Abstract

This dissertation represents a cross-disciplinary analysis of the organizing metaphors of social transformation and transcendence that inform the social drama portrayed in selective early Second Temple prophetic texts . It utilizes a phenomenological hermeneutic method which focuses on the way social meaning is depicted in biblical texts. This methodological move does not attempt to replace historical-critical analysis but rather to place it in a framework in which reflection and explication of textually portrayed meaning become the primary focus of biblical interpretation. ;Despite the ongoing and pervasive social drama portrayed in Second Temple texts, its explication must not be confused with historical or sociological reconstruction. Put simply, there is no completely transparent window reflecting underlying historical realities or actual social structures of the Second Temple period. Rather, what is displayed here is more of a stained-glass window fabricated to convey compelling ideals and heavenly values, contingent expectations and collective norms, that is to say, the vital sense of social reality projected by its creators. ;In the auxiliary light of re-fabrication, these prophetic texts can be seen to portray a vision of marginal Yahwistic life during the Second Temple period. This alluring window on foreign-dominated existence symbolizes a call for the transformation of social reality through the infiltration of the divine realm into public consciousness. In sum, the social drama of the return of YHWH and Yahwists provides an indigenous and holistic structure which frames an agglutinative variety of biblical texts and promotes participation in a common sense of transcendence from the dominant political power of the day