Joyce Rilett Wood
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 337
Who Present, Past & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk’d among the ancient trees.
William Blake, Songs of Experience,
Plate 30: Introduction
Copyright © 2002 Sheffield Academic Press
A Continuum imprint
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-84127-244-2
Poem One (1:1a, 3–5, 6–8, 13–15; 2.1–3, 6–8, 13–16)
Poem Five (5:10–12, 18–20, 21–24)
Poem Seven (7:1–3, 4–6, 7–9; 8:1–3a, 4–6, 9–10)
Prophecy as a Performing Art and the Emergence of Book Culture
The Comic Structure of the Book
Structure of the Cycle and the Book
Linguistic Evidence for Dramatic Composition
Evidence for Historical Writing
Prophetic Tradition and Cultural Context
Dialogue with History and Prophecy
Poetic Dialogue in the Greek World
The Day of Yahweh and the Greek Analogy
From Song Culture to Book Culture
To David Harry Wood
in loving memory
This book is based on my dissertation (Toronto School of Theology, 1993) but it has been rewritten, edited and updated to reflect current scholarship and my present understanding of the subject.
Sheffield Academic Press has made this volume take shape according to my hopes, and I am appreciative of the co-operative spirit and labour of the editorial staff.
The doctoral version of the book was read by Paul E. Dion, William H. Irwin, Brian Peckham, Gerald T. Sheppard and Robert R. Wilson, and I am thankful for their helpful evaluations. I am also indebted to classicist John H. Corbett for reading the comparative sections and even more for his ongoing support and encouragement.
It is no more than the truth to say that without Brian Peckham this book would not exist. His own critical theories ...
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About Amos in Song and Book CultureThis study argues that the gist and movement of the prophecy in the book of Amos can be attributed to Amos himself, who composed a coherent cycle of poetry. His dire predictions came after the Fall of Samaria but before the Fall of Jerusalem. Writing a century later, the author of the book preserved but updated Amos’s text by fitting it into a developing literary, historical and prophetic tradition. Amos is used as a test case to show that prophecy originated in the performing arts but was later transformed into history and biography. The original prophecy is a song Amos recited at symposia or festivals. The book’s interest focuses on the performer and his times. |
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