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Explores the aesthetic dimensions of biblical poetry, offering close readings of poems across the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
List of contents
Part I. The Psalms: 1. Words that devour: discursive praxes and structural strategies in Psalm 50 Carolyn J. Sharp; 2. 'Silence is praise': art and knowledge in Psalm 65 Elaine T. James; 3. The glory of creation in Psalm 104 Robert Alter; Part II. Poetry in Wisdom Literature: 4. Bildad lectures Job: a close reading of Job 8 Edward L. Greenstein; 5. Poetry as pedagogy in Proverbs 5 Anne W. Stewart; 6. The unity and futility of poetry in Qohelet Simeon Chavel; Part III. The Song of Songs: 7. Structure, sound, and sense: a close reading of chapter one of the Song of Songs Tod Linafelt; 8. How is a love poem (Song 4:1-7) like the beloved? The importance of emotion in reading biblical poetry Sarah Zhang; Part IV. Poetry in the Prophetic Books: 9. Isaiah's love song: a reading of Isaiah 5:1-7 F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp; 10. Poetry, language, and statecraft in Isaiah 18 J. Blake Couey; 11. The servant in poetic juxtaposition in Isaiah 49:1-13 Katie M. Heffelfinger; 12. 'It is a lamentation - it has become a lamentation!': subverting genre in Ezekiel 19 Sean Burt; 13. The enduring day of wrath: Zephaniah 1, the Sibylline Oracles, and the Dies Irae Julia M. O'Brien; Part V. Poetry in Biblical Narrative: 14. YHWH's poesie: the Gnadenformel (Exodus 34:6b-7), the book of Exodus, and beyond Brent A. Strawn; 15. The decipherment of sorrow: David's lament in 2 Samuel 1:17-27 Steven Weitzman.
About the author
J. Blake Couey is Associate Professor of Religion at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota. He is the author of Reading the Poetry of First Isaiah: The Most Perfect Model of the Prophetic Poetry (2015), and he is currently working on a commentary on Isaiah 1–39.Elaine T. James is Assistant Professor of Theology at St Catherine University, Minnesota. She is the author of Landscapes of the Song of Songs: Poetry and Place (2017), and is currently working on a handbook on biblical poetry, and a book on biblical aesthetics.
