Studies in the Book of Lamentations

by Norman K Gottwald

Overview

When published, this work on the Book of Lamentations opened a new wave of studies on that much neglected biblical book. After a fresh translation, followed by acute analyses of the acrostic form and literary genres, the author develops the two-fold theology of "doom" and "hope" that reverberates through the five laments composed during the exile to cope with the fall of Jerusalem.

Created for public performance, the poems artfully alternate the voices of the poet and the community, personified by turns as a forlorn widow (Fair Zion) and as an afflicted man (Jacob/Israel). The book attributes the catastrophe in part to the moral and social failures of Judah's leadership, but it also finds the enormity of the suffering beyond moral or theological explanation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606089811
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Series:	Scm's Studies in Biblical Theology, First , #14
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Norman K. Gottwald is a pioneer in the use of social science methods and models to interpret the Hebrew Bible. He taught at Columbia University, Andover Newton Theological School, and New York Theological Seminary before retiring to Berkeley, California, where he is Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Pacific School of Religion. As visiting lecturer, he has taught on all five continents. His major works are The Tribes of Yahweh, The Hebrew Bible—A Socio-Literary Introduction, The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours, and The Politics of Ancient Israel.

Table of Contents

Preface 6

Translation of the Book of Lamentations 7

Introdution 16

1 The Acrostic From 23

2 The Literary Type 33

3 The Key to the Theology of Lamentations 47

4 The Theology of Doom 63

5 The Theology of Hope 91

6 The Significance of Lamentations 112

Index of Biblical Referances 121