How to Read the Prophets

Written by Jean Pierre Prévost, trans. John Bowden from the French Reviewed By Thomas Renz

Like its companions (How to Read the Old Testament, How to Understand the Creed, How to Understand Hinduism, and others), this volume is designed as an introduction for readers who have little prior knowledge of the topic dealt with. Its conversational tone and elegant design (note especially the full-page illustrations by Gustave Doré!) make the journey as easy as possible for readers unfamiliar with biblical prophecy. Two chapters present an overall picture of the prophets, the first bringing out the main characteristics of the biblical prophets, the second drawing a line from the prophets to Jesus by indicating that the prophets and their message were a constant reference point for Jesus and the NT writers. Then follow a chapter each on Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. All of them have three parts, the first introducing the prophet, the second presenting three key texts for understanding the prophet in question, and the third paying attention to how each of these prophets talks about God. A further chapter puts ‘the prophets of the return’ (Deutero-Isaiah, Trito-Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) into historical perspective, and the last chapter is dedicated to the (fictitious) story of Jonah, ‘the prophet who makes us smile’. A short conclusion and suggestion for further reading close the book.

Prévost certainly succeeds in whetting our appetite for reading the biblical prophets and puts the emphasis where the prophets themselves put it, by focusing on the mission of the prophets as ‘revealing one or more aspects of the mystery of God’. The prophets are described as essentially ‘men of the word’, ‘men of the present’ and ‘men of unconditional hope’ (two pages are dedicated to ‘Prophecy in the Feminine’). The greatest of them are champions of a new and more deeply inward religion, a claim which would have gone down well with Wellhausen, but sounds rather odd nowadays. Given this presupposition, there is no discussion of the relationship between the individual prophets and the theological traditions they drew upon. Understandably, other issues which have often been debated in scholarship, such as the social location of the prophets, or the distinction between true and false prophecy, could not be dealt with either in this book. It is, however, disappointing that one looks in vain for a discussion of the genres used in prophetic books. Those who are unsure about whether to read the prophets at all and who want to get a Feel for the OT might nevertheless find in this volume an amiable introduction to the prophets, since the key texts chosen by Prévost (the book of Jonah is even reprinted in full!) catch the atmosphere of the prophetic books he discusses. Yet readers who look for practical advice and tools for reading the prophets will be better advised to turn to an equally clear, but more helpful book, like Joel B. Green’s How to Read Prophecy (IVP, 1984).


Thomas Renz

Oak Hill Theological College, London