Zechariah

In this new addition to the Readings series, Zechariah is understood as a character in the text, and the text of Zechariah is interpreted as part of a larger literary whole: the scroll of the twelve minor prophets. The text is approached as a literary collage requiring the active involvement of the reader in its configuration. When reading Zechariah, Conrad sees not angelic beings but prophets in a new guise. What others see as fantastic forays into another world he sees as images of the temple. While some have regarded Zechariah as a stage, even if an initial one, in the history of thought termed 'apocalyptic', here it is understood as a literature that tells a story in which prophets are portrayed as messengers speaking for Yahweh who is present with them in Jerusalem.>

Edgar W. Conrad is Director of Postgraduate Studies in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland.