Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer – författare

Bibeln innehåller hundratals berättelser. De skildrar hur Gud vandrar med sitt folk genom tider av krig och fred, välstånd och nöd, och de vittnar om hur människorna i Israel agerar mot varandra. Dessa berättelser väcker känslor i oss: vi fascineras av olika människoöden, vi förfäras av prövningar de genomlider och vi gläds med dem när saker går väl. Vissa bibelpersoner väcker intuitivt vår empati och vi hejar på dem i med och motgång, medan andra förblir främlingar som vi inte riktigt kommer nära.

Denna bok hjälper oss att lära känna nio personer i Gamla testamentet bättre: Noa, Sara, Josef, Rut, Noomi, Saul, Jonatan, Mikal och Jona. I dialog med judiska, kristna och sekulära romaner, dikter och teaterstycken visar Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer hur vi kan nå en djupare förståelse för Bibelns berättelser. Dessa litterära verk belyser, ifrågasätter och utmanar texter som vi kanske läst flera gånger förut. De hjälper oss att bli mer nyanserade bibelläsare, få en berikad förståelse av Bibeln och helt enkelt njuta av privilegiet att få träda in i bibelberättelsernas annorlunda värld.

Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer är professor i Gamla testamentets exegetik vid Akademi för ledarskap och teologi i Örebro och affilierad forskare vid fakulteten för teologi och religion, University of Pretoria i Sydafrika. Hon är utbildad vid Hebreiska Universitetet i Jerusalem och Oxfords universitet. Tiemeyer har skrivit många böcker om den profetiska litteraturen i Gamla testamentet (Jesaja, Jona och Sakarja). Hennes nuvarande forskningsfokus är Samuelsböckerna och Bibeln i modern litteratur. Hon är även ansvarig för flera akademiska tidskrifter och monografiserier samt en flitigt anlitad föreläsare världen över.

The book of Isaiah is without doubt one of the most important books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, as evidenced by its pride of place in both Jewish and Christian traditions as well as in art and music. Most people, scholars and laity alike, are familiar with the words of Isaiah accompanied by the magnificent tones of Handel's 'Messiah'. Isaiah is also one of the most complex books due to its variety and plurality, and it has accordingly been the focus of scholarly debate for the last 2000 years. Divided into eight sections, The Oxford Handbook of Isaiah constitutes a collection of essays on one of the longest books in the Bible. They cover different aspects regarding the formation, interpretations, and reception of the book of Isaiah, and also offer up-to-date information in an attractive and easily accessible format. The result does not represent a unified standpoint; rather the individual contributions mirror the wide and varied spectrum of scholarly engagement with the book. The authors of the essays likewise represent a broad range of scholarly traditions from diverse continents and religious affiliations, accompanied by comprehensive recommendations for further reading.

In both modern fiction and the biblical texts of 1 Samuel 13-2 Samuel 1, the character of Jonathan serves as a key literary and theological figure. Throughout In Search of Jonathan, Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer interprets Jonathan's portrayal in traditional biblical literature and modern fiction. Each chapter provides first an analysis of Jonathan's characterization in 1-2 Samuel, followed by an examination of the depictions of Jonathan in modern fiction. Together, biblical and modern literature demonstrate how fictional retellings deepen and challenge the ways that scholars interpret Jonathan's character.Throughout the volume, Tiemeyer offers an interpretation of Jonathan as a plausible and psychologically consistent character while grappling with questions posed by his actions in the text. Tiemeyer asks, what kind of man is Jonathan who shows initiative and daring leadership ability, but who is also willing to lay down his crown before the usurper David's feet in humble submission? What kind of son is Jonathan who rebels against his father and takes David's part in the conflict between him and Saul, yet remains loyal to Saul until the bitter end on Mount Gilboa? To answer these questions, Tiemeyer considers depictions of Jonathan in modern fiction. Modern approaches, as Tiemeyer discusses, illuminate dormant yet integral aspects of the biblical texts. These modern retellings highlight, transform, and subvert the biblical portrayal of Jonathan. Posing these questions to the reader and other biblical scholars, Tiemeyer challenges the ways that scholars perceive Jonathan and his portrayals across biblical and modern literature.

Of all the characters in the Hebrew Scriptures, none have captured the imagination like David, King of Israel. The Oxford Handbook of King David traces this fascination, from the biblical books of Samuel and Kings, through the common era, the medieval period, and up to the present day. The authors interrogate David in his many biblical guises, including son, father, outlaw, soldier, lover, and king. Authors also situate him amongst a wider cast of characters, Abigail, Abner, Bathsheba, and Solomon. David's presence in the wider Hebrew Bible and New Testament is also carefully considered along with David's reception in later Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Crucially, this Handbook also delves into the depiction of David's story in the visual, literary, and performing arts over the centuries. His legacy and stories are traced from the paintings of Rembrandt and Rubens, to the sculpture of Bernini, to the music of Handel. Other contributions explore David's literary afterlife, revealing his transformation in novels by Geraldine Brooks and Grete Weil, as well as the work of poets like Yehuda Amichai. The resonances of the David tradition with contemporary culture are also examined in chapters focused on trauma, sexual violence, and the interpretation of David for religious communities.

This volume addresses the function and impact of vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible. The contributors explore the exegetical, rhetorical, and structural aspects of the vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on prophetic vision reports. Several contributors employ a diachronic approach as they explore the textual relationship between the vision reports and the oracular material. Others focus on the rhetorical aspects of the vision reports in their final form and discuss why vision reporting may be used to convey a message. Another approach employed looks at reception history and investigates how this type of text has been understood by past exegetes. A few chapters consider the inter-textual relationship of the various vision reports in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on shared themes and motifs. There are also papers that deal with the ways in which select texts in the Hebrew Bible portray dream/vision interpreters andtheir activities.

Did Zechariah really see visions? This question cannot be definitely answered, so the idea must remain a hypothesis. Here, Tiemeyer shows that this hypothesis is nonetheless reasonable and instrumental in shedding light on matters in Zechariah's vision report that are otherwise unclear.Tracking through each verse of the text, the key exegetical problems are covered, including the topics of the distinction between visions and dreams, dream classification, conflicting sources of evidence for dream experiences, and rhetorical imagery as opposed to dream experience. Further attention is focused on the transmission of the divine message to Zechariah, with the key question raised of whether a visual or oral impression is described. Tiemeyer’s study further demonstrates that Zech 1-6 depicts a three-tier reality. This description seeks to convey the seer’s visionary experience to his readers. In a trance state, Zechariah communicates with the Interpreting Angel, while also receiving glimpses of a deeper reality known as the ‘visionary world.’

If Zechariah’s vision report (Zechariah 1.8-6.8) reflects the seer’s visionary experience, how does that impact our understanding of the gradual growth of the text? Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer builds on the work done in her previous book Zechariah and His Visions (Bloomsbury-T&T Clark, 2014), to demonstrate that the visionary material forms the primary textual layer. The oracular texts constitute chronologically later interpretations. Zechariah and/or later authors/editors sought guidance in the earlier vision accounts, and the oracular material reflects these endeavours. Tiemeyer’s investigation is guided by the question: what is the latter material doing with the former? Is it enforcing, contradicting, or adding to it? Using a ratio composed of the difference between the intratexts and intertexts of Zech 1-8, Tiemeyer shows how this ratio is higher in the oracular material than in the visionary material. This difference points to the different origin and the different purpose of the two sets of material. While the earlier vision report draws on images found primarily in other biblical vision reports, the later oracular material has the characteristics of scribal interpretation. By drawing on earlier material, it seeks to anchor its proposed interpretations of the various vision accounts within the Israelite textual tradition. It is clear that the divine oracles were added to give, modify, and specify the meaning of the earlier vision report.

