Thinking About the Prophets

Kenneth Seeskin is Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He is the author of several books, including Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible (JPS, 2016) and Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides.

• Acknowledgments    Preface: Children of Prophets    Introduction: What Is a Prophet?     1. Amos: Moral Idealism    2. Hosea: Divine Pathos    3. First Isaiah, Part 1: War and Peace4. First Isaiah, Part 2: The Coming of the Messiah    5. Jeremiah: Suffering for the Sake of God    6. Ezekiel: Freedom and Responsibility    7. Second Isaiah: Monotheism Takes Hold    8. Job: Innocent Suffering    Conclusion: The Legacy of the Prophets    Notes    Bibliography

"Erudite and accessible, this insightful analysis will appeal to any reader interested in the Bible, the philosophy of religion, or simply the history and literature of the ancient world."-Publishers Weekly “Thinking about the Prophets is a significant contribution to understanding the institution of Israelite prophecy as fundamentally an ethical project and to understanding the prophets as moral thinkers taking their rightful place in the long history of moral social thinkers in the Jewish and Western philosophical tradition.”-Steven P. Kepnes, professor of world religions and of religion and Jewish studies, Colgate University“Seeskin innovatively shows us that the prophets were thinkers too and that their thinking has had an indelible impact on Western understandings of God, the world, and human responsibility. Erudite and accessible as well, this work would be an excellent text in college-level courses on biblical literature or Jewish thought and in adult education settings.”-Judith R. Baskin, Philip H. Knight Professor of Humanities Emerita, University of Oregon