Old Testament Studies Bundle, M (6 vols.)
by 6 authors John Drane, Norman K. Gottwald, Peter J. Leithart, John J. Collins, Rainer Kessler, Walter Brueggemann
Lion,Fortress Press,Canon Press 2000–2009
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Overview
Go deeper into the Old Testament’s world with discussion of the social forces that shaped Israel in The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction and A Social History of Ancient Israel. Walter Brueggemann’s An Unsettling God explores the challenging issue of God’s relationship with Israel.
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Key Features
- Leading textbook in Old Testament studies
- Concise introduction to the Hebrew scriptures
- Treatment of the spirituality and religious values of the Old Testament
- Discussion of the major deuterocanonical books
- Analysis of some of the ethical issues raised by the Old Testament in relation to contemporary concerns
Individual Titles
Introducing the Old Testament
- Author: John Drane
- Publisher: Lion Publishing
- Publication Date: 2000
- Pages: 364
- Available in: S, M, L
Since its launch in 1987, Introducing the Old Testament has been widely acclaimed as an authoritative and accessible text for students and general readers alike.
This thorough revision differs in important ways from the original edition. As well as being considerably longer, it takes into account the most recent scholarship, especially in relation to historical questions such as the origins of Israel as a nation. It incorporates more specific treatment of the spirituality and religious values of the Old Testament, and discusses the major deuterocanonical books. This edition also analyses some of the ethical issues raised by the Old Testament in relation to contemporary concerns such as ethnic cleansing.
Introduction to the Old Testament provides an excellent and informative introduction to a collections of writings that lie at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
- Author: Peter J. Leithart
- Publisher: Canon Press
- Publication Date: 2000
- Pages: 288
- Available in: S, M, L
The best stories subtly weave themes and characters and symbols into a stunning final tapestry. This Old Testament survey, written for junior high readers and up, reveals the rich weave that makes Scripture the Story of stories. Leithart has a gift for conveying the deep truths of Scripture in a gripping and understandable way. Even seminary students rave about this one.
Peter J. Leithart received an AB in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987, respectively. In 1998, he received his PhD at the University of Cambridge in England. He has served as editor and writer for American Vision in Atlanta, Georgia (1987–1989), and as a pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989–1995. He has taught Theology and Literature at New Saint Andrews College since 1998, and since 2003 has served as pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow.
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
- Author: Julius Wellhausen
- Publisher: A. & C. Black
- Publication Date: 1885
- Pages: 552
- Available in: L
A seminal work in the history of Biblical studies, Julius Wellhausen’s Prolegomena to the History of Israel created an eruption of controversy after it was published in 1883. Challenging traditional beliefs, Wellhausen’s contentious book argues that the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses, was not written by Moses, but ascribed to him later by redactors from a series of completely independent chronicles.
While 18th and 19th century biblical scholars were already formulating this supposition under the documentary hypothesis, it was Wellhausen who culled a century’s worth of research into a singular, systematic theory of the Torah’s origination.
A divisive and fascinating work, it marked Wellhausen as one of the most important biblical scholars of his time and a significant figure in Old Testament studies. It altered the paradigm and discussion for scholars studying the origins of the Pentateuch for much of the 20th century, and remains as an engaging polemic for researchers today.
Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) is best known for his studies of how the Pentateuch was understood, and the controversies his scholarly pursuits created.
A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
John J. Collins’s Introduction to the Hebrew Bible is a leading textbook in Old Testament studies. With this new, well-tailored abridgement of that larger work, Collins’s erudition is now available to general readers and professors and students who prefer a shorter, more concise introduction to the Hebrew scriptures. Also includes new maps, images, and study questions that are especially designed for the college student.
A balanced and richly informative introduction that covers essential critical and comparative perspectives and sets up pertinent interpretive issues, leaving the instructor free to work with the class in any number of directions...This is a textbook written by someone who not only knows his students but who genuinely likes them—and likes to challenge them!
—Carol Newsom, professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology
John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School and author of many works.
The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction
One of the pioneers of the socioliterary study of the Hebrew Bible introduces the beginning student to the social forces that shaped ancient Israel’s history and scriptures. Norman K. Gottwald brings new light to every book of the Hebrew Bible, and to the older traditions and sources on which those writings in part depend, paying particular attention to the rise and fall of empires and the social revolution achieved in Israel’s beginnings.
Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino has prepared a clear and concise abridgement of Gottwald’s classic textbook, now thoroughly updated and lavishly illustrated with maps, diagrams, and photos.
Gottwald’s introduction takes you into the world from which the Hebrew Bible emerges. He recreates the full sweep of empires and shows how their literary traditions shape the literary traditions of the Hebrew Bible...