This volume addresses the function and impact of vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible. The contributors explore the exegetical, rhetorical, and structural aspects of the vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on prophetic vision reports. Several contributors employ a diachronic approach as they explore the textual relationship between the vision reports and the oracular material. Others focus on the rhetorical aspects of the vision reports in their final form and discuss why vision reporting may be used to convey a message. Another approach employed looks at reception history and investigates how this type of text has been understood by past exegetes. A few chapters consider the inter-textual relationship of the various vision reports in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on shared themes and motifs. There are also papers that deal with the ways in which select texts in the Hebrew Bible portray dream/vision interpreters andtheir activities.

Did Zechariah really see visions? This question cannot be definitely answered, so the idea must remain a hypothesis. Here, Tiemeyer shows that this hypothesis is nonetheless reasonable and instrumental in shedding light on matters in Zechariah's vision report that are otherwise unclear.Tracking through each verse of the text, the key exegetical problems are covered, including the topics of the distinction between visions and dreams, dream classification, conflicting sources of evidence for dream experiences, and rhetorical imagery as opposed to dream experience. Further attention is focused on the transmission of the divine message to Zechariah, with the key question raised of whether a visual or oral impression is described. Tiemeyer’s study further demonstrates that Zech 1-6 depicts a three-tier reality. This description seeks to convey the seer’s visionary experience to his readers. In a trance state, Zechariah communicates with the Interpreting Angel, while also receiving glimpses of a deeper reality known as the ‘visionary world.’

This guide to Ezra and Nehemiah showcases the latest developments and most up-to-date scholarship on these important texts. Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the people in Yehud in the 6th and the 5th centuries BCE. This was a time of economic hardship. The people living in and around Jerusalem were scratching out a living in a land that had been devastated by war. It was also a time of soul searching. Having lost their political autonomy and national identity, the people in Yehud had to find new ways of understanding and shaping their identity. Ezra and Nehemiah provide glimpses of these issues by way of an assortment of narratives, lists, letters, and other types of records. The readers encounter different voices and different opinions. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer provides an overview of the various texts and the topics, concerns, and disputes that they reflect. The guide also zooms in on select key issues pertaining to the development of the text, its historical background(s), the quest for identity, and its afterlife in Jewish and Christian traditions.

If Zechariah’s vision report (Zechariah 1.8-6.8) reflects the seer’s visionary experience, how does that impact our understanding of the gradual growth of the text? Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer builds on the work done in her previous book Zechariah and His Visions (Bloomsbury-T&T Clark, 2014), to demonstrate that the visionary material forms the primary textual layer. The oracular texts constitute chronologically later interpretations. Zechariah and/or later authors/editors sought guidance in the earlier vision accounts, and the oracular material reflects these endeavours. Tiemeyer’s investigation is guided by the question: what is the latter material doing with the former? Is it enforcing, contradicting, or adding to it? Using a ratio composed of the difference between the intratexts and intertexts of Zech 1-8, Tiemeyer shows how this ratio is higher in the oracular material than in the visionary material. This difference points to the different origin and the different purpose of the two sets of material. While the earlier vision report draws on images found primarily in other biblical vision reports, the later oracular material has the characteristics of scribal interpretation. By drawing on earlier material, it seeks to anchor its proposed interpretations of the various vision accounts within the Israelite textual tradition. It is clear that the divine oracles were added to give, modify, and specify the meaning of the earlier vision report.

Experts from the field of biblical studies shed light on the many ways in which the Psalter psalms have been used through the ages. The focus across the volume is on the role that these psalms play in scribal, liturgical, didactic, iconographic, and literary contexts. The book is structured in four parts, covering different styles/uses of the Psalms. In part I (song) the focus in on psalms as songs, and how their uses in different performative settings have generated new interpretations. In part II (prayer) the focus is on the liturgical uses of psalms, not only how they can be used as prayers in various communities of faith but also on how they may not be used. In part III (scripture: interpretation) the focus in on the reception of several individual psalms in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. Finally, in part IV (scripture: manuscripts) the focus is on scribal activity: transmission, translation, and illumination.

