Die vorliegende neue Auflage des Gesenius'schen Woerterbuches, die funfte von meiner Hand, wird voraussichtlich die letzte sein, die ich bearbeite. Schon deswegen wird man es gewiss begreiflich finden, dall ich, nachdem ich ziemlich viel Zeit und Arbeit an dies Buch ge wendet habe, nicht gesonnen gewesen bin, durch eine vollstii. ndige Umgestaltung ein ganz neues oder gar, wie vorgeschlagen worden ist. zwei neue Bucher daraus zu machen. Eine derartige radikale Umarbeitung muss, falls sie noetig erscheinen sollte, einem kunftigen Herausgeber uber lassen werden. Ich moechte aber wegen des Interesses, das ich fur das Buch hege, die Gelegen heit benutzen, ausdrucklich hervorzuheben, dall der Gedanke, den lexikalischen Stoff auf zwei Ausgaben, ein kurzes Handbuch fur praktische Zwecke und einen umfangreichen "Thesaurus" zu verteilen, mir recht wenig zweckmassig zu sein scheint. In seiner jetzigen Form sind die letzten Auflagen des Buches ziemlich rasch, durchschnittlich nach vier bis funf Jahren, auf einander gefolgt, und es ist dadurch moeglich gewesen, fortwahrend die neueste Literatur zu berucksichtigen und die neuen Funde und Entdeckungen zu verwerten. Es liegt aber in der Natur der Sache, dass ein kurzes Handbuch von diesem uberreichen Stoffe nur einen sehr be grenzten Teil aufnehmen koennte, wahrend andererseits ein umfangreicher, auf den gelehrten Gebrauch berechneter Thesaurus, selbst wenn er nicht das ehrwurdige Alter des vortrefflichen Gesenius'schen Thesaurus von Anno 1835 zu erreichen brauchte, doch mit weit la. ngerenZwischen raumen erscheinen wurde.

History and Hope examines the rhetorical function of Isaiah 28-35, a relatively overlooked series of six woe oracles, in relation to reading the book of Isaiah as a whole. These eight chapters rely on the language of agrarian wisdom to transport the reader from prior reflections on historical destruction into a vision of ultimate hope. Stulac's study, therefore, offers new insight into the book of Isaiah, but perhaps more importantly, it does so through two methodological innovations that promise to enhance biblical research at large. First, History and Hope develops an interpretive strategy based on ancient Israel's agro-ecological past. Through comparisons to the thought and practice of several contemporary agrarian thinkers (such as Wendell Berry), it draws attention to the holistic, traditional worldview of the people who created the Bible and develops an "agrarian hermeneutic" that is then used to examine the book of Isaiah. This interpretive strategy, which introduces a variety of observations consistent with ancient Israel's subsistence culture, offers a new lens on the Bible that is historically and phenomenologically appropriate to its premodern character. Second, the study applies modern narratology to the book of Isaiah in its final form, a move that allows for a careful delineation of the differences in knowledge that stand between the book's characters and its implied reader. When combined with an agrarian hermeneutic, narratological precision opens understanding of Isaiah's written rhetoric to the associative, soil-bound logic by which it is constructed. In the past, many scholars have regarded Isaiah 28-35 as little more than a fragmentary reiteration of ideas already found in prior parts of the book. Now, through exegetical analysis of Isaiah 28-35 from an agrarian perspective, these eight chapters are interpreted as a rhetorical key to the overall book's coherent vision of destruction and hope.

The prime and "unique" contribution of this study is the meta-theoretical approach according to which a popular method of analysis and interpretation regarding the books of Samuel is discussed an evaluated critically. This is an important and necessary discussion, because interdisciplinary studies must not be reduced to a mere application of individual theoreticians or theoretical concepts on new objects, which are assessed only by their ability to produce "new" interpretations or solve problems (as those observed by the historical-critical approach). It is also essential for an academic study to discuss the validity of a certain theory or method. Furthermore, it is also important that the theory is discussed and tested in relation to narrative texts. Questions considered include "Do the texts of the Bible have forms that do not comply with the frames interpreters assume? What aims and agendas do literary or narrative methods serve in the hands of biblical interpreters? The main goal of this study is to attempt a better understanding of the biblical texts and their influence and meaning.