Louis C. Jonker – författare

With fresh insight and scholarly depth, I and II Chronicles: A Commentary reclaims these often-overlooked texts as far more than a retelling of Israel’s past. They are vital witnesses to the theological and communal imagination of a people rebuilding identity in the shadow of empire. In this critical and illuminating volume of the Old Testament Library, internationally respected scholar Louis C. Jonker reveals Chronicles as a dynamic text that reinterprets sacred traditions to help the postexilic Judahite community navigate shifting political and religious landscapes. Written during the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods, Chronicles offers a bold vision for “all Israel” centered on the Jerusalem Temple, reframing Judah’s identity through genealogies, liturgical reform, and idealized history. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods—including text-pragmatical analysis, social psychology, postcolonial theory, and reception history—Jonker explores how the Chronicler constructs communal memory, reclaims older traditions, and resists imperial dominance by portraying YHWH as the true king. A distinctive feature of this commentary is Jonker’s proposed diachronic model of composition. He identifies an early priestly-oriented stratum affirming the Davidic monarchy and Aaronide priesthood, followed by a later redactional layer that elevates the Levites—especially in the Hezekiah and Josiah narratives—as spiritual leaders. This evolution signals a broader theological and ideological shift within the community. Jonker also traces the reception of Chronicles through history—from its shaping influence on Ezra-Nehemiah to its use in rabbinic interpretation, feminist biblical scholarship, Jewish visual art, and post-apartheid South African theology. With fresh insight and scholarly depth, I and II Chronicles: A Commentary reclaims these often-overlooked texts as vital witnesses to the theological and communal imagination of a people rebuilding identity in the shadow of empire. The Old Testament Library series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing. The editorial board consists of William P. Brown, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary; C. L. Crouch, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism, Radboud University Nijmegen; and Brent A. Strawn, D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Professor of Law, Duke University.

Louis Jonker''s section-by-section commentary on 1-2 Chronicles is the newest volume in the Understanding the Bible Commentary Series. This user-friendly commentary series helps readers navigate the sometimes difficult terrain of the Bible. These volumes offer solid research in an accessible way, breaking down the barriers between the ancient and modern worlds so that the power and meaning of the biblical texts become clear to contemporary readers. The contributors tackle the task of interpretation using the full range of critical methodologies and practices, yet they do so as people of faith who hold the text in the highest regard. In this commentary, Jonker reads 1-2 Chronicles as literature which negotiates a new socio-religious identity in a period of political transition.

The study of the Books of Chronicles has focused in the past mainly on its literary relationship to Historical Books such as Samuel and Kings. Less attention was payed to its possible relationships to the priestly literature. Against this backdrop, this volume aims to examine the literary and socio-historical relationship between the Books of Chronicles and the priestly literature (in the Pentateuch and in Ezekiel). Since Chronicles and Pentateuch (and also Ezekiel) studies have been regarded as separate fields of study, we invited experts from both fields in order to open a space for fruitful discussions with each other. The contributions deal with connections and interactions between specific texts, ideas, and socio-historical contexts of the literary works, as well as with broad observations of the relationship between them.

In Zeiten sozialgeschichtlicher Veränderungen steigt häufig das Interesse an der Geschichtsschreibung. Interesse an der Vergangenheit wird dann durch Prozesse der Identitätssuche und -stiftung ausgelöst, die eine Neuorientierung unter veränderten Umständen erleichtern. Die hebräische Bibel ist hierfür ein hervorragendes Beispiel, da sie viele historiographische Texte aus unterschiedlichen sozialgeschichtlichen Perioden enthält. Vom sechsten bis vierten Jahrhundert fanden im alten Israel tiefgreifende sozio-politische und sozio-religiöse Veränderungen statt. Diese Veränderungen bewirkten durch historiographische Literatur unterschiedliche Prozesse der Identitätsstiftung. Die Autoren der hier gesammelten Aufsätze untersuchen solche Texte und ihre Kontexte aus entsprechend turbulenten Zeiten und kommen so zu einem besseren Verständnis der dynamischen Beziehung zwischen der antiken historiographischen Literatur und Identitätsstiftung. Sie untersuchen auch, wie diese Literatur in heutigen Kontexten sozialgeschichtlicher Umbrüche interpretiert werden könnte.