REMEMBERING THE PROPHETS OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

Mayer follows up Seeing Jesus In His Own Words (2002) with a similarly sumptuous return to the previous Testament, profiling 20 prophets and characterizing their messages on spreads bordered by wide, parchment-patterned bands and illustrated with European religious art from the last dozen or so centuries. Drawing from several versions of the Bible, as well as authoritative scholarship, she places her subjects, Moses to Malachi, in (probable) historical context, relays what is known or surmised about their characters, circumstances and careers, and quotes brief samples of their eloquence. With the notable exceptions of Jonah and Obadiah, the prophets’ aforementioned messages tend to sound the same: bad times are coming (or upon you, O Israel), but God will send better ones anon. As most of the dire visions and passages have been de-emphasized, this isn’t exactly a balanced view, but what remains are expressions of tough love, and hope, that may be balm for troubled readers in troubled times. (Source list) (Nonfiction. 10-12)