'Perhaps There Is Hope': Reading Lamentations as a Polyphony of Pain, Penitence, and Protest

Author/Contributor(s):	Bier, Miriam J ; Mein, Andrew ; Camp, Claudia V
Publisher:	T&T Clark
Date:	06/18/2015
Binding:	Hardcover
Condition:	NEW

Bier proposes here a strong new understanding of the Book of Lamentations, drawing on Bakhtinian ideas of multiple voices to analyse the poetic speaking voices within the text; examining their theological perspectives, and nuancing the interaction between them. Bier scrutinises interpretations of Lamentations, distinguishing between exegesis that reads Lamentations as a theodicy, in defense of God, and those that read it as an anti-theodicy, in defense of Zion. Rather than reductively adopting either of these approaches, this book advocates a dialogic approach to Lamentations, reading to hear the full polyphony of pain, penitence, and protest.