Interpreting the Prophets: Reading, Understanding and Preaching from the Worlds of the Prophets

by Aaron Chalmers

Publisher:

SPCK

, 2015

Overview

The prophetic books are some of the most captivating and fascinating texts of the Old Testament. They are also some of the most misunderstood. This book equips the reader with the knowledge and skills they need to interpret the Prophets in a faithful and accurate fashion. Aaron Chalmers leads the reader through the various ‘worlds’ of Israel’s prophets – historical, social, theological and rhetorical – providing the basic contextual and background information needed both for sound and sensible exegesis and for sensitive interpretation and application to today.

The book concludes with a helpful chapter giving guidelines for preaching from the Prophets – including advice on choosing the texts, identifying appropriate analogies, and the potential problems and common pitfalls to avoid.

Key Features

• Equips the reader with the knowledge and skills they need to interpret the Prophets.
• Leads the reader through the various ‘worlds’ of Israel’s prophets.
• Concludes with a helpful chapter giving guidelines for preaching from the Prophets.

Praise for Interpreting the Prophets

The whole is a student-friendly guide that I will gladly adopt forthwith as recommended reading to accompany a course on the prophets. It is the combination of compressed introduction and the emphasis on developing tools for further interpretation that makes it work. Whereas many guides seem to imagine leisurely classes that wend their canonical way through text after text, the reality of theological education today is that Chalmers’s six chapters will probably match up to the full extent of most such courses. The book would also be an admirable refresher for those whose studies were longer ago.

--Richard S. Briggs

This book can be recommended as a short and easily readable introduction to the prophetic books, it does not try and go through the prophets one by one or in chronological order: rather it is divided up into easily comprehensible themes that extend across all the prophetical books of the Bible. It starts by considering what is a prophet and what makes a prophetic book; reflecting on modern ‘prophets’ and prophecy elsewhere. The author then loos at their historical, theological and rhetorical backgrounds. For example, he considers who a phrase ‘cows of Bashan’ is meaningless without its historical context. The use of language by the prophets to proclaim their message and influence the hearers is well covered. The chapter on apocalyptic writings looks at the dangers of trying to apply such sayings to modern times. However, he also brings out the peril of pinning them down such that they no longer speak to us today. The last chapter – a very useful set of guidelines for preaching on the prophets – should be beneficial to all Readers.

--Tim Whittle

Product Details

• Title: Interpreting the Prophets
• Author: Aaron Chalmers
• Publisher: SPCK
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 187
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Bible. O.T. Prophets; Prophets › Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780281069040, 9780281069057, 0281069042, 0281069050
• Resource ID: LLS:NTRPRTNGPPRPHTS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-09T17:47:24Z

About Aaron Chalmers

Aaron Chalmers, (PhD, Flinders University) is head of the School of Ministry, Theology and Culture at Tabor Adelaide, a multidenominational, evangelical college located in Adelaide, Australia. He teaches in the field of Old Testament and hermeneutics and is passionate about helping Christians to engage with the Hebrew Scriptures. He is the author of Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel: Prophet, Priest, Sage and People and is a member of the international Society of Biblical Literature. He is married with four children and currently attends Blackwood Church of Christ.