In this meticulously researched study, Konrad Schmid offers a historical clarification of the concept of “theology.” He then examines the theologies of the three constituent parts of the Hebrew Bible—the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings— before tracing how these theological concepts developed throughout the history of ancient Israel and early Judaism. Schmid not only explores the theology of the biblical books in isolation, but he also offers unifying principles and links between the distinct units that make up the Hebrew Bible. By focusing on both the theology of the whole Hebrew Bible as well as its individual pieces, A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible provides a comprehensive discussion of theological work within the Hebrew Bible.

This handbook provides an important resource for the serious study of the Writings of the Hebrew Bible. It addresses historical and literary contexts as well as its roles as scripture and canon in Judaism and Christianity. The volume provides creative presentations of the messages and import of the books and the canonical division as a whole.

In April of 2001, the headline in the Los Angeles Times read, “Doubting the Story of the Exodus.” It covered a sermon that had been delivered by the rabbi of a prominent local congregation over the holiday of Passover. In it, he said, “The truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.” This seeming challenge to the biblical story captivated the local public. Yet as the rabbi himself acknowledged, his sermon contained nothing new. The theories that he described had been common knowledge among biblical scholars for over thirty years, though few people outside of the profession know their relevance. New understandings concerning the Bible have not filtered down beyond specialists in university settings. There is a need to communicate this research to a wider public of students and educated readers outside of the academy. This volume seeks to meet this need, with accessible and engaging chapters describing how archeology, theology, ancient studies, literary studies, feminist studies, and other disciplines now understand the Bible.

In the attempts to unify divided peoples on the basis of a shared past, both historical and mythical, this book illumines aspects of cultural nationalism common since the Middle Ages. As an edited work, the Bible includes texts mostly depicting long-gone historical eras extending over several centuries. Following on from Aberbach’s previous work National Poetry, Empires, and War, this book argues that works of this nature – notably the Mujo-Halil songs in Albania, the Irish stories of Cuchulain, the songs of the Nibelungen in Germany, or the Finnish legends collected in The Kalevala – have an ancient precedent in the Hebrew Bible (to which national literatures often allude and refer), a subject largely neglected in biblical studies. The self-critical element in the Hebrew Bible, common in later national literature, is examined as the basis of later anti-Semitism, as the Bible was not confined to Jews but was adopted in translation by many other national groups. With several dozen original translations from the Hebrew, this book highlights how the Bible influenced and was distorted by later national cultures. Written without jargon, this book is intended for the general reader, but is also an important contribution to the study of the Bible, nationalism, and Jewish history.

Founded on a lifetime’s research and creative thought, this is the crowning work of an internationally celebrated Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholar. Part I provides an engaging running commentary on the text from a final-form, canonical perspective, and Part II deals with a range of thematic issues, including: creation, covenant and election, the patriarchs, the promised land, torah, cult, Moses, David, Zion, language about God, prophecy, wisdom, Israel’s historical consciousness, hermeneutics, Jewish and Christian theology of the Hebrew Bible. It is both an invaluable tool for students and a significant work demanding the attention of professionals.

Dieses große internationale Standardwerk vereinigt christliche und jüdische Fachleute aus aller Welt. Es stellt die alttestamentliche Exegese von den Anfängen innerbiblischer Schriftdeutung bis zur gegenwärtigen Forschung umfassend dar. Der erste Teilband führt von den Kanonfragen über frühjüdische, neutestamentliche, rabbinische und patristische Deutungen bis zu Augustin. Er endet mit einer Zusammenfassung über Kirche und Synagoge als jeweiligen Mutterboden für die Entwicklung verbindlicher Schriftauslegung. Das Werk ist auf fünf Teilbände angelegt, die im Abstand von ein bis zwei Jahren erscheinen.

This volume features an impressive array of leading biblical scholars and presents an illuminating and lively cross-section of this traditional field of study. Treating core topics and changing methodologies within twenty-three comprehensive chapters, this Companion provides an outstanding introduction to the historical origins and literary character of the canonical literature.

We think of the Hebrew Bible as the Book--and yet it was produced by a largely nonliterate culture in which writing, editing, copying, interpretation, and public reading were the work of a professional elite. The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and in this book Karel van der Toorn tells their story for the first time. His book considers the Bible in very specific historical terms, as the output of the scribal workshop of the Second Temple active in the period 500-200 BCE. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn clearly details the methods, the assumptions, and the material means of production that gave rise to biblical texts; then he brings his observations to bear on two important texts, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production as well as the transmission of texts. Van der Toorn's account of scribal culture opens a new perspective on the origins of the Hebrew Bible, revealing how the individual books of the Bible and the authors associated with them were products of the social and intellectual world of the scribes. By taking us inside that world, this book yields a new and arresting appreciation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

This is a general-interest introduction to the Old Testament from many disciplines. There are 23 essays with 23 individual reference lists.

Dieser Band setzt das große internationale Standardwerk zur Rezeption der Hebräischen Bibel/des Alten Testaments, das christliche und jüdische Fachleute aus der ganzen Welt vereint, fort. Es stellt die alttestamentliche Exegese von den Anfängen innerbiblischer Schriftdeutung bis zur gegenwärtigen Forschung umfassend dar. Dieser Band widmet sich der Zeitspanne zwischen Renaissance und Aufklärung (1300–1800).