David Elmer Cox's thesis is a form critical study of the salvation/deliverance/hope poetic, prophetic oracles of the Hebrew Scriptures. Beginning with the archaeological concepts of pottery dating and stratigraphic analysis, Cox presents a methodology he classifies "Gattungen dating". Just as pottery forms are able to be used for dating purposes because of the continuous and measurable changes which developed in pottery as the needs and living circumstances of people changed, Cox proposes that the Gattungen utilized by the prophets of Israel proclaiming poetic salvation/ deliverance/hope oracles might also be used as a dating device because of continuous and measurable changes in oral address. Just as with pottery forms, Cox subjects the poetic salvation/deliverance/hope oracles of the Hebrew Scriptures to typological classification and chronological ordering. Isolating the salvation/deliverance/hope oracles outside of Jeremiah into pre-exilic, exilic and post-exilic period categories, Cox presents an evolutionary pattern of development within the salvation/deliverance/hope poetic, prophetic announcements (chapter two). Then, examining two passages scholars consider authentic Jeremiah (3:12b-13; 4:1-2), he applies the Gattungen dating methodology to determine that Jeremiah's salvation/deliverance/hope speeches reflected the concerns and Gattungen of the pre-exilic prophets (chapter three). Cox then examines the central nucleus of poetic salvation/deliverance/hope material within Jeremiah, 30(37):5-31(38):22, a section much debated as to its dating and Sitz im Leben. He determines that the Gattungen utilized by the poetic consolation collection are from a time later than Jeremiah of Anathoth. Through Gattungen dating procedure and historical-critical methodology, Cox proposes that 30(37):5-31(38):22 was a separate poetic collection which attained a recognizable textual shape in the early post-exilic period (chapter four). Cox proposes that the poetic consolation collection is an example of deutero-prophetic activity (chapter five).

I wish to argue the following points: 1. MT Jeremiah gives a more complex text form in its more intricate poetic structure and, therefore, represents a more ancient or earlier form of verses 10:1-18. 2. LXX Jeremiah demonstrates later interpretative and textual developments in its logical structure of verses 10:1-18, which gives emphasis to verse 11 in its structural placement of verse 9 within that of verse 5, along with the necessary deletions of verses 10:6-8 and 10. 3. Qumran, apocryphal, and pseudepigraphtical material demonstrate the cultural and scribal milieu that readily explains the alterations evident in the Septuagint text form of 10:1-18. These three primary arguments will be expressed in greater detail in chapters 2, 3, and 4. Chapter 2 concerns the Masoretic text form of 10:1-18 and explicates its text form's structure. Chapter 3 discusses the Septuagint text form of 10:1-18 and analyzes its textual developments and translation technique. Chapter 4 surveys Second Temple Period Jewish literature that contains the text of Jer 10:1-18 or references its material. I will study Jeremiah 10:1-18 with the traditional tools of textual criticism along with other biblical criticisms as well. In this thesis, I wish to argue that the texts of 4Q71 (4QJerb) and LXX Jer 10 show evidence of a secondary nature in comparison to the MT tradition as reflected in 4Q70 (4QJera). The abbreviation of the passage and the transposition of 10:9 within 10:5 reflected in 4Q71 and LXX 10 demonstrate an easier and later textual variant in comparison to the more original text form of MT Jer 10. I shall observe that 4Q71 and LXX Jer 10:1-18's alterations to MT's older text form were done for the sake of attempting to smooth out the logical flow of the pericope.

