Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of Discourse in Ezekiel's Prophecy
In
this original study, Dr Davis argues that Ezekiel's place in the
history of prophecy is overdue for reassessment. As against current
views that Ezekiel represents the collapse of prophetism into priestly
and scribal forms, she argues that something radically different in
prophecy begins with Ezekiel. Ezekiel represents the creation of a new
literary idiom for prophecy. He develops an archival speech form
oriented less toward current events than to reshaping the tradition. He
has taken a step backward from direct confrontation with an audience as
the basic dynamic of communication, and has made the medium of prophecy
not the person of the prophet but the text. Like the postexilic
prophets, Ezekiel participated in the transformation of the social role
of prophecy, and thereby saved himself from oblivion.
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