Prophecy And Canon: Theology (Studies of Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity, No 3)

PROPHECY AND CANON A Contribution to the Study of Jewish Origins JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP Winner of a National Religious Book Award "This is an important book, not only as a contribution to the study of Jewish origins, as the subtitle says, but more, for the author's approach to the Hebrew Bible as canon. Blenkinsopp has applied the insights of sociological studies, particularly those of Max Weber and Otto Polger, to study the canon. In showing that canon functions at the very center of one of the most basic conflicts in a religious community, and in fact functions to preserve tension rather than to settle the conflict, Blenkinsopp has made an important contribution to the study of canon." -Journal of Biblical Literature "Joseph Blenkinsopp dives head on into the question. He portrays the prophets in a very authentic role of interpreting earlier laws and traditions so that these continue to be normative and unifying guides amid new problems and possibilities. " -The Bible Today "This study is systematic in approach and yet views the Old Testament from within itself and not from purely Christian perspectives. It forms an imaginative and scholarly reconstruction of the process of canonization that provides a badly-needed ecumenical dimension to the question of scriptural authority." -Theological Studies JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Among his many books are "A Sketchbook of Biblical Theology," "Sexuality and the Christian Tradition," "Gibeon and Israel," and "Scripture Discussion Commentary: Pentateuch."