CSBS Vancouver

I (Christopher) will be leaving to go to Vancouver for the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS) annual meeting. This year it is held at UBC. Meetings are held throughout Canada. Since the meeting is so close to my parents house I thought I would take the oppurtunity to go. The meeting consists of session in which various scholars present papers based upon research they have been doing throughout the year. This is normally a good place to test out a new idea. I submitted a paper based upon the thesis which I wrote as part of the requirements for my MA degree at McMaster Divinity College (Hamilton, ON). I am presenting on Tuesday, June 3. The paper is titled "These are the Days of the Prophets." I have posted the abstract below. I hope to publish this at a later point.

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The scholarly conversation concerning Ezra-Nehemiah has largely been focussed on diachronic methods. Tamara Eskenazi was the first to consider Ezra-Nehemiah synchronically. Her work was an exceptional as well as essential step forward. However, her focus on the unity of Ezra and Nehemiah causes her to overlook the plot structure of Ezra 1–6. In this study a plot structure is outlined for Ezra 1–6 based upon the עלה (go up) imperative and the בנה (build) imperative which are given by Cyrus in Ezra 1:2–4. The Judean people are able to accomplish the עלה imperative without conflict, but the בנה imperative is not completed so easily as the temple rebuilding project reaches a standstill in Ezra 4:24. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah then intervene and become the catalyst for the resolution of the narrative (5:1, 6:14). This study highlights the narrative role of the prophets in Ezra 1–6.