Thesis advisor: Andrew R. Davis / Thesis advisor: Jaime L. Waters / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

The times of Jeremiah were characterized by the spirit of imperial expansionism. Assyria had just collapsed and Babylon was quickly filling the vacuum. On the other hand Jeremiah was proclaiming doom on the nation because breaking the covenant. Which covenant? The covenant made during the reforms of Josiah. Was it the Davidic covenant or the Sinai Covenant? This research answers these questions and concludes that it was the Sinai covenant that was broken in Jeremiah 11 and led to the deportation into exile. * Chapter 1 outlines the challenge. The problem statement, the hypothesis and the purpose are outlined. * Chapter 2 delves into the challenges and problems pertaining to the study of Jeremiah. These are the historicity of Jeremiah, the ideological Jeremiah and the authorship of the book of Jeremiah. The deuteronomistic influence and the theme of Jeremiah are also examined. * Chapter 3 is a study of the origin and history of the covenant. Here the pentateuchal roots of the covenant are traced form the election of Abraham to the Sinai covenant. * Chapter 5 is a survey of the political and religious context of Jeremiah to determine whether Jeremiah experienced the times prior to the deportation. In this chapter attention is paid to the deuteronomic reform, the covenant with David and the Davidic ideology. The challenge in this chapter is the date of when Jeremiah commenced his ministry. This is due to the fact that Jeremiah is not consulted when the book is discovered in the temple. The prophetess Huldah is consulted by Josiah the king. * Chapter 6 is a focus on Jeremiah 11. The process of identifying which covenant was broken in Jeremiah 11 begins with the examination of the literary genre of the chapter. The Deuteronomistic influence is also taken into account. The three key Sinai phrases which point to the Sinai covenant are outlined in detail leading to the conclusion that Jeremiah pointed Israel to the fact that the impending disaster was a result of their violation of the Sinai covenant. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M. Div. (Old Testament)

<p>Unusually for the Hebrew Bible, the book of Jeremiah contains a high number of references to writers, writing, and the written word. Written during the exilic period, the book demonstrates a key moment in the ongoing integration of writing and the written word into ancient Israelite society. Yet the book does not describe writing in the abstract. Instead, it provides an account of its own textualization, thereby blurring the line between the narrative and the audience that receives it and connecting the text of Jeremiah to the words of the prophet and of YHWH. </p><p> To authenticate the book of Jeremiah as the word of YHWH, its tradents present a theological account of the chain of transmission from the divine to the prophet, and then to the scribe and the written page. Indeed, the book of Jeremiah extends the chain of transmission beyond the written word itself to include the book of Jeremiah and, finally, a receiving audience. To make the case for this chain of transmission, this study attends in each of three exegetical chapters to writers (including YHWH, prophets, and scribes), the written word, and the receiving audience. The first exegetical chapter describes the standard chain of transmission from the divine to the prophet to the scribe, demonstrating that all three agents in this chain are imagined as writers and that writing was a suitable conduit for the divine word. The narrative account of Jeremiah's textualization is set forth, with special attention to the way in which the narrative points beyond itself to the text of Jeremiah itself. The second exegetical chapter builds upon this argument by attending to the written word in Jeremiah, pointing especially to Jeremiah's self-references (e.g. "in this book," "all these words") as a pivotal element in the extension of the chain of transmission beyond the words in the text to the words of the text. Finally, the third exegetical chapter considers the construction of the audience in the book of Jeremiah, concluding that the written word, as Jeremiah imagines it, is to be received by a worshipping audience through a public reading.</p> / Dissertation

This dissertation is a study of four ancient stories about the creation and transmission of all or part of the Hebrew Bible: Moses and the stone tablets (Exodus 32-34), Josiah and the discovery of the law-book (2 Kings 22-23), the scroll of Jeremiah and Baruch (Jeremiah 36), and Ezra's legendary restoration of the entire Bible (4 Ezra 14). Each story is a variation on the common narrative pattern of textual loss and recovery, a fact that is noteworthy because this narrative theme stands in tension with one of the cardinal aspirations of scribal culture in antiquity, as it is known from colophons: the fixity, permanence, and inviolability of writing. When the scribal creators of biblical literature told stories about the texts they produced, they represented the text in its early history as vulnerable and threatened. The purpose of this dissertation is to account for that counter-intuitive choice. My central argument is that in each of the three biblical stories, the common narrative pattern of textual loss and recovery serves as the vehicle for a particular argument related to the textualization of divine revelation, and that the stories function in ways that a plotline of uninterrupted textual transmission would not. Stories of textual loss and recovery can be viewed as strategic transactions in which the ideal of the pristine text is sacrificed in order to express other arguments about divine written revelation. After discussing three texts from the Hebrew Bible, I discuss the legend of Ezra's miraculous restoration of the entire Bible after the exile, reconstructing the biblical-exegetical background of 4 Ezra 14 and tracing the meanings of the story in later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

