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Throughout the twentieth century, critical scholarship on the book of Hosea has focused overwhelmingly on the marriage metaphor in Hosea 1—3. Scholars often saw these chapters as establishing the primary interpretive issues for the message of the prophet and the book as a whole, although a lack of consensus concerning even the most basic exegetical issues remains. Newer studies have rightly pushed beyond this isolation of Hosea 1—3. This article surveys the major trends of the modern interpretation of these chapters, with particular attention to the second half of the twentieth century. From the early 1900s to the 1980s, critical works focused primarily on the biographical reconstruction of the prophet and his family life, as well as related historical and form-critical concerns. From the 1930s forward, such study was particularly concerned to read Hosea 1—3 against the background of a purported sexualized Baal cult in eighth-century Israel. Beginning in the 1980s, feminist-critical readings of Hosea 1—3 came to occupy a prominent position. In subsequent years, these concerns have been complemented by an emerging emphasis on metaphor theory, as well as newer kinds of literary, book-oriented, and socio-historical analyses. A follow-up article will treat recent scholarship on Hosea 4—14.

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Contemporary biblical scholarship is changing at a rapid pace. The variety of methods for interpreting the Bible has increased dramatically in recent years, as is shown, for example, by the growing interest in literary approaches such as narrative criticism, and in approaches focused on areas outside both literary and biblical research, for instance, the articles on biblical themes as interpreted in the cinema. The past twenty-five years have seen a growing interest by biblical scholars in structuralist criticism, reader response criticism, rhetorical criticism, social-scientific criticism, feminist interpretation, ideological criticism, and deconstructive criticism, in addition to major advances in the work being done on the broader contexts within which ancient Israel and early Christianity developed. Long-standing methods of research have undergone substantial reappraisal, as, for instance, in the areas of 'biblical' archaeology and the history of early Israel. The field now reaches well beyond the encompassing historicalcritical consensus that had dominated biblical scholarship throughout most of the twentieth century. This increasing variety and flexibility in method has added richness and depth to our understanding of the Bible and its contextual world. The growing variety of approaches is healthy and energizing, and indicates the vitality of contemporary biblical scholarship. However, this variety also makes it very difficult for scholars, especially those who teach or write across a broad spectrum of biblical studies, to stay informed about the numerous recent developments in the many different areas of biblical scholarship. Add to this the virtual explosion in books, journals, Festschriften, encyclopedias and online sites, and one can immediately see the need for a journal to keep readers apprised of recent developments in this rapidly expanding field of scholarship. Given this increasing diversity of methods and interests in contemporary biblical scholarship, the need for Currents is even clearer today than it was when the first issue was published in 1993. Currents also welcomes proposals for articles relating to all facets of Judaism in the late Second Temple and early Rabbinic periods. This includes, but is not limited to, essays on recent research in Pseudepigrapha, Qumran, Mishnah, Midrash and Talmud, as well as studies on ancient Jewish interpreters such as Josephus and Philo. We are especially interested in articles that address texts