Many studies of the prophetic books assume that a text's addressee and audience are one and the same. Sometimes this is the case, but some prophetic texts feature multiple addressees who cannot be collapsed into a single setting. In this book Andrew R. Davis examines examples of multiple addressees within the book of Amos and argues that they force us to expand our understanding of prophetic audiences. Drawing insight from studies of poetic address in other disciplines, Davis distinguishes between the addressee within the text and the actual audience outside the text. He combines in-depth poetic analysis with historical inquiry and shows the ways that the prophetic discourse of the book of Amos is triangulated among multiple audiences.

Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Social Identity Approach -- 3. The People of God in Amos: THE PROPHET and PROTOTYPICALITY -- 4. History and Social Identity in Amos -- 5. Eschatology and Social Identity in Amos -- 6. Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

In this commentary on the book of Amos, Daniel Carroll combines a detailed reading of the Hebrew text with attention to its historical background and current relevance. What makes this volume unique is its special attention to Amos’s literary features and what they reveal about the book’s theology and composition. Instead of reconstructing a hypothetical redactional history, this commentary offers a close reading of the canonical form against the backdrop of the eighth century BCE.

In modern times Amos has come to be considered one of the most important prophets, mainly for his uncompromising message about social justice. This book provides a detailed exploration of this theme and other important elements of the theology underlying the book of Amos. It also includes chapters on the text itself, providing a critical assessment of how the book came to be, the original message of Amos and his circle, which parts of the book may have been added by later scribes, and the finished form of the book. The author also considers the book's reception in ancient and modern times by interpreters as varied as rabbis, the Church Fathers, the Reformers and liberation theologians. Throughout, the focus is on how to read the book of Amos holistically to understand the organic development of the prophet's message through the many stages of the book's development and interpretation.

An investigation of the literary structure and rhetorical challenge that prompted the book's production. Moller argues that the book of Amos captures and presents the debate between Amos and his eighth-century audience. When read in the light of Israel's fall, the presentation of Amos struggling (and failing) to convince his contemporaries of the imminent divine punishment functions as a powerful warning to subsequent Judaean readers.

Analyses the poetic audiences of the book of Amos by distinguishing the textual addressee from its actual audiences.

The book of Amos holds a unique and central place among the canonical prophetic literature and presents a special array of issues for scholarly discussion. This book provides a thorough and balanced overview of the history of scholarship on the book of Amos, two essays that trace the history of scholarship and offer promising lines for further inquiry, a substantial anthology of readings of the multiple ways Amos has been analyzed and appropriated, an extensive and current bibliography, and notes on doctoral dissertations conducted in recent years. The result is a comprehensive compendium of resources for scholarly writing on the book of Amos.