Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1942. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bob Jones University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-312) and index.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1979. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-125).

This dissertation entitled, "The Date of the Call of the Prophet Jeremiah: Texts and Issues," attempts to demonstrate that the most plausible date for the beginning of the prophetic career of Jeremiah is that provided in the tradition itself, i.e. the thirteenth year of Josiah (627). In supporting this, two main topics are addressed. First, the alternative dates which have been forwarded in modern scholarship are examined, and shown to be based upon untenable ideas. Secondly, the various objections which have been proffered against the 627 date are analysed, and the case is made that these objections are invalid. Finally, an attempt is made to explain the message and activity of the prophet within the historical milieu of Judah in the years 627-622. The current study develops this thesis in seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the historical context of the years 640-609, and Josiah's reforms. In chapter two it is argued that the prose sermons should be attributed to Jeremiah, and represent a style of the seventh century. Chapter three demonstrates the implausibility of the alternative dating proposals, while in chapter four it is proposed that the threatened invader of the foe from the north oracles was not originally identified by Jeremiah. The issue of Isaiah and the reforms of Hezekiah as a comparable example is handled in chapter five. Chapter six addresses Jeremiah's attitude toward the cultic reforms of Josiah and the appearance of Deuteronomy in 622, and it is shown that the prophet did speak out in support of the newly published law book. Finally in chapter seven, Jeremiah's relative withdrawal from public activity during the period 622-609 is demonstrated, and the prophet's message is explained in light of the setting of the years 627-622.

The "self-disclosures" in Jeremiah, including not only the so-called "confessions" but also other first person material which seems to express the prophet's inner feelings, are examined in a detailed, exegetical fashion with careful attention to-both the ancient versions and the subsequent history of exegesis. Special attention is given to the works of Rashi and Kimchi. Three basic questions are asked: 1) What do the "self-disclosures" represent? 2) To what degree can the "self-disclosures" be said to portray the historical Jeremiah? 3) Why are the "self-disclosures" included in the corpus of Jeremianic literature? These questions are approached by examining the relevant passages against the backdrop of the prophetic orthodoxy of the late 7th century B. C., which is seen to consist of commonly held notions of the role, message, and perhaps even temperament of the prophet within the current socio-religious framework. This orthodoxy is viewed as having initially defined Jeremiah's understanding of the prophetic office. But in the "self-disclosures" Jeremiah wrestles with the other side of his experience as a prophet, the painful and mysterious side, and attempts to forge a new understanding of the prophetic vocation. In the end, the fundamental element of the prophetic vocation for Jeremiah is seen as the "Word of the Lord." The prophet's conviction that he had been entrusted with the powerful, efficacious "Word" became the touchstone of both his vocational self-understanding and his authentication against the false prophets who represented prophetic orthodoxy. And the "Word" was ultimately the source of his suffering. All of these elements may be seen in the call-narrative which is examined in detail as the introduction to the entire book. The closing chapter of the thesis takes a closer look at the theological kerygma of the "self-disclosures," particularly in relation to the problem of suffering.

Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-104).

Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133).

This thesis addresses the question of how to interpret instances in Hebrew prophetic literature in which one speaker quotes another speaker. Speech quotations of this kind occur almost 300 times across the prophetic corpus and exhibit a wide range of quoting and quoted participants with modal and temporal variations. In order to examine this phenomenon and to formulate a method for its interpretation, the thesis conducts an exegetical case study of Jeremiah 2.1-­‐3.5 which is distinguished by its high number and density of quotations (twelve instances in forty-­‐two verses). With a few notable exceptions, the phenomenon of prophetic speech quotation has not received any attention in its own right but was subsumed under other research concerns, such as prophetic conUlict or the form-­‐critical genre of disputation speech. Across these and other studies, the interpretation of quoted speech is marked by two principal procedures: a) on the basis of their assumed authenticity, quotations are frequently employed as a way to gain direct access to expressions of Israelite religion; b) in most studies, the approach to quoted speech is deUined by extracting the quoted words from their literary environment and by assigning them to a Uixed number of categories. Prompted by the exegetical studies by Wolff (1937) and Overholt (1979), the thesis utilizes Sternberg’s publications on quotation theory in order to confront these two central domains of authenticity and categorization. Quoted speech is deUined as a dualistic structure in which the inset (quoted utterance) is subsumed under the frame (quoting context) in order to serve its perspective and rhetorical goals. The dynamics of the frame-­‐inset relationship renders appeals to authenticity and direct access misguided: every quotation is subject to the forces of contextual mediation, inUluence, and shaping. The inseparable bond between frame and inset also challenges the approach of extraction and categorization. As a corrective to previous approaches, the thesis thus constructs the argument that prophetic speech quotations must always be interpreted within their literary context. To demonstrate the accuracy and implications of this methodological discussion and argument, the remainder of the thesis analyzes the twelve quotations in Jeremiah 2.1-­‐3.5. Special attention is devoted to the contextual integration of the quoted words and to the ways in which they are utilized to serve their frames. In close interaction with previous studies on this passage, this exegesis demonstrates the beneUits of a reading that takes into account the contextually conditioned nature of prophetic speech quotations. At the end of the thesis, the results of this analysis are summarized and related to other quotations in the Book of Jeremiah and other prophetic texts. The contribution of the thesis relates to the exegesis and understanding of the speech quotations and text of Jeremiah 2.1.