Julia M. O’Brien is the Paul H. and Grace L. Stern Chair of Hebrew Bible at Lancaster Theological Seminary. She earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Studies from Duke University. Specializing in the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible as well as the intersection of gender studies and biblical studies, she has authored several books, including Challenging Prophetic Metaphor, and served as editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets and the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies.

"Julia O'Brien has provided us with a long-needed and comprehensive corrective to our understanding of the Hebrew prophets. She exposes the historic process that led to a limited and stereotypical view of their role as primarily progressive social reformers. Then she builds a convincing case for a richer, more diverse understanding of the prophetic voices in the Hebrew Bible. She elevates the key role of community reception and redaction in the message passed on from them, rejects the reduction of their message to our own preconceptions, and uncovers a more wholistic understanding of the prophetic message that can stand alongside our own diverse commitments and experiences in a more honest and fruitful biblical dialogue for our times."—Bruce C. Birch, Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary"Fresh and compelling, Julia O'Brien's Beyond Activism challenges a simplistic progressive orthodoxy that paints biblical prophets as champions of social justice. For O'Brien, reassessing the prophets requires owning our values, contexts, and histories of harm. Pairing metacriticism with textual analysis, she equips readers for a more honest appraisal of prophetic books and our own social and interpretive commitments and communities. This book is for every preacher, teacher, and activist who finds in biblical prophets inspiration for contemporary ethics. You will gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the prophetic books and the very contexts in which we read."—Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke Divinity School

Julia M. O’Brien is the Paul H. and Grace L. Stern Chair of Hebrew Bible at Lancaster Theological Seminary. She earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Studies from Duke University. Specializing in the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible as well as the intersection of gender studies and biblical studies, she has authored several books, including Challenging Prophetic Metaphor, and served as editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets and the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies.

"Julia O'Brien has provided us with a long-needed and comprehensive corrective to our understanding of the Hebrew prophets. She exposes the historic process that led to a limited and stereotypical view of their role as primarily progressive social reformers. Then she builds a convincing case for a richer, more diverse understanding of the prophetic voices in the Hebrew Bible. She elevates the key role of community reception and redaction in the message passed on from them, rejects the reduction of their message to our own preconceptions, and uncovers a more wholistic understanding of the prophetic message that can stand alongside our own diverse commitments and experiences in a more honest and fruitful biblical dialogue for our times."—Bruce C. Birch, Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary"Fresh and compelling, Julia O'Brien's Beyond Activism challenges a simplistic progressive orthodoxy that paints biblical prophets as champions of social justice. For O'Brien, reassessing the prophets requires owning our values, contexts, and histories of harm. Pairing metacriticism with textual analysis, she equips readers for a more honest appraisal of prophetic books and our own social and interpretive commitments and communities. This book is for every preacher, teacher, and activist who finds in biblical prophets inspiration for contemporary ethics. You will gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the prophetic books and the very contexts in which we read."—Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke Divinity School

Julia M. O’Brien is the Paul H. and Grace L. Stern Chair of Hebrew Bible at Lancaster Theological Seminary. She earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Studies from Duke University. Specializing in the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible as well as the intersection of gender studies and biblical studies, she has authored several books, including Challenging Prophetic Metaphor, and served as editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets and the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies.

"Julia O'Brien has provided us with a long-needed and comprehensive corrective to our understanding of the Hebrew prophets. She exposes the historic process that led to a limited and stereotypical view of their role as primarily progressive social reformers. Then she builds a convincing case for a richer, more diverse understanding of the prophetic voices in the Hebrew Bible. She elevates the key role of community reception and redaction in the message passed on from them, rejects the reduction of their message to our own preconceptions, and uncovers a more wholistic understanding of the prophetic message that can stand alongside our own diverse commitments and experiences in a more honest and fruitful biblical dialogue for our times."—Bruce C. Birch, Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary"Fresh and compelling, Julia O'Brien's Beyond Activism challenges a simplistic progressive orthodoxy that paints biblical prophets as champions of social justice. For O'Brien, reassessing the prophets requires owning our values, contexts, and histories of harm. Pairing metacriticism with textual analysis, she equips readers for a more honest appraisal of prophetic books and our own social and interpretive commitments and communities. This book is for every preacher, teacher, and activist who finds in biblical prophets inspiration for contemporary ethics. You will gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the prophetic books and the very contexts in which we read."—Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke Divinity School