Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of Discourse in Ezekiel's Prophecy

by Ellen F. Davis

In this original study, Dr Davis argues that Ezekiel's place in the history of prophecy is overdue for reassessment. As against current views that Ezekiel represents the collapse of prophetism into priestly and scribal forms, she argues that something radically different in prophecy begins with Ezekiel. Ezekiel represents the creation of a new literary idiom for prophecy. He develops an archival speech form oriented less toward current events than to reshaping the tradition. He has taken a step backward from direct confrontation with an audience as the basic dynamic of communication, and has made the medium of prophecy not the person of the prophet but the text. Like the postexilic prophets, Ezekiel participated in the transformation of the social role of prophecy, and thereby saved himself from oblivion.

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Neil White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellen Davis is one of those scholars who when I find she has written on a topic I always want to consider her viewpoint because it is always insightful and gently delivered. This originated as her doctoral dissertation so the demands of that helps to determine the form and function of the work. Her perspective of Ezekiel as a "fundamentally literate mind" whose work as a prophet may have been as much through written text as oral presentation, particularly in the context of the first exile of the elites to Babylon. Her insights into the scene of Ezekiel swallowing the scroll is also incredibly helpful.