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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent survey - outstanding contributors
Review: Excellent survey of the past 30 years of OT research. Required reading if you want to understand the current state of OT theology in brief.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent survey - outstanding contributors
Review: Excellent survey of the past 30 years of OT research. Required reading if you want to understand the current state of OT theology in brief.
Rating:
Summary: 4 Stars for a Competent, but Incomplete Survey
Review: The goal of this volume is to bring educated readers "up-to-date" with the state of Old Testament scholarship at the end of the 20th century (my summary). Some of the sixteen essays do that, especially the general articles on textual criticism (Wolters), epigraphy (Chavalas & Hostetter), and the articles on the state of pentateuchal studies (Wenham), Wisdom (Waltke & Diewert), historiography (Long), and three articles on early Israel (Younger), the monarchy (Knoppers), and the exilic & Persian periods (Williamson). On these topics and the Psalter (below), one can hardly find a better brief summary (most articles are about thirty pages).Other articles are less satisfying, either because they assume too much knowledge on the part of the reader, or because they address an extremely narrow aspect of a broad field. The volume slights the enormous body of literature that has pondered the nature and workings of biblical poetry (parallelism, imagery, &c.), burying this discussion in Howard's sterling article on the Psalter. It also bypasses the contribution of linguistics to our understanding of the Hebrew verbal system and the discourse analysis of biblical narrative, or the impact of comparative Semitic studies on biblical lexicography. These gaps do not annul the book's value. Indeed, for a quick overview of most of what biblical (OT) scholarship has been "up to" for the past generation, it can hardly be surpassed, especially at the size and price. Careful readers will realize, however, that more has been going on, and supplement this with other resources. I assign selected chapters--and recommend the book as a whole--in my courses.
Rating:
Summary: 4 Stars for a Competent, but Incomplete Survey
Review: The goal of this volume is to bring educated readers "up-to-date" with the state of Old Testament scholarship at the end of the 20th century (my summary). Some of the sixteen essays do that, especially the general articles on textual criticism (Wolters), epigraphy (Chavalas & Hostetter), and the articles on the state of pentateuchal studies (Wenham), Wisdom (Waltke & Diewert), historiography (Long), and three articles on early Israel (Younger), the monarchy (Knoppers), and the exilic & Persian periods (Williamson). On these topics and the Psalter (below), one can hardly find a better brief summary (most articles are about thirty pages). Other articles are less satisfying, either because they assume too much knowledge on the part of the reader, or because they address an extremely narrow aspect of a broad field. The volume slights the enormous body of literature that has pondered the nature and workings of biblical poetry (parallelism, imagery, &c.), burying this discussion in Howard's sterling article on the Psalter. It also bypasses the contribution of linguistics to our understanding of the Hebrew verbal system and the discourse analysis of biblical narrative, or the impact of comparative Semitic studies on biblical lexicography. These gaps do not annul the book's value. Indeed, for a quick overview of most of what biblical (OT) scholarship has been "up to" for the past generation, it can hardly be surpassed, especially at the size and price. Careful readers will realize, however, that more has been going on, and supplement this with other resources. I assign selected chapters--and recommend the book as a whole--in my courses.
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