Prophetic Oracles of Salvation in the Old Testament is a comprehensive and innovative assessment of these often ignored or misunderstood canonical texts. Claus Westermann shows that these oracles occur in distinct forms and make up a coherent tradition. He goes on to demonstrate that these texts, often percieved only as a message of judgement and doom, in fact proclaim hope and deliverance as well.

"Prophetic Oracles of Salvation in the Old Testament" is a comprehensive and innovative assessment of these often ignored or misunderstood canonical texts. Claus Westermann shows that these oracles occur in distinct forms and make up a coherent tradition. He goes on to demonstrate that these texts, often percieved only as a message of judgement and doom, in fact proclaim hope and deliverance as well.

The prophetic message awakens the people of God and calls them back from their perverse ways. But the history of the investigation of prophecy shows that the understanding of these messages has changed profoundly over time. Claus Westermann provides indications of the astonishing differences in the conceptions of prophecy in the history of its interpretation.

Drawing on documents including the Old Testament itself, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament, the writings of Philo and Josephus, and the works of the early Church Fathers, Barton arrives at a series of controversial conclusions about the composition of the canon in the post-exilic period, the relation of "apocalyptic" to prophecy, and even the applicability of the term "prophet" to the classical prophets themselves.--from publisher's description.

The prophetic books of the Old Testament offer a fascinating collection of oracles, poetic images, and theological ideas. Among the most prominent themes are those of judgment and salvation, especially concerning the fate of Zion. This place, where the people of God dwell, is alternately presented as either the object of divine wrath or the image of a salvific ideal. Representing Zion provides a thorough and critical study of the images of Zion in the entire prophetic literature of the Old Testament. The book challenges traditional interpretations of Zion and offers a fresh exploration of the literary and theological nature of the biblical writings. Zion has largely been treated by scholars as an image of the inviolable city consistently and unambiguously used by Old Testament authors. Representing Zion reveals the Zion motif to be contested, complex and profoundly theological—a reflection of the ambiguous role of YHWH as judge and saviour.

Thorough study of Israel's prophetism, including covenant and the law in the prophets, prediction in prophecy, Jesus the promised Christ of the prophets, and more.

This work is concerned with the influence of biblical and prophetic traditions on the author of the book of Revelation, and in particular his use of the prophecies of Isaiah. First, John's own prophetic consciousness and expression is compared with previous Israelite-Jewish and early Christian prophetic conventions. This is followed by an evaluation of John's use of the OT in general, including a discussion of methodology for isolating allusions, the question of the validity of the terms quotation and allusion in Revelation, and the presence of thematic patterns in the author's choice of Scripture. All this is foundational to the main portion of the work (Ch. III), where a detailed analysis is undertaken to determine the validity of all proposed allusions to Isaiah in the book of Revelation. Of the 72 suggested allusions treated, 40 were judged as certain or virtually certain, 24 were considered as unlikely or doubtful, and 8 were appraised as probable or possible. Those allusions which were accepted received further evaluation to see how and why they were used by John, with special attention given to the tradition-history of the passage used, and the possible interpretative techniques employed. A variety of exegetical and literary devices were uncovered, including the use of catchwords, inclusio, repetition of texts, exploitation of Hebrew parallelism, and the collection of texts around a central theme. Furthermore, John's use of Isaiah is concentrated in basic areas, with clusters of Isaiah texts appearing in specific sections of Revelation. The principal Isaian themes with which he is interested are holy war and the Day of the Lord, oracles against the nations, and salvation prophecies relating to the community of faith and the restored and glorified Jerusalem. It was concluded that on the whole, John's use of Isaiah is not random, and he does not use the OT texts merely as a visionary resource for language, phrases, structural patterns etc. But he consciously carries on the prophecies of his biblical predecessors and invokes their authority. The remnants and results of John's interpretation of Isaiah presuppose exegetical activity and application prior to the vision experience and it is likely that at least some of his intended readers were familiar not only with his theological concerns, but also with his methodological approach.