Experts from the field of biblical studies shed light on the many ways in which the Psalter psalms have been used through the ages. The focus across the volume is on the role that these psalms play in scribal, liturgical, didactic, iconographic, and literary contexts. The book is structured in four parts, covering different styles/uses of the Psalms. In part I (song) the focus in on psalms as songs, and how their uses in different performative settings have generated new interpretations. In part II (prayer) the focus is on the liturgical uses of psalms, not only how they can be used as prayers in various communities of faith but also on how they may not be used. In part III (scripture: interpretation) the focus in on the reception of several individual psalms in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. Finally, in part IV (scripture: manuscripts) the focus is on scribal activity: transmission, translation, and illumination.

This book discusses 20th- and 21st-centuries’ literary retellings of biblical texts, focusing on how fiction and poetry fill the extant narrative gaps present in the often-sparse biblical accounts and align the narratives with theological and/or cultural expectations of modern interpreting communities.The chapters, written by an international group of scholars, explore biblical retellings in a variety of modern languages, ranging from Korean and Chinese to Hebrew and Arabic. Most of the contributions deal with retellings of the narrative books (Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, Daniel), but a few are devoted to prophetic (Hosea) and poetic (Psalms) ones. Another set of articles looks beyond specific biblical books and instead analyses how the Bible has been retold in different literary genres (Children and YA literature, sci-fi and fantasy, Christian Inspiration fiction) and in modern political discourse (North and South Korea). All the chapters further highlight how literary retellings of the Bible form two-way movements. They reveal the often-subversive quality of literary retellings: retellings not only emphasise those nuances in the biblical texts that create unease but also problematise their standpoint and question their moral and theological message.The Hebrew Bible in Contemporary Fiction and Poetry is suitable for students and scholars of biblical studies working on intertextuality and reception history. It is also of interest to those working on comparative literature, particularly with regards to the Hebrew Bible in popular culture and literature.

A meticulous exploration of the reception history of Jonah in all its facetsJonah through the Centuries is a systematic examination of the reception history of the book of Jonah, long-recognized for its numerous theological implications and diverse interpretations. The first book of its kind written in English, this singular volume provides a lucid and coherent commentary on the most influential re-readings of Jonah in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and secular traditions. Author Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer progresses slowly through the book of Jonah verse-by-verse—even word-by-word through key verses such as Jonah 1:1 and 2:1—to offer readers deep insight into the many and multifaceted interpretations of Jonah from early Jewish readings to modern literary retellings.Structured thematically rather than strictly chronologically, the text begins with the earliest interpretation and follows its trendline all the way through to modern times before turning to the next-oldest interpretation. The commentary covers a broad range of retellings in many languages and in various media including commentaries, sermons, prose, poetry, theatrical drama, art, and music. Throughout the text, the author demonstrates how all these retellings ultimately originate within the biblical text itself and highlights how many of the interpretations are fueled and influenced by the interpreter's religious background, cultural assumptions, and their preconceived notions of what the text should say. Discusses how retellings of Jonah ultimately originate within the text's theological or literary ambiguities, choice of words, or syntactical constructionExplains how cross-cultural interchanges between Jews, Christians, and Muslims at different points throughout the centuries influenced the reception of JonahHighlights how several retellings form clusters according to the interpreters' religious affiliationsCovers various interpretations of both often-cited and lesser-known verses from the book of JonahInteracts with an international range of literary retellings of the book of Jonah, offered in English translationJonah through the Centuries is an invaluable resource for educated clergy, undergraduate and graduate students in both seminaries and universities, scholars and academics, and general readers with interest in the reception of biblical texts in literature, art, and music.

