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Rating: 
Summary: One of the better introductions
Review: Norman Gottwald and George Mendenhall the two well-known pioneers of the sociological approach to the origins of Ancient Israel, Mendenhall being Gottwald's "mentor." (Although, Gottwald promotes an almost Marxist view of peasant revolution for Israel and Mendenhall has detached himself from that extreme view)this introduction does take this approach. Yet, there is much more to it and the defendable theory does not intrude noticably. The book discusses religious and analytic (or "critical"--a misleading term) approaches to the Hebrew Bible, that is, the Tanak. The reader is not insulted by the use of confessional Christian terminology like "Old Testament," "BC/AD;" yet, Christian views are represented. On the literary side of the introduction Gottwald stays true and speaks of literary types reminiscent of Georg Fohrer. The student is refered to reading assignments in ANET (Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament, Pritchard)and also the currently out of print Macmillan Bible Atlas (Aharoni and Avi-Yonah----a standard w/o a worthy replacement!). There are some mediocre line (b&w) maps (why it's a four instead of five stars) but many good and useful charts and tables. I cannot say enough about their helpfulness. I bought this textbook when it was first published and it is worth having in hardback (the textbook style cover)because I still use and refer to it often and have not worn it out. The paperback edition would have died long ago. I am preparing introductory courses for the Yahwistic Bible Society in Tanak and Biblical Hebrew, and though I refer to many texts, this and the introduction by L. Boadt (a Catholic scholar---I mention this because I am not a Christian and his intro is from the viewpoint of Catholicism, and the Catholic Christian canon of scripture with deuterocanonicals, and I still consider it excellent) are always nearby. Gottwald is very factual, direct, serious, no frills. Boadt is very readable for the non-specialist, even pleasant and sometimes entertaining for what can be a dry subject. Don't depend on one introduction, and you might consider the major angles. A useful selection might include Gottwald (or Bandstra), Boadt, and R.K. Harrison (fundamentalist Christian. Out of print . . . but can be found at overstock bookstores like Book Warehouse). Gottwald would be a good basis for an intro course. It often is used as the textbook for university Bible intro courses.
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