Josiah - From Improbable Stories to Inventive Historiography - Lowell K. Handy
A Man of God and Huldah: Prophets in the Tale of Josiah
Josiah - From Improbable Stories to Inventive Historiography - Lowell K. Handy
Lowell K. Handy [+]
Loyola University Chicago (retired)
Lowell K. Handy received his M.A. from the University of Iowa School of Religion and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Before retirement he taught for 15 years at Loyola University Chicago and was employed at the American Theological Library Association Religion Index Project for 28 years. He has been an active member of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Literature, and American Schools of Oriental Research. In addition to journal articles and reference entries, Dr. Handy has published several books, including: Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy; Entertaining Faith: Reading Short Stories in the Bible; Jonah's World: Social Science and the Reading of Prophetic Story; and edited volumes: The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium; Psalm 29 through Time and Tradition.
Description
Consideration is given to the presentation of the two prophets who get narrative content in the Josiah story. The man of god who predicts Josiah and then whose corpse is honored by Josiah indicates the importance of Josiah in the full narrative of Kings. Huldah appears as the voice of Yahweh to tie the coming death of Judah after the death of Josiah into the cultic concerns of the books of Kings and Chronicles. Neco gets a note for appearing as a prophet in Chronicles and First Esdras.