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33+ obres 552 Membres 4 Ressenyes

Sobre l'autor

Marvin A. Sweeney is professor of Hebrew Bible at Claremont School of Theology and professor of Tanak at the Academy for Jewish Religion California. He is vice president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew.

Obres de Marvin A. Sweeney

The twelve prophets (2000) 20 exemplars
New Visions of Isaiah (JSOT Supplement) (1996) — Editor; Col·laborador — 18 exemplars
The Pentateuch (2017) 3 exemplars

Obres associades

The Blackwell Companion to Judaism (2000) — Col·laborador — 65 exemplars
Among the Prophets (JSOT Supplement) (1993) — Col·laborador — 16 exemplars
After Ezekiel : essays on the reception of a difficult prophet (2011) — Col·laborador — 6 exemplars
Cyrus the Great: Life and Lore (2019) — Col·laborador — 6 exemplars

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Ressenyes

Sweeney's entry in Abingdon's IBT series presents a good summation of current critical scholarship on the prophetic books with a nice sensitivity to the impact of literary structure and canonical placement on the overall theological message of each prophetic book. Though Sweeney is very careful not to "tip his hand" on his opinions of the various compositional theories (using phrases like "Many scholars think..." or "Most scholars agree..."), it is clear that he has no particular issues with the various current reconstructions. While such an approach is perfectly fine, in and of itself, it creates this rather odd contradiction of side-by-side "synchronic" and "diachronic" readings that never really reconcile with each other. To a conservative eye like mine, it looks very much like, "Here's what the prophetic book ACTUALLY says...and here's what critical scholars speculate it SHOULD HAVE said." For example, Sweeney notes that many scholars think Zechariah's vision of Joshua's enthronement was ORIGINALLY a vision of Zerubbabel's enthronement...though there is no real textual evidence for such an assumption. Sweeney does not succeed very well in making the historical reconstructions and various compositional theories sound convincing. I found myself wondering at points how much Sweeney himself believed in the theories he was explaining or if he was simply obliged to include them; there was a decided lack of "enthusiasm" in the claims about the compositional processes that actually works, I think, AGAINST the book.

Sweeney, however, is one of the few critical scholars who maintains a good theological sense of the text as a whole, able to trace in broad strokes (as a survey requires) the overarching messages and themes, their interconnections and echoes, as well as their distinctives and even disagreements with each other. I think Sweeney's scholarly gifts shine particularly bright in his presentation of the Minor Prophets as a single "Book of the Twelve," especially when he demonstrates how the different ordering of the books give the LXX and MT versions of the Twelve very distinctive theological emphases. (Sweeney has carried this work forward in MUCH greater detail in his 2 volume commentary on the Minor Prophets in the Berit Olam series.)

My rating of the book has more to do with my rather low opinion of most compositional theories as exercises in futile speculation; they are interesting, of course, but in the end, cannot be proven or debunked...there simply is insufficient evidence to make those kind of judgments. Sweeney is a very capable writer, whose diction is clear and easy-to-read. I do not think this will be my first recommendation to a beginning scholar looking to acquaint themselves with the key interpretive issues and discussions in OT prophetic literature but it IS a survey worthy of at least one read, if for no other reason than to see clearly the contrast between diachronic and synchronic approaches to these texts.
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Jared_Runck | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jun 27, 2017 |
Five stars. Filled with insight and scholarship. Sweeney uses multiple forms of exegetics and exerts expertise in both synchronic and diachronic analyses. We know, with a certainty, that although Wellhausen was wrong about the order, he clearly showed that the Pentateuch had multiple authors with different agendas--as Israel faced different threats--and the Scripture was modified by polemic agendas.

Professor Sweeney walks through the Tanak, using Form analysis and explicating each Book of the "foundation for Jewish life, identity, practice, and thought from antiquity through contemporary life". The five books of Torah, or "instructions", are in turn the foundation of the Tanak. Torah was "revealed to the nation Israel at Mount Sinai". The four books of the Nevi'im Rishonim, the Former Prophets, account for time under Joshua until the Babylonian exile. The eleven books of the Ketuvim, or Writings, address aspects of worship, expectations, history, expressions. They were included "to be an intentional dialogue" essential to understand Torah and themselves, in the Past, Present, and Future.

Professor Sweeney also draws upon Christian disciplines of Old Testament theology, historical and cultural contexts, and major theological and hermeneutical questions. The Professor provides a guide for continuing reflection and dialogue among all interpreters of sacred literature.

For example, by the 1900s in Germany, the Christians began to emerge from their schismatic obsessions. Even as to theTanak, Julius Wellhausen – 1889 -- observes that the logic and ordering of text in the Tanak fits patterns consistent with different authorship or sources. He sought to establish sequence and imposed chronologies over these segments. His categories are still in use today, although he was wrong about the order. Curiously, he gave great weight to differences in divine names, not as Holy names but as Sources using different names for G-d. Yet he himself indulged a change in the spelling of YHWH to JHWH because it was more convenient for his Teutonic pronunciation.

According to Wellhausen theory, the Elohim (“E”) narratives show a Deity with increased moral perception. E only speaks thru Angels or brush, to Israel elites from the tribe of Ephraim; high point of northern Israel, 8th cent. G-d The Jehovah narratives (“J”) are sourced in House of Judah – North -- but E source is Israel/ tribe dominated by tribe of Epraim. Jahweh ("J" or “Y” or YHWH) is associated with face-to-face relations and talking animals. An anthropomorphic god, sourced in Judah. The Priestly source, (“P”) is associated with King Josiah, a Davidian monarch, pious, who sought the independence of Israel from Assyria, and started religious reforms and temple renovation. The relationship with god is not face-to-face, nor mediated by angels, but by a priesthood. Wellhausen could connect 7th century BCE with Josiah and the Babylonian exile. He found the polemic Priestly portions.

Once the polemics are found, then the shifts start to become more clear. And of course, the next stage is the Maimonidean -- hidden styles of writing which conceal truth. And this hidden Truth emerges: There is No God (he has No Name), but what is within us. We need a Religion better than what has served us in the past in order to unite the people and empower Justice. The point of Religion is to raise the level of conduct of ourselves and our leaders. I studied this book while experiencing the tragic spectacle of the Election of 2016.

OK, this last paragraph is not expressly stated in this text; it is my own "fuller reading" of this rich guide to Sacred Text.
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keylawk | Sep 23, 2016 |
As advertised, a form critical breakdown of Isaiah 1-39 along with the author's commentary on the text, its setting, and its intention.

The genre of prophetic literature is introduced in this volume, and then the author introduces the whole of Isaiah 1-39. He then will break down the book by section and subsection, providing analysis of the text, genre, setting, and intention of each. Bibliographies are presented throughout.

The analysis of form has benefit. Sweeney believes in composite authorship of Isaiah but, more so than other commentators, is willing to suggest Isaianic authorship of much of what is presented. He also analyzes the setting and intention of the material, in his view, as it would have existed in the 8th century BCE, the period of Josiah, the exile, and the period after the exile.

I have difficulties with the composite view, but could appreciate the analysis of the form of the text.
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deusvitae | Nov 17, 2010 |

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