#x98;The#x9C; book of the twelve an anthology of prophetic books or the result of complex redactional processes?

Many natural phenomena display different appearancesu nder different conditions. Wa ter, for example, according to temperatureand other conditions, may be fluid, may form crystals of ice or snow, or may evaporate into the air, often becomingi mperceptible to us, but sometimes visible as clouds. Similarly, seemingly white light may be broken, by passing through aprism, to reveal all the colours of the rainbow, from violet to red. Atomic researchersn ote the paradoxical character of light, which behaves like aw aveu nder certain conditions, and like amassunder others. God'sword can also display apparently contrasting facets. The papersofthis conference on the 'Minor' Prophets tackle their apparent ambivalence: on the one hand, the twelves crolls are clearly individually constructed,y et, on the other, they display obvious points of contact indicating acertain unity. However, this phenomenon can be observed, even moreextensively, in many areas of the Bible and thus it is to be expected that the articles in this volume will also contributeto other fields of biblical research. The To rah, for instance, consists of five scrolls, which belong together and form awhole; nevertheless the Book of Deuteronomy has its own characteristics, being set apart, in vocabulary and in some of its concepts, from the books of Genesis through to Numbers. In asimilar way, we may see the Psalter in one way as aunity, and in another, as being constituted of 150 individual Psalms; there again, we find atendency to bringtogether several distinct poems into various collections, and, in afurther step, into one great 'book'. In the books of the prophets, similar features can be observed. The Book of Isaiah addresses at least three different time periods: the Neo-Assyrian, the Neo-Babylonian, and the post-exilic Persian era. All these backgrounds are incorporated into one book, and havefound expressioninits old tripartitedivision (First, Second, Third Isaiah); however, in recent times this last has been questioned more and morefrequently, and rightly so. Within the Minor Prophets, the Book of Zechariah is sometimes analysed in ac omparable way, also assuming Isaiah" of which it constitutes the first five chapters. 3 To wards its conclusion the prophecy links back to the canonical bookofI saiah and then adds: Past decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the Book of the Twelve. James Nogalski and Paul House had been at the forefront of research in this regard in presenting approaches that account for the book as a whole. Meanwhile others like Ehud Ben Zvi have some reservations. This collection of essays discusses the hermeneutical, exegetical and theological significance of these opposing perspectives and explores venues for future research. The impact on reading and reflecting on individual books is of particular interest to the various essays. Die Entstehung des Dodekapropheton wird seit einigen Jahren engagiert diskutiert. Alternativen stehen sich teilweise unversöhnlich gegenüber. Einerseits werden die einzelnen Prophetenbücher klar voneinander abgegrenzt, andererseits liegen verbindende Elemente vor. Auch die Auslegungsgeschichte geht immer wieder von einem Buch aus. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes lenken die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Frage, welchen Unterschied die verschiedenen Entstehungsszenarien für die Auslegung der einzelnen Bücher und des gesamten Korpus haben. Diese Fragestellung, die bisher wenig Beachtung fand, wird aus hermeneutischer, exegetischer und theologischer Perspektive diskutiert Back cover: Past decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the Book of the Twelve. James Nogalski and Paul House had been at the forefront of research in this regard in presenting approaches that account for the book as a whole. Meanwhile others like Ehud Ben Zvi have some reservations. This collection of essays discusses the hermeneutical, exegetical and theological significance of these opposing perspectives and explores venues for future research. The impact on reading and reflecting on individual books is of particular interest to the various essays. ***Angaben zur beteiligten Person Wenzel: Prof. Dr. Heiko Wenzel studierte Islamwissenschaft und Ev. Theologie in Gießen und Marburg. Er promovierte mit einer Arbeit zum Sacharjabuch und lehrt seit 2008 an der Freien Theologischen Hochschule in Gießen.Since 2008, Prof Dr Heiko Wenzel teaches at the Freie Theologische Hochschule in Gießen, Germany ***Angaben zur beteiligten Person Tiemeyer: Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Aberdeen