Reading Jeremiah: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Reading the Old Testament | RtOT)
Overview
In this new volume from the Reading the Old Testament commentary series, biblical scholar Corrine Carvalho explores the book of Jeremiah—where books are burned in the palace and the temple is a jail. Reflecting the ways that communal tragedy permeates communal identity, the book of Jeremiah as literary text embodies the confusion, disorientation, and search for meaning that all such tragedy elicits. Just as the fall of Jerusalem fractured the Judean community and undercut every foundation on which it built its identity, so too the book itself (or more properly, the scroll) jumbles images, genres, and perspectives. Carvalho’s study of the book of Jeremiah engages the text as a collection of literature. To be sure, some of this literature has roots in oral performance, but it comes down to us as a written text. It is a complex collection, however, with little inherent cohesion. In fact, it has been preserved in two different arrangements, one found in the Hebrew version and the other in the Greek. Both versions presume that the audience hears this material against a particular historical backdrop. This book fleshes out Jeremiah’s historical horizon, but it does so in order to clarify the literature rather than as an end in itself.
Top Highlights
“This lament opens with Jeremiah charging God with seduction” (Page 64)
“They placed on the throne Mattaniah, another son of Josiah and thus an uncle of Jehoiakin (597–587; 2 Kgs 24:18–25:21; 2 Chr 36:11–21), and Mattaniah changed his name to Zedekiah. Most biblical texts, including Jeremiah, refer to him as a king (e.g., 2 Kgs 24:18 introduces him as a king), but Jehoiakin is also still called the king, even though he is in exile in Babylon (Seitz 1989a, 121–63).” (Page 3)
“Instead, it is Judah’s God who controls Babylon. In a brilliant rhetorical move, the passage” (Page 87)
- Title: Reading Jeremiah: A Literary and Theological Commentary
- Author: Corrine L. Carvalho
- Series: Reading the Old Testament Series
- Publisher: Smyth & Helwys
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Jeremiah › Commentaries
- Resource ID: LLS:ROT24JE
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-04-18T15:22:41Z