The Prophetic Preamble: Its Structure and Relationship to the Prophetic Book

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This project examines the opening segment, or preamble, to each of the major prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible. By attending to the structure of the preamble, each essay illuminates its function as a strategic introduction to its book. More specifically, this volume will uncover the importance ascribed by the ancients to micro-structure in the introduction to the prophetic book. This micro-structure offered a meditative puzzle to the ancient reader, the unlocking of which would cast essential light on the macro-structure of the whole. Thus, attention to the poetics behind part-whole relations reveals a native literary competence that is critical to an historical understanding of the shape and argument strategy of the prophetic book. When complete, the findings of this project will be published as a monograph.

Project Coordinator

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Project Collaborators

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