Knowing the End From the Beginning: The Prophetic, Apocalyptic, and their Relationship

Description

Much has been written on prophecy and apocalyptic in recent decades, but the relationship between the two has been little explored. A major explicit debate on the question is very much needed and is now provided here. This collection of essays addresses the subject from a variety of points of view, including the issues of definitions, ancient Near Eastern 'prophecies', social anthropology, place of the temple, and modern apocalyptic movements. The Introduction summarizes the individual essays and then engages the contributors in a debate on the main points relevant to the topic. It argues that many scholars operate with subconscious assumptions about how apocalyptic writings relate to the prophetic writings but that many of these assumptions now need to be questioned in the light of the essays in this volume. Such a comprehensive attempt to tackle the main theoretical issues arising from the study of the prophetic and the apocalyptic has not been attempted for some time. Most of the contributors are already well known for their contribution to scholarship on prophecy, apocalypticism, or both. This volume brings fresh questions and insights that both specialists and students will want to consider.

Lester L. Grabbe is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull. He is founder and convenor of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology. A recent book is Ancient Israel:What Do We Know and How Do We Know it? Robert D. Haak is Professor of Religion, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.

"This collection is a must read for serious students of apocalyptic literature....it does clarify several points of debate and offers the opinions of most of today's finest scholars of apocalyptic literature and its relationship to prophecy." -The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005