The Minor Prophets’ Relation to the Torah and Former Prophets

This essay tracks references to Israel’s past in the Minor Prophets as one avenue into exploring their connections to the Torah and Former Prophets, while also observing ways in which shared or similar traditions shape prophetic rhetoric. Key themes emerge, such as God’s character, apostasy and idolatry, covenant and judgment, and critique of power and leadership. Specific remarks, particularly in the last of the Twelve, indicate complex and innovative processes of the reinterpretation of Torah and prophecy. These derive canonical meaning when the Book of the Twelve is read in relation to the Torah and Former Prophets as authoritative collections.

Historical Economics and the Minor Prophets

This essay calls for a thorough reassessment of economics and the Minor Prophets. Since existing economic models based on both Marxism or (Neo-) liberalism are problematic as are many basic economic concepts, new theorizing based on ancient data is necessary. Taking Bourdieu’s “economic field” as a starting frame, this essay considers the material elements of production and consumption in the ancient southern Levant, their patterns and social structures, and some issues in the socioeconomic world of the Minor Prophets. These then raise new questions for sample prophetic passages (Amos, Joel, Haggai, Micah, and Zechariah). The essay points to some issues these considerations raise for analyzing the famous calls for social justice, and it closes by pointing in some potential directions for improved theoretical models in future research.

Textual History of the Minor Prophets

This essay discusses the textual history of the Minor Prophets in the Hebrew manuscripts and the Versions, excluding Qumran. The most important textual tradition for the Minor Prophets is the Hebrew Masoretic Text tradition from the medieval period (MT), which continues the earlier proto-masoretic textual tradition that is represented in the Qumran scrolls and is the basis of the translations of the Targums and Peshitta. The Septuagint (LXX) is the most important ancient Version of the Hebrew Bible, because it was the first complete translation and because its Hebrew source differed considerably from the other textual witnesses. Other important Versions of the Hebrew Bible are the Targums, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Latin Vulgate.

The Minor Prophets in Christianity

Due to Habakkuk’s ahistoricity, communities and interpreters throughout the ages have applied the prophetic book to their present situations and concerns. This essay follows in the interpretive footsteps of those who have come before by considering how Habakkuk might be a valuable resource to contemporary posttraumatic prophetic preachers in this present moment. Given the rising prevalence of mass shootings and gun violence in the United States, alongside seemingly endless occurrences of natural disasters, abuse, hate crimes, and other traumatic incidents, it is no longer a question of if a preacher or pastor will need to address trauma or a traumatized congregation, but when. The essay argues that Habakkuk may serve as a valuable resource to address contemporary homiletical concerns, specifically how preachers might conceive of “posttraumatic prophetic preaching” in the midst of congregations experiencing communal trauma. In particular, Habakkuk may help preachers as they seek to locate themselves and reflect on their communal responsibilities after a traumatic incident as well as provide an eschatological theological orientation from which to preach.

From “Historical” Prophets to Prophetic Books

This essay touches on the manifold ways in which sociocultural systemic features governed the construction of individual prophets in prophetic books and the ways in which these characters were remembered. It argues the case that the shift from “historical” prophets to prophetic figures in texts and memory in contemporary research calls also for stronger attention to be paid to sociocultural ecosystems and their substantial roles in the continuous production (through reading, and in the late Persian/early Hellenistic period, in addition by means of writing, composing, editing, etc.) and social “consumption” of the prophetic books and the prophets of memory that they served to evoke.

Obadiah

This essay touches on three topics: (1) the relation between Obadiah and Jeremiah not as an instance of one prophet quoting the other but as an example of both prophets quoting a traditional anthem; (2) the animosity between Edom and Judah in the book of Obadiah as not referring to Edom’s role during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem but reflecting postexilic struggles after the Edomite occupation of Southern Judah; and (3) Obadiah’s conceptual coherence as a separate book. The contribution ends with a few hermeneutical remarks on the violent character of vengeance.

Hosea

This essay begins by examining structure and cohesion in Hosea. It then reviews major themes and ideas in the book, including the marriage metaphor, the parent–child image, and the themes of the Exodus, wilderness, and “knowledge of God.” The essay concludes with a look at three contested issues: redaction in Hosea, the book as a product of Persian Yehud, and the Baal cult as an object of the prophet’s criticism. Challenging common views that the book addresses religious apostasy or syncretism, it suggests that some of Hosea’s criticisms of the cult may be essentially denunciations of foreign alliances which were ratified by ritual measures.

The Minor Prophets in Modern Culture

This essay considers the ways in which the Twelve appear in contemporary culture. These books present a challenge for the most skilled interpreters, and their obscurity proves an even greater challenge for more casual readers. It is not surprising that expressions related to the Minor Prophets in contemporary culture tend toward notable phrases or images and the sparse characters, like Hosea and Jonah, which readers find there. In many cases these elements eclipse the larger concerns in the prophetic literature and become primary themes unto themselves, such as war and peace, civil rights, or the apocalypse. The ancient Israelite prophets were odd reshapers of tradition themselves, though, so the forms in which they have found their way into modern contexts may be oddly fitting.

Amos

This essay engages various interpretations of Amos. Amos has conventionally been regarded as a paradigmatic prophet in scholarly and popular imagination, but recent scholarship has raised new questions and proposed alternative approaches to the book. Literary analysis highlights its sophistication as a work of prophetic poetry and its destabilizing effects on readers. Historical-critical inquiries are marked by increasing skepticism about reconstructions of Amos’s biography and background, and redactional studies now emphasize the book’s development as a literary composition for Judahite audiences. Ideological critiques challenge the straightforward acceptance of the book’s claims about justice and its cultic polemics, even as that rhetoric continues to appeal to readers in diverse global contexts. Ecological approaches illuminate new ways that the book resonates with contemporary concerns about environmental exploitation and the value of the nonhuman world.

The Minor Prophets and the Book of the Twelve in Late Eighteenth-Century through Early Twenty-First-Century Research

This essay traces and analyzes modern-critical scholarship on the Minor Prophets or Book of the Twelve Prophets from the late eighteenth century through the early twenty-first century. It differentiates between the Christian practice from the time of Jerome and Theodore of Mopsuestia that treated the Twelve as twelve individual Minor Prophets that were collected together and the Jewish practice of reading the Twelve as the Book of the Twelve Prophets. Early treatment of the Minor Prophets focuses especially on the early work of J. G. Eichhorn (1780–1783), W. M. L. de Wette (1817), F. Hitzig (1838), H. Ewald (1840–1841), and B. Duhm (1875, 1922). More modern treatment of the Book of the Twelve Prophets focuses especially on the work of K. Budde (1922), R. E. Wolfe (1935), D. Schneider (1979), O. H. Steck (1991, 1999), James D. Nogalski (1993, 2011), Jakob Wöhrle (2006, 2008), and the author (Sweeney 2000).