Bernhard Anderson has written a commentary that gives new perspective and clarity to the prophetic tradition and demonstrates the timely nature of the prophets' messages for today. 'The Eighth Century Prophets' treats the four Old Testament figures as a 'prophetic quartet' that produced a powerful and startling consensus about Israel's relationship to God and the world. The core of the prophetic message is shown to be both religious and political as Anderson describes and explains the great themes of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah: divine judgment, the present and the future, justice and mercy, the covenant, walking humbly with God, and waiting for God. Included is a bibliography and time chart of Eighth Century Israel.

In this powerful sociological introduction, D. N. Premnath brings together the social reality of eighth century B.C.E. Israel and Judah and the prophetic oracles of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah to explore the significance of their prophetic message and vision in today's context. He focuses on various dimensions of land accumulation by the upper class and its effect on the poor. Premnath uniquely uses a systemic sociological approach, incorporating both comparative and historical data to reconstruct the social reality of the period and to reveal aspects of the oracles not covered by previous exegesis. The sociohistorical section will be of keen interest to students as well as to scholars.

This book is an outgrowth of the Dahood Memorial Lectures delivered at the University of Michingan 1983. It attempts four things... it speculates on the significate of this evedence for studies in the production and trasmission of the text.

Wood focuses on the prophets' daily circumstances to illuminate their message. Covers both the writing and non-writing prophets, including Miriam and Elijah.

"Although the Israelite prophets lived and spoke centuries ago, their message still resonates in this twenty-first century. Joan Cook captures the essence of these prophetic messages. She does so with an eye toward careful biblical scholarship: historical and political considerations, chronological timelines, and literary patterns. But Cook moves beyond the important scholarly study to consider how prophetic messages speak to the religious, pastoral, and socio-economic concerns of our time. Hear anew these prophetic messengers and discover the practical - and challenging - implications of their words for today."--BOOK JACKET.

The prophets remain figures of enduring interest and importance in contemporary Judaism, Christianity, and even secular society. The Prophets introduces students to the rise of prophecy in ancient Israel, possible ancient Near Eastern parallels, the messages of individual prophets, and the significance of the compositional and editorial history of the prophetic writings. The book guides students into leading questions and issues in contemporary scholarship, and surveys different contemporary approaches to the messages of the prophets. Part 1 introduces the prophets and prophecy in context. The rise of prophecy, the role of the prophet, key themes, and the fate of prophecy are explored. Part 2 profiles Israel's prophets during the eighth century, the exile, and the postexilic period. This section will also look at each book of the prophets and how the prophetic writings fit within the complete Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. These chapters also provide insights into interpreting the prophetic writings today, including Jewish and Christian interpretations, prophecy and prediction, and the secular legacy of Israelite prophecy. This textbook includes numerous images, charts, and maps to enhance the experience of the students.

"Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth, was chosen by God to conceive and give birth to his only Son, Jesus Christ, as foretold by the Old Testament prophets. At the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus A.D. 431) Orthodox bishops proclaimed that the Virgin Mary had contained God himself in her womb and, therefore, should be praised as "Birth-giver of God" for her essential role in the mystery of the Incarnation." "At the Church's recognition of her place in christological doctrine, popular veneration of the Virgin grew and feastdays commemorating her began to be added to the Constantinopolitan Church calendar. The twelve sermons translated in this volume are the work of eighth-century preachers John of Damascus, Germanos of Constantinople, Andrew of Crete, John of Euboea, and Kosmas Vestitor and were likely preached in the course of all-night vigils for the feasts in honor of the Virgin."--BOOK JACKET.