Robert Coote describes the stages of growth of the book of Amos, discussing the process of the book's gradual formation. Chapter One introduces Coote's approach, rationale, and method for his analysis. Chapter Two deals with the oracles of doom, basically the oral legacy of the prophet himself. Chapter Three shows how the words of Amos were reactualized and composed in their seventh century setting. Chapter Four comes to grips with the book of Amos as a theological whole, as it now stands in the biblical canon. This book also serves as a useful resource for understanding pre-exilic prophecy because of the many similarities between Amos's message and other prophetic traditions which Coote highlights.

Robert Coote describes the stages of growth of the book of Amos, discussing the process of the book's gradual formation. Chapter One introduces Coote's approach, rationale, and method for his analysis. Chapter Two deals with the oracles of doom, basically the oral legacy of the prophet himself. Chapter Three shows how the words of Amos were reactualized and composed in their seventh century setting. Chapter Four comes to grips with the book of Amos as a theological whole, as it now stands in the biblical canon. This book also serves as a useful resource for understanding pre-exilic prophecy because of the many similarities between Amos's message and other prophetic traditions which Coote highlights.

The book of Amos holds a unique and central place among the canonical prophetic literature and presents a special array of issues for scholarly discussion. This book provides a thorough and balanced overview of the history of scholarship on the book of Amos, two essays that trace the history of scholarship and offer promising lines for further inquiry, a substantial anthology of readings of the multiple ways Amos has been analyzed and appropriated, an extensive and current bibliography, and notes on doctoral dissertations conducted in recent years. The result is a comprehensive compendium of resources for scholarly writing on the book of Amos.

In modern times Amos has come to be considered one of the most important prophets, mainly for his uncompromising message about social justice. This book provides a detailed exploration of this theme and other important elements of the theology underlying the book of Amos. It also includes chapters on the text itself, providing a critical assessment of how the book came to be, the original message of Amos and his circle, which parts of the book may have been added by later scribes, and the finished form of the book. The author also considers the book's reception in ancient and modern times by interpreters as varied as rabbis, the Church Fathers, the Reformers and liberation theologians. Throughout, the focus is on how to read the book of Amos holistically to understand the organic development of the prophet's message through the many stages of the book's development and interpretation.

Bernhard Anderson has written a commentary that gives new perspective and clarity to the prophetic tradition and demonstrates the timely nature of the prophets' messages for today. 'The Eighth Century Prophets' treats the four Old Testament figures as a 'prophetic quartet' that produced a powerful and startling consensus about Israel's relationship to God and the world. The core of the prophetic message is shown to be both religious and political as Anderson describes and explains the great themes of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah: divine judgment, the present and the future, justice and mercy, the covenant, walking humbly with God, and waiting for God. Included is a bibliography and time chart of Eighth Century Israel.