History as Harlotry in the Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel 16 conveys a well-known portrayal of Israel's checkered history. Its borrowed metaphors, textual reuse, and developing content defy a transparent explanation of its origins. In this monograph, Tracy J. McKenzie explores the methods and motivations for textual expansions. After surveying how secondary literature has addressed the interpretive nature of additions, traditions, redactions, and  Fortschreibungen in prophetic texts, he provides a new translation and text-critical judgment of Ezekiel 16. He then analyzes how linguistic elements diachronically achieve a composite unity in the passage. This composite unity sets up the analysis that explores the ways in which the expansions have built on pre-existing texts, rewritten them, and developed their content. The author's conclusion focuses on how the interpretive moves in the expansions disclose possible motives and social settings in Yehud.

Born 1968; 2001-06 studied at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; 2003 MDiv; 2006 PhD; 2006-08 full-time instructor, since 2008 a full-time faculty member at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; 2018 ThD from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; since 2021 full Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.