Canons in Conflict: Negotiating Texts in True and False Prophecy

by James E. Brenneman

Overview

In this new study, James Brenneman confronts the issue of conflicting canons with full force, incorporating insights gained from both literary and biblical disciplines on the question of canon. He begins with an illuminating tour through contemporary literary theory from Hans Robert Jauss to Stanley Fish, and current discussions in theology about the canon. He goes on to a consideration of true and false prophesy, with a detailed examination of the three apparently conflicting versions of the Old Testament "swords into plowshares" prophesy, as found in Isaiah 2:2-4,5; Joel 4:9-12 (Eng. 3:9-12); and Micah 4:1-5. Suggesting that the dynamics controlling the process for negotiating between contradictory readings of prophetic texts are the same as those at work in adjudicating between canons in conflict, Brenneman concludes by pointing the way towards an integrative approach appropriate to the question of canon and authority in a "post-modern" pluralistic context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195355192
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/29/1997
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1570L (what's this?)
File size:	611 KB

About the Author

Episcopal School of Theology at Claremont

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	xv
	Introduction: Engaging the Battle	3
Part I	Contradiction, Community, And Canon
1	Contradiction and Intertextuality	13
	Prophet against Prophet	13
	Contradiction: The Nature of Reality and Canonical Process	16
	Intertextuality and Canonical Hermeneutics	17
	Conclusions: Canon and Chaos	25
2	Reader Response and Community of Interpretation	28
	The Bible as Story	28
	Reader-Response Criticism	29
	The Community of Interpretation	38
	Conclusions: The Readers' Canon	43
3	The Fall and Rise of Canons	52
	The Fall of the Canon: The Problem of Canon	52
	The Rise of Canons and Their Canonical Communities	64
	Conclusions: God and Canon Power	74
Part II	Negotiating Readings In True And False Prophecy
4	True and False Prophecy in Canonical Criticism	83
	The Unfolding Story of Research in True and False Prophecy	84
	The Ethos of Mythos and the Politics of Canon	93
	Conclusions: Truth in Canon Politics	106
5	Swords into Plowshares into Swords	111
	Negotiating Readings: Rationale and Method	111
	Tradition-Gestalt and the Reader	114
	The Tradition-Gestalt of the Plowshare Passages	114
	Canon as Function: Diachronic Readings of the Plowshare Passages	118
	Canon as Context: Synchronic Reading of the Plowshare Passages	132
	Conclusions: Canon Hermeneutics	133
6	A Final Reading: Which Prophet? Whose Truth?	136
	Postscript: Instead of a Conclusion	137
	"Here I Stand": Under the Authority of the Community	140
	Notes	149
	Bibliography	197
	Index	219

Editorial Reviews

Literally taking pages from the secular debate over pluralism and the Western literary canon (<`a> la Harold Bloom), Brenneman (Pasadena Mennonite Church; Episcopal Theological School, Claremont, CA) applies canonical criticism to conflicting interpretations of the sacred Canon. With his postmodern, sociopolitical lens upon the problematic Old Testament "swords into plowshares" prophecy (as diversely proclaimed in Isaiah, Joel, and Micah), the author proposes an inductive study and ethical negotiation among text, context, and communities of readers. In other words, an inclusive, rigorous quest for a consensus on the important questions is as vital as any answers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"An extremely well-done piece of work....He makes a real contribution through his clarity about the relationship between literary theory and canon criticism, as well as how those issues are related to true and false prophecy. Moreover, his willingness to take on what might be one of the hardest cases—that of the plowshare text—is exemplary for its candor as well as how he provides an example of such readings."—Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University

From the Publisher