical, form critical, and modern literary approaches, which have been employed in the study of the structure of the book. Chapter Two analyses the structure of Qoheleth's theological thought, arguing that '7]T (the absurd) and fflri (joy) are the two concepts which make sense of Qoheleth's thought and also form the fundamental structure of his thought. Together with various secondary themes such as portion, profit, wisdom, wealth, death, remembrance and God, they form the total structure of Qoehleth's thought. This is followed by a reading of Qoheleth in Chapter Three, analysing the argument of the book as it develops. Chapter Four examines the position of Qoheleth's theological thought within Israel's theology. The relationships between Wisdom and Yahwism, and Wisdom and Creation are analysed, arguing that the idea that Wisdom theology is essentially Creation theology is not compatible with Qoheleth's thought. The theology of Qoheleth is to be determined by the book itself, and proves to reflect neither conservative Yahwism nor radical anti-Yahwism. The uniqueness of Qoheleth's thought leads to the identification of Qoheleth as a 'liminal intellectual' who may be going through a period of transition, in the process of adopting a new set of beliefs, social norms or status. Thus. Qoheleth's theological thought may be seen as a 'liminal' theology, with 'liminality' as its social setting.

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