King Josiah of Judah is a figure of extraordinary importance for the history of Israel. Using synchronic and diachronic analyses of the Deuteronomistic History, Deuteronomy, and selected prophetic books, Marvin Sweeney reconstructs the ideological perspectives of King Josiah's program of religious and national restoration.

King Josiah of Judah: The Lost Messiah of Israel

Religion & Spirituality

Sweeney, Marvin A.

Christian Books & Bibles

Oxford University Press

This volume offers a close reading of the historical books of I and II Kings, concentrating on not only issues in the history of Israel but also the literary techniques of storytelling used in these books. Marvin A. Sweeney provides a major contribution to the prominent Old Testament Library series with advanced discussions of textual difficulties in the books of Kings as well as compelling narrative interpretations.
The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

I & II Kings (2007): A Commentary (Old Testament Library)

Westminster/John Knox Press

Now available in paperback, this volume offers a close reading of the historical books of I and II Kings, concentrating on not only issues in the history of Israel but also the literary techniques of storytelling used in these books. Marvin A. Sweeney provides a major contribution to the prominent Old Testament Library series with dvanced discussions of textual difficulties in the books of Kings as well as compelling narrative interpretations.
The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

Biblical Studies Biblical texts create worlds of meaning, and invite readers to enter them. When readers enter such textual worlds, which are often strange and complex, they are confronted with theological claims. With this in mind, the purpose of the Interpreting Biblical Texts series is to help serious readers in their experience of reading and interpreting by providing guides for their journeys into textual worlds. The controlling perspective is expressed in the operative word of the title--interpreting. The primary focus of the series is not so much on the world behind the texts or out of which the texts have arisen as on the worlds created by the texts in their engagement with readers. Although these books of the prophets are based upon the careers and experiences of some of the most talented and provocative individuals of their times, the books must be read first as literature. Each book displays its own unique organization, literary characteristics, and theological outlook in presenting the prophets. In the case of Jeremiah, interpreters must even consider two distinctive forms of the book in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint. By guiding the reader through the literary structure and language of each of the prophetic books as well as the social roles of the individual prophets, this volume opens the reader to greater understanding and appreciation of the prophets of Israel and Judah.

The Prophetic Literature: Interpreting Biblical Texts Series

ABINGDON PRESS *

Though "biblical theology" has long been considered a strictly Christian enterprise, Marvin A. Sweeney here proposes a Jewish theology of the Hebrew Bible, based on the importance of Tanak as the foundation of Judaism and organized around the major components: Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and Kethuvim (Writings). Sweeney finds the structuring themes of Jewish life: the constitution of the nation Israel in relation to God; the disruption of that ideal, documented by the Prophets; and the reconstitution of the nation around the Second Temple in the Writings. Throughout he is attentive to tensions within and among the texts and the dialogical character of Israel's sacred heritage.

TANAK: A Theological and Critical Introduction to the Jewish Bible

Fortress Press

Is theology possible after the Shoah? Marvin Sweeney challenges biblical theologians to take that question with utmost seriousness. Sweeney examines often ignored biblical texts where ancient Israel contemplated the problem of apparent divine absence and "divine evil," and finds the perspective of post-Holocaust theology an indispensable interpretive resource. In biblical stories like those of Abraham, Moses, Jeroboam, Manasseh, Josiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Esther, Job, and more, Sweeney finds the recognition "that human beings cannot always depend upon God to act to ensure righteousness in the world." The insistence, common among Holocaust theologians, that human beings must assume their own responsibility for doing justice and righteousness in the world is, Sweeney argues, powerfully present already in the Bible itself. This book is an important contribution to modern biblical theology and to Holocaust theology as well.

Reading the Hebrew Bible after the Shoah: Engaging Holocaust Theology

History

World

The Book of Zephaniah poses a full range of interpretive and hermenutical issues for the modern reader. Sweeney's keen reading of this small, prophetic book opens new doors for Hebrew Bible research. He situates the reading of Zephaniah in the early sixth century B.C.E. rather than the late seventh century B.C.E.
Sweeney's interpretation pays close attention to the often subtle differences between the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, Peshitta, and targums. His methodology includes form criticism, tradition history, and social history.

Zephaniah: A Commentary (Hermeneia)

Sweeney's work on the first 39 chapters of the Book of Isaiah is part of The Forms of the Old Testament Literature series which aims to present, according to a standard outline and methodology, a form-critical analysis of every book and each unit in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 1-39: An Introduction to Prophetic Literature (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (FOTL))

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source

Questions of how the divine presence is understood and interacts within the world have been around since the time of the biblical prophets. The Jewish mystical tradition conceives God as active, just, powerful, and present while allowing for divine limitation so as to understand the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people in their history. 
Jewish Mysticism surveys Jewish visionary and mystical experience from biblical and ancient Near Eastern times through the modern period and the emergence of modern Hasidism. Marvin Sweeney provides a comprehensive treatment of one of the most dynamic fields of Jewish studies in the twenty-first century, providing an accessible overview of texts and interpretative issues. 
Sweeney begins with the biblical period, which most treatments of Jewish mysticism avoid, and includes chapters on the ancient Near East, the Pentateuch, the Former Prophets and Psalms, the Latter Prophets, Jewish Apocalyptic, the Heikhalot Literature, the Sefer Yetzirah and early Kabbalistic Literature, the Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah and the Shabbetean Movement, and the Hasidic Movement. 
Placing Jewish apocalyptic literature into the larger development of ancient Jewish visionary and mystical experience, Sweeney fills gaps left by the important but outdated work of others in the field. Ideal for the scholar, student, or general reader, Jewish Mysticism provides readers with a fresh understanding of the particular challenges, problems, needs, and perspectives of Judaism throughout its history.

Jewish Mysticism: From Ancient Times through Today

Eerdmans

Isaiah 40–66, by Marvin A. Sweeney, is the nineteenth published volume in The Forms of Old Testament Literature (FOTL), a series that provides a form-critical analysis of the books and units in the Hebrew Bible. Building on his earlier FOTL volume Isaiah 1–39, Sweeney here presents his analysis of Isaiah 40–66 within both the synchronic literary form of Isaiah and the diachronic history of its composition. In keeping with the methodology and goals of the FOTL series, Isaiah 40–66 offers detailed examinations of the formal structure of the chapters covered; the genres that function within these chapters; the literary, historical, and social settings of the text; and the overall interpretation of Isaiah 40–66 and its constituent textual units. Including a glossary of the genres and formulas discussed, this commentary will be a useful resource to anyone wishing to engage more deeply with this central book in the Hebrew Bible.

Isaiah 40-66 (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (FOTL))

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sweeney, Marvin A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sweeney, Marvin A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sweeney, Marvin A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

King Josiah of Judah: The Lost Messiah of Israel

I & II Kings (2007): A Commentary (Old Testament Library)

I & II Kings (2007): A Commentary (Old Testament Library)

The Prophetic Literature: Interpreting Biblical Texts Series

TANAK: A Theological and Critical Introduction to the Jewish Bible

Reading the Hebrew Bible after the Shoah: Engaging Holocaust Theology

Zephaniah: A Commentary (Hermeneia)

Isaiah 1-39: An Introduction to Prophetic Literature (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (FOTL))

Jewish Mysticism: From Ancient Times through Today

Isaiah 40-66 (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (FOTL))