—Steed V. Davidson, assistant professor, Old Testament, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
Norman K. Gottwald is a professor of Old Testament Emeritus at New York Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous works, including The Tribes of Yahweh, All the Kingdoms of the Earth, A Light to the Nations, and The Politics of Ancient Israel.
Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and holds a doctorate in English.
The Social History of Ancient Israel: An Introduction
Histories of ancient Israel have usually focused attention on major figures in powerful positions: kings, prophets, and patriarchs. Kessler asks about the larger social patterns that shaped the everyday life of ordinary people, from the emergence of Israel in the hills of Canaan, to the Jewish populations of Greek city-states in the Hellenistic age.
The introductory section includes discussion of social history as discipline and as method, event history and the “long haul,” the representation of social history, and the history of research. Two other sections explore the methods of the social history of Israel and the epochs of Israel’s social history, including discussions of environment as living space, Israel’s emergence as a kinship-based society, exile and its consequences, and more.
The Social History of Ancient Israel presents a coherent overarching social history that synthesizes the intensive work done on each of the major epochs of Israelite history from the tribal period to the Hellenistic era. It also helps to close the gap between continental and Anglo-American social critics of the Bible whose respective pursuits have not been widely shared with one another to date.
—Norman K. Gottwald, Pacific School of Religion
Rainer Kessler is a professor of Old Testament at the University of Marburg and author of a number of books in Hebrew Bible.
An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible
In the pages of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Israel gave witness to its encounter with a profound and uncontrollable reality experienced through relationship. This book, drawn from the heart of foremost Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament, distills a career’s worth of insights into the core message of the Hebrew Bible. God is described there, Brueggemann observes, as engaging four “partners”—Israel, the nations, creation, and the human being—in the divine purpose. This volume presents Brueggemann at his most engaging, offering profound insights tailored especially for the beginning student of the Hebrew Bible.
A luminous and honest reading of the relationality that animates the Hebrew Scriptures. Brueggemann’s masterful exposition of the fragility and resilience of covenant will leave readers unsettled indeed, for here we glimpse a God who is indescribably powerful yet ‘deeply at risk’ in relationships...
—Carolyn J. Sharp, associate professor, Hebrew Scriptures, Yale Divinity School
Walter Brueggemann, through his teaching, lecturing, and writing, has effectively demonstrated the significance of the Old Testament for our fractured world today. Recognized as the preeminent interpreter of the ancient texts in relation to questions posed by a variety of academic disciplines, he has shown the way toward a compelling understanding of the major components of the faith and life of ancient Israel, especially its Psalms, the prophets, and the narratives. His award-winning Theology of the Old Testament quickly became a foundational work in the field.
Professor Brueggemann, who holds the ThD from Union Seminary, New York, and the PhD from St. Louis University, is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He was previously Professor of Old Testament at Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis. His many Augsburg Fortress books, including The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power, and Weakness, exhibit a fecund combination of imaginative power, sound scholarship, and a passion of justice and redemption.
On November 17, 2000 the Association of Theological Booksellers presented Walter Brueggemann and Augsburg Fortress with a Theologos Award for Best General Interest Book 2000 at a dinner in Brueggemann’s honor. The award-winning book, Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope: Contested Truth in a Post-Christian World, which was edited by Patrick D. Miller, came out in July 2000.
Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture
This introduction attempts to offer a different model for the discipline from that currently represented. It seeks to describe the form and function of the Hebrew Bible in its role as sacred scripture for Israel. It argues the case that the biblical literature has not been correctly understood or interpreted because its role as religious literature has not been correctly assessed.
Child’s Introduction stands as a monumental contribution to Old Testament scholarship. It will be, appropriately, a significant factor in biblcial studies for at least the balance of this century.
—John F. Priest, author
Brevard S. Childs is Sterling Professor of Divinity, Emeritus at Yale Divinity School (New Haven, Connecticut). He is the author of several Augsburg Fortress books, including Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context and Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments.
The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach
In The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach, Christopher D. Stanley provides a Hebrew Bible textbook admirably suited to college and university courses in religious studies.
At once accessible and comprehensive, The Hebrew Bible approaches the Bible through the categories of comparative religion, carefully distinguishing the religion of ancient Israel from the religion represented in the Bible and discussing such dimensions of religion as the role of scripture, symbol and worldview, sacred narrative (myth), ritual and community, and the encounter with the holy.
Bravo! Finally, here is a thoughtful textbook on the Hebrew Bible and its context from the perspective of Religious Studies. This is a book that—without compromising academic rigor—caters to real students of the twenty-first centruy embarking on a semester-long course...
—Johanna Stiebert, associate professor, Hebrew Bible, University of Tennessee
Christopher D. Stanley is a professor of theology and teaches courses in Biblical studies and religion and culture at St. Bonaventure University. He is the author of numerous books and articles in biblical studies, including Paul and the Language of Scripture and Arguing with Scripture: The Rhetoric of Quotations in the Letters of Paul.