The Prophetic Book of Jeremiah (I): Chapters 1-20

The lecture begins with various introductory issues, namely, authorship, date and destination, addressees, structure and outline. According to the outline, the first twenty chapters may be divided into three major blocks: God calls Jeremiah to service, Jeremiah narrates Judah’s sad condition and the wrestling of Jeremiah with humans and with God. In terms of the critical interpretation of Jeremiah, the following questions are tackled: prophecy or poetry, Deuteronomistic sermons, a Deuteronomistic edition and is Jeremiah from Jeremiah? Further topics to be discussed include: circumcision of the heart and the Confessions of Jeremiah.

Reading: