Ronald L. Troxel. Prophetic Literature: From Oracles to Books. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 288 pp., $39.95 (paperback).
Ronald L. Troxel (Professor of Hebrew at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) provides a succinct, clear, and praiseworthy introduction to prophetic literature. As is clear through the title of the books, he utilizes a diachronic and synchronic approach to interpreting prophetic literature in the Hebrew Bible. His presentation illustrates how scribes modified, combined, and synchronized various oracles overtime in order to fit their own social and religious context(s).
His concluding paragraph to the end of his focus on the minor prophets, prior to moving forward to the major prophets, provides the fullest view into the heart and soul of his work:
…prophet books are not primarily oracle repositories. They are literary works composed by many contributing scribes. Even though each book is ascribed to a particular prophet, they are prominently literary improvisations on…
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