Courtier and the Governor

The Nehemiah Memoir, the narrative of the royal cupbearer sent to rebuild Jerusalem, is central to Ezra-Nehemiah''s account of Persian Judah. Yet its emphasis on one individual''s efforts makes it a text that ill-fits the book''s story of a communal restoration. Sean Burt analyzes the nature of this curious text through the lens of genre criticism and identifies the impact of its use of genres on ...