Obwohl die Propheten und Priester von Juda oft geschlossen hinter kultischen Belangen standen, bezeugen viele prophetische Texte aus dem 6. und 5. Jh. v. Chr., daß es größere Unstimmigkeiten bei Fragen zum Gottesdienst gab. Auf der Grundlage von Jesaja 56-66, Haggai, Sacharja 1-8 und Maleachi untersucht Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer die Kritik an der Priesterschaft, die in prophetischen Texten dieser Epoche geäußert wurde. In diesen Texten beschuldigen die Propheten die Priester, sich fehlerhaft im kultischen wie im sozialen Bereich zu verhalten. Die Autorin zeigt darüber hinaus, wie sich die verschiedenen Propheten eine rechtschaffenere Priesterschaft vorstellten. Ein Großteil der prophetischen Literatur nach dem Exil versucht zu erklären, warum diese Versprechen nicht erfüllt wurden. Die Autorin zeigt, daß die meisten dieser Erklärungen der Priesterschaft die Schuld zuweist.

This volume of collected essays focuses on the relationship between the different texts within Isaiah 40-66. It reinvestigates and challenges the traditional division between chapters 40-55 and 56-66 and explores new ways of reading the last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah. Each article examines Isaiah 40-55 and/or Isaiah 56-66 and highlights continuity and discontinuity within this material.Some contributions belong to the tradition of historical-critical research. They examine existing models of textual development of Isa 40-66 and offer new suggestions. They also explore the interplay between the historical development of the text and its thematic continuity and discontinuity. Is the consistent use of a theme a sign of single authorship? Alternatively, are changes in the way a given issue is treated a sign of multiple authorship? Other contributions explore the final form of Isaiah 40-66 and suggest reading strategies that do justice to the message of the extant text. Yet other articles make case studies of specific elements of Isaiah 40-66. What is the significance of these texts for the theological development of the ancient Israelite religion? Further, how do they interact with and transform other texts in the Hebrew Bible?

This monograph seeks to determine the geographical provenance of Isaiah 40-55. It reassesses past research pertaining to Babylonian influence and reexamines the claims that all or parts of Isaiah 40-55 reflect the concerns of the exilic community in Babylon. It further challenges the prevalent view that the return of the exiles is of central concern in Isaiah 40-55, and instead proposes that Jerusalem and her imminent restoration is its focal point. It interprets Isaiah 40-55 as a polyvalent text that allows multiple and often contradictory views regarding Jerusalem’s current suffering. The monograph investigates these views, understood to represent the opinons of different segments of the target audience of Isaiah 40-55, with the aim of determining their geographical and theological locations.

Vad sysslar de med, de gammaltestamentliga exegeterna i Sverige? Undervisar förstås, men vad mer? Vad forskar de om? i den här boken får du en del svar på den frågan. Den började som en konferensdag till LarsOlov Erikssons ära, när han efter en lång tjänstgöring slutade som lektor i gamla testamentets exegetik vid Johannelunds teologiska högskola. Därför finns också några internationella forskarbidrag med, men de flesta är svenska. De som har huvudansvar för gamla testamentet vid universitet och högskolor i Sverige fick en fråga om de vill bidra och de flesta svarade ja. Därför presenteras här svensk bibelforskning i dag, begränsat till gamla testamentet. Flera bidrag känner vi igen som traditionella forskningsämnen inom gamla testamentet, analyser av enskilda texter och fördjupningar i enskilda ämnen. Men det finns också mycket nytt. Nya metodiska grepp, hermeneutiska diskussioner, berättelseanalyser, receptionshis­ toriska framställningar, kulturrelaterade undersökningar m.m. till och med en presentation av kung David i filmens värld och läsningar av Tomas Tranströmers dikter. Resultaten visar på en mycket stor mångfald. Den som vill veta mera om gammaltestamentlig forskning i dag har här en guldgruva. Nya insikter, nya metoder, nya former av exegetik i dag i Sverige.