Great Biblical Characters: Illustrated Profiles of People in the Bible

Rating:
Summary: The Old Testament in History and Art
Review: This books combines historically informed commentaries on Old Testament narratives and personages with illustrations of paintings by great artists in the history of the west (e.g., Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin, Chagall). The authors of the commentaries (Bonnet and Xella) are historians of the ancient near east, and their analyses nicely delineate the characters of the ancient cultures from which the biblical stories emerge. The authors are especially sensitive to issues of comparative religion, including the degree to which Old Testament characters and narratives represent types found in other religions of ancient, near eastern culture. There is little commentary on the art works, themselves; nonetheless, I am a college teacher of a course in Bible and Visual Art, and I am likely to use this book the next time I teach the course.