This thesis consists of a detailed exegetical and contextual study of passages that contain the term "to know YHWH" in the book of Jeremiah. The goal of the thesis was to define the meaning of the term "to know YHWH" as Jeremiah understood it and to find out its relevance for the Church in DR Congo. The study demonstrates that the life of Judah as a nation was conditioned by the knowledge of YHWH. According to Jeremiah, to know YHWH is to recognize covenantal traditions as normative and to accept to follow them for a harmonious relationship with YHWH and with one another in the society. These covenantal traditions were rooted in YHWH's mighty acts of liberation of Israel in history, in YHWH's prerogative as the sole God of Israel, and in the necessity for Israel to establish a just society as witness of YHWH's justice, righteousness and steadfast love. Jeremiah demonstrates that it is the abandonment of this knowledge that caused the disintegration of Judah as a nation. This abandonment of the knowledge of YHWH is manifested in two areas. The first is the area of social justice (4:19-22; 5:1-6; 9:1-8; 9:22-23; 22:13-19). Several passages in Jeremiah link the lack of the knowledge of YHWH with the perversion of justice in terms of not encouraging the oppressed, not defending the cause of the fatherless, not pleading the cause of the widow, and not maintaining justice in the court. This lack of social justice is also manifested in terms of falsehood, adultery, abuse of human speech and the abuse of power by those who possess it. The second is the area of idolatry (2:4-13). The prophet Jeremiah accuses the people of Judah (Israel) of not having called upon YHWH during their time of need. Instead, they chose to go after foreign nations and their idols. In this way, they broke the covenant with YHWH and brought judgment upon the nation. For Jeremiah, the blame of the failure to know YHWH is to be placed upon the entire nation, but particularly upon two groups of people: religious and political leaders. These two groups worked for their own interest and failed to maintain a society according to the requirements set in the covenant. YHWH responded to this failure in two different ways (24:4-7; 31:31-34): he punished his people by sending them into exile, and promised to restore them. This restoration will consist of bringing Israelites back to their land, of making a new covenant with them, and of giving them a new heart that will enable them to fully know him. I used my Congolese context to understand the meaning of some passages in Jeremiah where I could not agree (or where I was not sure) with other scholars' interpretation. At the same time, the book of Jeremiah helped me to realize that it is because our Congolese Christianity (or our knowledge of YHWH) is still superficial that it has not yet been able to help us build a coherent and unified nation. This is why the DR Congo has collapsed in spite of its claim to have the largest Roman Catholic community in the continent, the world's most influential francophone Protestant movement and the continent's biggest independent Churches. This researcher argues that the crisis in DR Congo may find a solution if the Church reorganizes her ministries and views her mission as the implementation of Jesus' mission for the world: the announcement 1f the coming of the Kingdom of God with its vision of the new heaven and new earth. This vision of new earth and new heaven would lead the Church to a new understanding of our salvation in Christ as a constant restoration of our relationship with God, with one another and 'a new understandiJOl9 of our life and ministry as responsible citizens, striving to reconcile every aspect of our life as individuals and community with Christ. In this way, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of each Christian would not be understood only in terms of leading us to heaven but also as the power that enables us to transform our society now and here. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la manière dont le livre de Jérémie (Jr) insère des oracles dans un récit ; pour cela, elle analyse les oracles destinés à cinq personnages secondaires en les resituant dans leur contexte narratif. Alors que les études diachroniques, majoritaires au xxe siècle, se révèlent insuffisantes pour rendre compte du sens de Jr dans son état final, cette recherche se situe dans le cadre des analyses synchroniques de ce livre, développées depuis quelques décennies. Avant d’aborder l’analyse proprement dite, deux préalables sont nécessaires, où se rencontrent théorie narrative, syntaxe hébraïque, et spécificités de Jr : l’étude des caractéristiques et des rapports entre la forme de la narration et celle du discours rapporté ; l’étude des différents types de personnages apparus au long de l’histoire de la littérature et des catégories adaptées à l’analyse de ceux de Jr. Sont alors étudiés les oracles destinés à Pashehour fils d’Immer, Eved-Mélek, Baruch, Guedalias, et Sédécias. L’effet-personnage manifeste rapidement sa limitation, et appelle à chercher ailleurs que dans la fable des réponses aux énigmesposées par la mise en récit. La découverte d’échos et résonances verbales entre des oracles précédents et la mise en récit des personnages permet de reconstruire la causalité des jugements divins exprimés dans les oracles. Ce résultat exégétique rencontre la catégorie théologique de la révélation, remettant en cause les paradigmes sur lesquels elle s’est construite tant aux débuts du christianisme qu’à Vatican ii. L’interprétation théologique des capacités acquises par le lecteur offre alors une nouvelle assise pour penser la révélation de la paternité de Dieu / This thesis is interested in how oracles are inserted in a narration in the book of Jeremiah (Jr) ; for this purpose the oracles destined to five secondary characters are analyzed by reframing them into their narrative context. Since the diachronic studies, which were the majority in the xxth century, cannot account for the meaning of the final stage of the text of Jr in a satisfying manner, this research takes part to the synchronic way of analyzing this book developed in the last decades. Before the intended analysis, two preambles must be studied, at the crossing of narrative theory, Hebrew syntax, and specificities of Jr : the characteristics and relations of the literary forms of narration and reported speech ; the different types of characters along the history of literature and the best-fitted categories for analyzing Jr’s characters. Then are studied the oracles intended for Pashhur son of Immer, Ebed-Melech, Baruch, Gedaliah, and Zedekiah. The « character-effect » soon appears to be quite limited, calling for a solution situated out of the fabula to the puzzle created by the narration. The causality for the divine judgments expressed in the oracles can be reconstructed thanks to the discovery of verbal echoes and resonances between preceding oracles and the narrativization of characters. This exegetical result intersects with the theology of revelation and challenges the paradigms upon which it was built both at the beginning of Christianism and at Vatican ii. The thinking of the revelation of the paternity of God can be founded anew upon a theological interpretation of the reader’s new capacities

