The present study is a history of interpretation. In that sense it does not fit neatly into the category of Wirkungsgeschichte. Moving through successive periods of the Christian church’s history, we will select representative interpretations of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and theological works dealing explicitly with the question of true and false prophecy in an effort to present a sampling of material from the span of the church’s existence. This study seeks to function as a hermeneutical guide for the present interpretive problem of interpreting true and false prophecy in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible by displaying ways various interpreters have broached the subject in the past. In this way it may prove useful to the current impasse concerning the notion of false prophecy in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Seeing continuity, or a family resemblance, in the Christian church’s interpretation of true and false prophecy in relation to the law’s role amongst exilic and post-exilic prophets, we will observe those ways in which a historically informed reading might offer an interpretive guide for subsequent interpretations of true and false prophecy.

Chapters 46-51 of the book of Jeremiah contain a series of prophecies against foreign nations, and these 'foreign nation oracles’ form the focus of this thesis. The opening chapter contains a discussion of several outstanding problems connected with these oracles, the chief of these being the problem of authenticity. After examination of the major arguments, the conclusion is reached that the contents of chapters 46-51 are not to be attributed to Jeremiah, but to one or more imitators who employed 'Jeremianic' language. Also discussed are the problems of the differing position and order in which the oracles occur in the Septuagint. The major part of the thesis contains a study of the Septuagint and Targum versions of chs. 46-51, and a consideration of the mediaeval Jewish commentators Rashi, Kimchi and Abravanel. The ancient versions are consulted not as aids to the recovery of a better Hebrew text than the Massoretic text, but rather to gain an insight into the techniques employed by the translators, and to pick out and account for those elements of interpretation which each version contains. The contribution of Rashi and Kimchi to the interpretation of the Hebrew text is also considered, and a separate chapter is devoted to the commentary of Isaac Abravanel. His interest in eschatological speculation significantly affects his interpretation of certain foreign nation oracles. The thesis is primarily concerned with the variety of answers to the problems of exegesis which are provided by the various versions and commentators, and through such answers seeks to understand their presuppositions and interpretative approach.

Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Th. (Old testament)

The struggle to read Jer 31:31-34 as Christian Scripture has a long and divided history. Yet remarkably little has been done to grapple with the depth of this struggle in the Christian tradition from the post-Nicene period to the modern era. This thesis attempts to show the value of the tradition as an interlocutor for contemporary exegetical concerns in Christian readings and use of Jer 31:31-34. The study begins with Augustine’s interpretation of the text as an absolute contrast between unbelief and faith, rather than the standard reading (found in Jerome) of a contrast between two successive religio-historical eras - one that governed Israel (the ‘old covenant’) and a new era and its covenant inaugurated in the coming of Christ. Augustine’s absolute contrast loosened the strict temporal concern, so that the faithful of any era were members of the ‘new covenant’. The study traces this reading of an absolute contrast in a few key moments of Christian interpretation: Thomas Aquinas and high medieval theology, then the 16th and 17th century Reformed tradition. The thesis aims at a constructive reading of Jer 31:31-34, and so the struggle identified in these moments in the Christian tradition is brought into dialogue with modern critical discussions from Bernhard Duhm to the present. Finally I turn to an exegetical argument for an ‘Augustinian’ reading of the contrast of the covenants. The study finds that Jer 31:31-34, read in its role in Jeremiah, contrasts Israel’s infidelity with a future idyllic faithfulness to Yhwh: in the new covenant all will be as it always ought to have been. The contrast is thus between two mutually exclusive standings before Yhwh. Thus the study aims to contribute to modern exegetical, theological and ecclesial discussions of ‘old’ and ‘new’ covenants by examining one of the central texts of the discussion in dialogue with parts of the history of interpretatio

