Abstract
The quest for a textbook for an undergraduate or seminary-style introductory course on the Old Testament can be full of frustrations and lamentations. On the one hand, the marketplace is crowded and competitive; the teacher is spoilt for choice. On the other hand, it often proves exceptionally difficult in practice to find the perfect textbook for a given class—one that surveys just the right terrain, is pitched at just the right level, and avoids tripping over the teacher’s biggest bugbears. The present volume, Introducing the Old Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey, is a welcome addition to this marketplace and deserves serious consideration as a teaching tool.
This book-by-book survey the Old Testament adopts the standard format for such introductory volumes, following the ordering of the biblical books in the Protestant canon. It treats the biblical material under five recognisable rubrics: The Old Testament: Context and Scope (historical and literary prolegomena); From Creation to Inheritance (The Pentateuch); Stories of Land, Loss, and Homecoming (the Historical Books); Poetic Collections (poetry and wisdom); Prophetic Literature (the major and minor prophets).
It is no small feat to devise even modest innovations in this genre, let alone break new ground. But this book admirably succeeds in bringing to the table a distinctive forte: a generous amount of Christian and Jewish artwork. This is a beautifully produced book, lavishly and vividly illustrated and printed on glossy paper. Rather than a mere sales gimmick, its aesthetic merit is an intentional pedagogical strategy designed to enhance the learning process. The carefully selected artwork invites the reader to enter into the world of the Old Testament afresh and sheds new light on familiar texts.
Not only is this volume pleasing to the eye, but it is also desirable for gaining wisdom. The authors explore the Old Testament with rigour, succinctness, and elegance. What is more, the book pursues a deliberately balanced approach—a rather unique offering in this market. The coverage touches on key issues in the scholarly debates in a lucid and even-handed manner, pointedly refusing to come down on one side or the other of disputed issues. Nor is the book ensconced within a particular faith tradition, although its tone remains broadly sympathetic to religious readings.
This book eschews partisanship at yet another level. The trend in recent publications of this kind has been to favour a particular methodological perspective. For example, some introductions prioritise theological readings and issues; others elect to lay the emphasis on historical-critical reconstructions. This introduction, by contrast, probes each book of the Old Testament from all three major angles: historical, literary, and theological. As a result, there is, inevitably, more breadth here than depth, but this multi-pronged approach has the advantage of conveying the overall lie of the land, pointing its readers in new directions, and sparking unexpected questions.
One minor criticism might be that more could have been done with contextual approaches to biblical interpretation. In other words, more can be said. That, however, can hardly count as a flaw of the book—that is what the teacher is for.