Increasingly,
scholars recognize that prophetic traditions, expressions, and experiences
stand at the heart of most religions in the ancient Mediterranean world. This
is no less true for the world of Judaism and Jesus. Ben Witherington III offers
an extensive, cross-cultural survey of the broader expressions of prophecy in
its ancient Mediterranean context, beginning with Mari, moving to biblical
figures not often regarded as prophets‒‒Balaam, Deborah, Moses, and Aaron‒‒and
to the apocalyptic seer in postexilic prophecy, showing that no single pattern
describes all prophetic figures. The consequence is that different aspects of
Jesus’s activity touch upon prophetic predecessors: his miracles, on Elijah and
Elisha; his self-understanding as the Son of Man, on Daniel and 1 Enoch; his
warnings of woe and judgment, on the “writing prophets” in Judean tradition;
and his messianic entry into Jerusalem, on Zechariah 9. Witherington also
surveys the phenomenon of apocalyptic prophecy in early Christianity, including
Paul, Revelation, the Didache, Hermas, and the Montanist movement. Jesus the
Seer is a worthy complement to Witherington’s other volume on Jesus, Jesus
the Sage (Fortress Press, 2000).
Increasingly,
scholars recognize that prophetic traditions, expressions, and experiences
stand at the heart of most religions in the ancient Mediterranean world. This
is no less true for the world of Judaism and Jesus. Ben Witherington III offers
an extensive, cross-cultural survey of the broade...