Publisher's Synopsis
The Oxford Handbook of Hosea is a collection of essays that provide resources for the interpretation of the book of Hosea. The volume examines interpretive elements and approaches that are deemed essential for interpretation or that are representative of significant trends in present and future study. Each essay addresses one particular element or approach and will critically survey prior scholarship before presenting current and prospective approaches. In many ways, research on the book of Hosea is representative of the developments and current trends in prophetic study as a whole. Hence, while dedicated to the book of Hosea, the collection of essays in this volume provides a snapshot of what today's fully orbed scholarship on a prophetic book should look like. The collection begins with background-oriented essays that discuss the history, text, and compositional growth of Hosea. The volume includes a section of essays that survey established and emerging perspectives on key representative texts from the book. The essays then treat the book of Hosea's major theological and literary elements, themes, and motifs before moving on to examine diverse interpretive theories, contexts, and approaches. The final group of essays in the volume investigates major trends in the reception history of Hosea, including the book's use in popular movies and novels, as well as Asian and African American interpretation. The Handbook provides state-of-the-art essays for graduate students and scholars on a wide variety of key subject areas relating to the interpretation of the book of Hosea.
