The Sources of the Old Testament: A Guide to the Religious Thought of the Hebrew Bible

by James Atwell

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2004

Overview

In The Sources of the Old Testament, James Atwell explains the main ideas found in the Old Testament in their own historic context. One such idea is the significance of creation and the Creator. The reader is led to understand how these ideas formed the broad horizon of biblical theology and raised many of the big questions that are grappled with in the Old Testament. These include nature and the environment, respect for creation, the distinction between Creator and creature, and human destiny. For Atwell, the Hebrew Scriptures “connect us with the initial flowerings of human civilization.” He believes the Hebrew Scriptures have been written from a perspective convinced of God’s involvement in history. Each section ends with a number of questions to link the ideas found in the Old Testament to modern concerns.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The Ugaritic Text¹ have introduced us to a religious tradition that, at heart, is a conflict between Ba‘al, the divine champion of order, and Yam (Sea), mythical representation of the lurking threat of disorder. The triumph of Ba‘al is the triumph of order and establishes the stability of the cosmos over the threat of chaotic forces.” (Pages 3–4)

“the verbal agreements of Old Testament and Ugaritic texts are so extensive that this position” (Page 69)

“The miracle of creation was the marvellous order of the world.” (Page 4)

“The ordered world required to be sustained. The only way it could be effectively achieved was by lifelines and connections running back to the moment of creation itself. Any religion worth its salt had to have dependable ways of channelling power from the primaeval moment into the present lest the ordered cosmos should slip back into its pre-ordered state and consequently be overwhelmed by chaotic forces.” (Page 9)

“It is clear from the three examples that have been considered that order and good kingship were concepts closely connected in the Ancient Near East. The way the king was charged with responsibility for holding together the complex elements of the daily life of a state in an organic whole was a microcosm of the way the universe was deemed to operate as a single great system under divine royal control.” (Page 17)

Product Details

• Title: The Sources of the Old Testament: A Guide to the Religious Thought of the Hebrew Bible
• Author: James E. Atwell
• Publisher: T&T Clark International
• Year: 2004
• Pages: 252

About James Atwell

James E. Atwell, Dean Emeritus of Winchester, was educated at Oxford and Harvard. Alongside pursuit of his scholarly interest in the Old Testament he served in the Church of England for half a century as university chaplain, parish priest and cathedral dean. He died in 2020, shortly after completing the manuscript for this book.