The bible remains one of the major literary achievements of human history, comprising over 60 documents, with as many contributors, and composed over many centuries. In this book, Michael Fishbane approaches the Hebrew Bible from a literary point of view. He demonstrates how, just as orators use particular techniques such as repetition and pause to convey their message in the way they require, the Hebrew Bible authors used a range of literary devices to communicate a religious message applicable to particular historical moments, each with their own political, moral and theological contexts.

In this important book, Shaw deploys a rigorous and systematic rhetorical analysis in the service of a reconstruction of the historical setting of each of the discourses in Micah. Unlike Muilenburg's 'rhetorical criticism', this approach focuses on the persuasiveness of the discourses, the means by which the author achieves his goal. Among Shaw's tools is the concept of the 'rhetorical situation'. It involves not only the question of the identity of the narratees, but also 'objective' factors like events, conditions and attitudes to which the discourse responds and 'subjective' factors like the speaker's own view of the situation. For each discourse the author analyses its goals and strategy, determining the structure of the speeches, the function of each part in the persuasiveness of the speech, the kinds of proof and the style utilized in order to achieve the author's goals.

Vertaald en ingeleid door Dr. P. Smits.