Priests and cults in the book of the twelve

Abstract

Introduction: "The current volume focuses, as the title suggests, on the depictions of the cult and its personnel—primarily but not limited to priests and Levites—in the Book of the Twelve. The contributing authors do not share one methodological approach and they do not always reach conclusions that are mutually compatible. This variety is intentional insofar as it reflects contemporary scholarship. The current volume further seeks to showcase different scholarly traditions. In this volume, scholarship from continental Europe, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, North America, and Australia is represented. What holds these scholars together is their interest in the so-called Book of the Twelve. Most of the individual contributions focus on a single prophetic book, but they also all place their research and their findings in the wider context of the Book of the Twelve. Due to their content, the books of Hosea and Joel, as well as the Haggai-Malachi corpus, have received the most attention. Other books, where the cult is at most a peripheral topic, have accordingly received less. While there has been no conscious effort to cover all the twelve books in the Twelve, this volume has sought to discuss all the key cultic texts in the Book of the Twelve..."