The objective of this course is to present exegetical problems pertinent to the prophetical literature of the Old Testament. Prophetical texts were often composed in poetic forms. With its peculiar vocabulary and in most cases specific linguistic structures, prophecy forms a distinctive type of literature in the Bible. In poetry we often deal with shorter pericopes that were composed independently from each other. These independent units were subsequently brought together by redactors in larger collections and books. As a consequence, the final forms of these texts superimpose several rhetorical and theological strata. Accordingly, the analysis of these texts takes its start from the final form and digs deeper towards recovering earlier meanings of the individual subunits.

As a case study, this course is concerned with the Book of Habakkuk in particular, which was composed probably sometime during the 6th century B.C. This prophetic book is connected to an era of utmost significance for Judah and its inhabitants. During this century the identity of its people is challanged by several important historical changes, such as the collapse of temple and society. But it was also the era of a national revival during which the ancient literary heritage of Judah was collected and reevaluated. The Book of Habakkuk illustrates well how this process of rereading opens up new questions for the interpretation. The course begins with an overview of the scholarship on Habakkuk, highlighting the main problems pertinent to this book, which shall be more closely dealt with when analysing the individual pericopes.