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

by Miriam J. Bier (Author), Andrew Mein (Editor), Claudia V. Camp (Editor)

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.

Author Biography

Miriam J. Bier is lecturer in Old Testament at London School of Theology, UK. She is co-editor of Spiritual Complaint: Theology and Practice of Lament (Eugene: Pickwick, 2013).