Companion to the Old Testament

Hywel Clifford

Description

This book offers guidance and enrichment for first-time and experienced readers of the Old Testament.

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 03 novembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780334053958
• Langue: English

Extrait

Companion to the Old Testament
Introduction, Interpretation, Application
Edited by
Hywel Clifford
with Douglas Earl,
Ryan P. O’Dowd and
Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer







© Hywel Clifford, Douglas Earl, Ryan P. O’Dowd and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer 2016
Published in 2016 by SCM Press
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The Authors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Authors of this Work
Except where otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
The Authorized Version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, reproduced by permission of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.
The New International Version, Anglicised. Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, a member of the Hodder Headline Ltd.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
978 0 334 05393 4
Typeset by Regent Typesetting
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd



Contents
Preface
Contributors
Abbreviations

1. Introduction: A Book about Books – Hywel Clifford
2. Pentateuch – Hywel Clifford
3. Historical Books – Douglas Earl
4. Poetry and Wisdom – Ryan P. O’Dowd
5. Prophetic Books – Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
6. Apocrypha/Deutero-Canon – Hywel Clifford
7. Conclusion: Resources for Further Study – Hywel Clifford




Preface
This ‘companion’ is aimed at the student and general reader interested in understanding better the contents and the significance of the Old Testament. It proposes a fresh model for approaching the Old Testament, organized with reference to three key words: introduction, interpretation, and application. The second of these is the most important, and it occupies most space throughout the book. The model is explicitly Christian, in that all of the contributors focus the majority of their attention on tracing the history of the Christian interpretation of each of the canonical sections of the Old Testament, and they then seek to apply this to the life of the Christian Church. The reasons for this approach are given in the introductory chapter. This book should, nevertheless, serve the needs of a broad range of readers, the religious and the non-religious alike, who will find that it is not written in a religiously or denominationally partisan manner, but in a way that is accessible to all.
The book has chapters on the canonical sections of the Old Testament that are common to all major Christian denominations: the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, Poetry and Wisdom, and the Prophetic Books. There is a chapter on the Apocrypha/Deutero-Canon as well, although this chapter is written in such a way that does not presume its canonical authority for all Christian denominations. The book thereby contains five core chapters, topped and tailed by an introduction and a conclusion, which are substantial chapters in and of themselves. The book’s breadth of coverage and contents place it somewhere between a textbook on the Old Testament texts and a collection of essays on their interpretation and use. Readers who do not find that it serves their specific interests and needs are invited to consult the concluding chapter, in particular, which recommends resources for further study.
The content of the chapters that I have contributed in this book has been ‘tried and tested’ in the classroom in the last few years; the chapter on the Apocrypha/Deutero-Canon is the most recent in this regard. I am grateful to the students that I have had the privilege of teaching for their thoughtful and perceptive questions and comments. The teaching has taken place at the University of Oxford, and at Ripon College Cuddesdon, the theological college where I am based. The straddling of the two worlds of university and seminary, with their respective expectations and discourses, is hugely stimulating and enriching for me, and I hope that something of the interests and needs of each are reflected sufficiently in the final product.
I would also like to thank my fellow contributors. Each of them has been a model of patience and promptness while this book gradually came to fruition, as well as being a delight to work with.
I am also grateful to SCM Press for their enthusiasm in taking on this project. In particular, I would like to thank Natalie Watson, and subsequently David Shervington, the commissioning editors, for their guidance and assistance along the way.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to everyone not mentioned above – not forgetting the conscientious readers of pre-publication chapters – who have contributed, in one way or another, to the writing of this book about the Old Testament.
Hywel Clifford



Contributors
Dr Hywel Clifford (Oxford, UK) is the Senior Tutor, and the Tutor in Old Testament, at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, and also a member of the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Theology and Religion. Hywel has published on Isaiah 40—55, Philo of Alexandria, and the prophet Amos. Hywel’s areas of interest are monotheism, early Greek philosophy, biblical interpretation, and the archaeology of biblical lands.
Dr Douglas Earl (Durham, UK) did his PhD on the book of Joshua at the University of Durham, where he has also taught. Douglas is the author of Reading Joshua as Christian Scripture , The Joshua Delusion?: Rethinking Genocide in the Bible , and Reading Old Testament Narrative as Christian Scripture. Douglas’s areas of interest are in the faithful interpretation of Scripture and theology and their relationship in the context of contemporary anthropology, philosophy, and science.
Dr Ryan P. O’Dowd (New York, USA) is the Senior Scholar, Chesterton House, at Cornell University and Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Ryan is the author of The Wisdom of Torah , and co-author with Craig G. Bartholomew of Old Testament Wisdom Literature . His commentary on the book of Proverbs is in press. Ryan’s areas of interest are poetry, wisdom literature, law, and matters related to the role and nature of food, work, ritual, sexuality, and knowledge (epistemology) in the Bible.
Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer (Aberdeen, UK) is Reader in Hebrew Bible at the University of Aberdeen. Lena-Sofia is the author of Priestly Rites and Prophetic Rage: Post-Exilic Prophetic Critique of the Priesthood and For the Comfort of Zion: The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40—55 , as well as two monographs on Zechariah 1—8. Lena-Sofia’s areas of interest are the prophetic literature and the Bible in its later Jewish and Christian Reception History. She is currently writing a commentary on the book of Jonah.




Abbreviations

ABD
Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary
ACCS
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
AD
Anno Domini (= CE)
ANEP
Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament
ANET
Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament
AUSDDS
Andrews University Seminary Doctoral Dissertation Series
BAC
The Bible in Ancient Christianity
BAR
Biblical Archaeology Review
BBC
Blackwell Bible Commentaries
BBRS
Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplements
BC
Before Christ (= BCE)
BCE
Before the Common Era (= BC)
BS
Biblical Seminar
CBQ
Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CE
Common Era (= AD)
CEP
Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones
COS
Hallo and Lawson Younger (eds), Context of Scripture
DCLS
Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies
FAT
Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FOTC
Fathers of the Church
GSC
Geneva Series of Commentaries
HB
Hebrew Bible
HOTE
Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis
JANER
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions
JSNTS
Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplements
JTI
Journal of Theological Interpretation
KJV
King James Version
LEC
Library of Early Christianity
LCC
Library of Christian Classics
LXX
Septuagint