The times of Jeremiah were characterized by the spirit of imperial expansionism. Assyria had just collapsed and Babylon was quickly filling the vacuum. On the other hand Jeremiah was proclaiming doom on the nation because breaking the covenant. Which covenant? The covenant made during the reforms of Josiah. Was it the Davidic covenant or the Sinai Covenant? This research answers these questions and concludes that it was the Sinai covenant that was broken in Jeremiah 11 and led to the deportation into exile. * Chapter 1 outlines the challenge. The problem statement, the hypothesis and the purpose are outlined. * Chapter 2 delves into the challenges and problems pertaining to the study of Jeremiah. These are the historicity of Jeremiah, the ideological Jeremiah and the authorship of the book of Jeremiah. The deuteronomistic influence and the theme of Jeremiah are also examined. * Chapter 3 is a study of the origin and history of the covenant. Here the pentateuchal roots of the covenant are traced form the election of Abraham to the Sinai covenant. * Chapter 5 is a survey of the political and religious context of Jeremiah to determine whether Jeremiah experienced the times prior to the deportation. In this chapter attention is paid to the deuteronomic reform, the covenant with David and the Davidic ideology. The challenge in this chapter is the date of when Jeremiah commenced his ministry. This is due to the fact that Jeremiah is not consulted when the book is discovered in the temple. The prophetess Huldah is consulted by Josiah the king. * Chapter 6 is a focus on Jeremiah 11. The process of identifying which covenant was broken in Jeremiah 11 begins with the examination of the literary genre of the chapter. The Deuteronomistic influence is also taken into account. The three key Sinai phrases which point to the Sinai covenant are outlined in detail leading to the conclusion that Jeremiah pointed Israel to the fact that the impending disaster was a result of their violation of the Sinai covenant. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M. Div. (Old Testament)