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:18:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IGOR POHL.pdf: 2150293 bytes, checksum: 123d8bb07ab5521c47aa2bdb3ba7047d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A presente dissertação se situa no campo das Ciências da Religião. É um estudo da perícope de Jeremias 20.7-18 na perspectiva do fenômeno de lamentação na área da literatura e religião do mundo bíblico. Jeremias 20.7-18 é um dos textos de lamentação representativos dentre os que se encontram fora do saltério, na literatura profética. O tema desenvolvido visa analisar este salmo em sua forma, lugar e conteúdo na perspectiva da linguagem de lamentação. O conteúdo que nos atemos foram as imagens de Yhwh reconhecidas na perícope: sedutor irresistível, Deus violento, fogo consumidor, guerreiro violento e vingativo, Senhor dos exércitos, libertador do pobre e subversor das cidades impenitentes. O estudo desta perícope foi possível mediante a compreensão da linguagem de lamentação como um fenômeno religioso universal. Localizamos a lamentação na sociedade do antigo Oriente Próximo, pois foi o contexto que tornou possível tal experiência para o antigo Israel. A lamentação na história da religião de Israel só é possível ser construída a partir de hipóteses. As hipóteses para uma história da lamentação em Israel que averiguamos nesta dissertação foram distribuídas entre o período pré-exílico, exílico e pós-exílico, a partir dos principais textos de lamento que marcam tal linguagem em cada período. Reconhecemos o gênero de lamentação nos documentos sagrados de Israel, como gênero literário e as estruturas simbólicas que permeiam os salmos de lamentação. Dessa forma, nos aproximamos da linguagem de lamentação de Jeremias 20.7-18 como parte do fenômeno do antigo Israel. Portanto, a linguagem de lamentação se torna a linguagem do sofrimento. Em outras palavras, a lamentação dá voz ao ser que sofre. O livro de Jeremias se situa num período de intenso sofrimento e violência contra a nação de Israel. É adequado, pois, no âmbito das lamentações, a presença deste salmo peculiar no livro seu profético. Com isso, estudamos exegeticamente nossa perícope perguntando o seu gênero principal. Em seguida, verificamos o lugar vivencial e, em termos de conteúdo quais são as imagens ou quadros ali demonstrados e como os dois se ajustam.

The crux of Jeremiah’s message depicted in the book of Jeremiah is the upcoming Babylonian invasion on Judah as a result of their sins and the unusual call on Judah to yield to the Babylonians. Jeremiah’s prophecy to the Judeans claimed that foreign invasion would result in the destruction of the nation and exile of its inhabitants. For this, he faced grave animosity from the recipients of his message especially the kings and the prophets and he even suffered persecution under them. The reasons for the hostility against him as portrayed in the book are investigated. The book of Jeremiah highlights that after the invasion, the Babylonians showed a special concern to Jeremiah and gave him privilege to choose whether he would go to Babylon or stay behind in Judah. Strangely, the prophet, who emphasized that the nation of Judah should not resist the Babylonian rule and should be exiled to Babylon, when given a choice, chose to stay behind in Judah. This appears to be a strange response of Jeremiah toward Babylonian exile. Also, when the Johanan faction forced Jeremiah to flee from Judah and find asylum in Egypt to escape another suspected Babylonian threat, Jeremiah responds negatively. The various responses of the kings, prophets and Jeremiah toward the destruction and exile require explanation. At the outset, the reason why there was fierce hostility against Jeremiah’s message appears to be Judah’s reluctance to be subdued by a foreign nation as the biblical text portrays. However, the book of Jeremiah appears to use many metaphors to point to the reasons for resentment against Jeremiah and his message. The study of the metaphors in Jeremiah employing cognitive linguistics methodology, using conceptual metaphor theory and conceptual blending theory has shown the interconnectedness of the metaphors and the meanings it implies. The metaphors of “destruction” and “exile” are found to be connected to the concept of shame. Jeremiah’s prediction of the forthcoming destruction of the land, cities, Temple, exile of Judeans, collapse of the Davidic throne and all kinds of calamities that would befall the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah is found to be associated with “shame.” Likewise, the metaphor of “restoration” is found to be connected to the concept of honour. Jeremiah’s prophecy of “restoration” is portrayed as replenishment of land, rebuilding of cities, return of the exiles, and restoration from all kinds of calamities termed as “return of honour.” This shows that the concepts of honour and shame play a key role to explain the antagonistic responses toward Jeremiah’s prophecy of the Babylonian invasion and exile. Also, by using conceptual metaphor analysis, Jeremiah’s reluctance to go to Babylon or Egypt can be explained as his anticipation to witness the restoration of the nation of Judah and return of its honour as Yahweh had promised.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The purpose of this dissertation is to determine what takes place on the human side when a man says he has an encounter with God, with special reference to the thought of Martin Buber and of the Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah. The method has been to characterize each man's thought; to pay particular attention to the data lending themselves to psychological description, to the end of analyzing encounter with God in its epistemic, psychological and existential modes. On the basis of these characterizations, each of these men has been compared to the other to determine likenesses and differences; to assay the effect of culture at points of difference; and to summarize the points of likeness which might have abiding value. Findings and conclusions are: 1. Buber and Jeremiah find man's essential nature incomplete apart from relation to God. Fulfilment is possible in what Buber terms an I-Thou relation--a subject-subject relation as opposed to the subject-object relation of knowledge. Subject-subject relation is made possible by a unique category of being, which Buber calls the inborn Thou. This is not to say that man has an original self. A self has to be won. 2. A sense of lack (anxiety), a reaching out, the dual gestalt of man's own being together with objective reference of the Thou, a sense of fulfillment by a Persons over against one, standing in the relation of love--these minimal elements of encounter constitute the fountainhead of religion and ethics, as well as the occasion for man's social being to emerge and to be kept intact. Revelation comes in the form of Presence--presence as power. No verbal message is given. There is a sense of reciprocal relation, of inexpressible confirmation, and of an urge to act out the power of it in the world. 3. Jeremiah conceived man to be created by God and endowed with a drive to fulfillment like the migratory instinct in birds. Man is free to direct this drive toward God and find fulfilment, or to direct it elsewhere with little promise in the face of his precarious existence. 4. For both men, one's religious knowledge and his cultural modes of thought were part of the whole person taken into encounter and could affect the subsequent interpretation of it. Neither believed that encounter was sufficient without the remainder of experience; nor did either conceive the experience of immediacy as resulting from any form of mystical absorption. Jeremiah's tribal consciousness lends itself aptly both to illustrate the limits which culture can impose on revelation and also to reveal how the Presence can transcend the limits. 5. Relation to God is necessary for maintaining the integrity of one's I; otherwise, the world of things assumes the mastery, and persons are cheapened (Buber); or man loses his moral fibre (Jeremiah). 6. Jeremiah negatively illustrates Buber's judgment that verbal messages are not given in revelation. Recently from the Presence, he put his own thoughts into the mouth of God and delivered them as a "Thus saith the Lord." The mistakes he made indicate that alleged verbal messages in revelation do not stand on their own authority. They need further testing. 7. Buber and Jeremiah fonnd that perceptual data of religion gained in concrete life-situations were a reliable foundation upon which to build coherent religious truth. They would agree that this method of gaining religious truth has been a distinctive contribution of the Hebrew-Jewish religion.

There is a longstanding scholarly debate on the nature of prophecy in ancient Israel. Until now, no study has based itself on the semantics of the Hebrew lexeme nābîʾ (‘prophet’). In this investigation, I discuss the nature and function of prophecy in the corpus of the Hebrew book of Jeremiah. I analyse all occurrences of nābîʾ in Jeremiah and perform a close reading of three primary texts, Jeremiah 1.4–19, 23.9–40 and 27.1–28.17. The result is a detailed explanation of how prophecy works, and what it meant to call someone a nābîʾ in ancient Israel. Chapter one introduces the work and surveys the main trends in the research literature on prophecy. First I describe scholarly constructs and definitions of the phenomenon of prophecy. I then survey contemporary debates over the meaning of nābîʾ and the problem of ‘false’ prophecy. I also describe the methods, structure, corpus and aims of the investigation. In part one, I take all the occurrences of the lexeme nābîʾ in Jeremiah and analyse its relations to other words (syntagmatics and paradigmatics). For nābîʾ, the conceptual fields of communication and worship are significant. There is also a close semantic relation between nābîʾ and kōhēn (‘priest’). Part two analyses prophecy in the literary context of three key texts. Chapter three is a close reading of Jeremiah 1.4–19. Chapter four is a close reading of Jeremiah 23.9–40. Chapter five is a close reading of Jeremiah 27.1–28.17. In my analysis I situate these passages in the wider context of an ancient cultural worldview on divine communication. This brings to light the importance of legitimacy and authority as themes in prophecy. Chapter six concludes the work. I combine the results of the semantic analysis and close readings with conclusions for six main areas of study: (1) the function and nature of prophecy; (2) dreams and visions; (3) being sent; (4) prophets, priests and cult; (5) salvation and doom; and (6) legitimacy and authority. These conclusions explain the conceptual categories related to nābîʾ in the corpus. I then situate these findings in two current debates, one on the definition of nābîʾ and one on cultic prophecy. This thesis contributes to critical scholarship on prophecy in the ancient world, on the book of Jeremiah, and on prophets in ancient Israel. It is the first major study to analyse nābîʾ based on its semantic associations. It adds to a growing consensus which understands prophecy as a form of divination. Contrary to some trends in Jeremiah scholarship, this work demonstrates the importance of a close reading of the Masoretic (Hebrew) text. This study uses a method of a general nature which can be applied to other texts. Thus there are significant implications for further research on prophecy and prophetic literature.

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

Thesis (M.S.), English Composition and Rhetoric--University of Central Oklahoma, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-65).