Abstract
Jan Christian Gertz, Angelika Berlejung, Konrad Schmid and Markus Witte,
T&T Clark Handbook of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Literature, Religion and History of the Old Testament
, T&T Clark: London, 2012; 872 pp.: 9780567425294, £85.50/$160.00 (hbk), 9780567253682, £27.99/$49.95 (pbk)
The English tradition of the ‘Introduction to the Old Testament’ has tended towards the short and sweet: while this has had the advantage of rendering the volumes affordable and non-intimidating, it has also frequently resulted in the need to refer students and the interested public to more than one ‘Introduction’, each with a different approach, in order to gain an adequate sense of the discipline. Entering the scene from the much more robust Germanic tradition, the heavyweight Handbook obviates much of the need for more than one such volume and, despite its size, manages to remain affordable, for which the publishers are to be commended.
The reason for the Handbook’s volume is revealed in the Preface as resulting from a desire to acknowledge and allow for the proliferation of scholarly disagreements current in biblical studies. Part I constitutes an extensive introduction to the variety of sources and methods used in studying the Old Testament, with attention to traditional biblical sources and the methods used in their exegesis as well as the extra-biblical sources (archaeological, textual and iconographical) and the methodologies which have been developed for their interpretation. With a caveat regarding the terminology of ‘Israel’, Part II attends to the significant issues involved in discussing the history and religion of ancient Israel before offering a substantial historical survey, from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period, which elsewhere might have constituted a reference volume in its own right.
Parts III (Torah and Former Prophets), IV (The Latter Prophets [Nebi’im]), V (Writings) and VI (Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books) deal with the biblical texts using their traditional Jewish classifications and constitute the major part of the Handbook. Especially noteworthy is the attention to larger text complexes extending beyond the confines of single books; thus Part III is structured not by book (Genesis, Exodus etc.) but with reference to Legal Texts and to Partial Compositions, the latter comprising the Priestly Document, Deuteronomy, the Non-Priestly Primeval History, the Non-Priestly Ancestral Story, the Non-Priestly Joseph Story and the Deuteronomistic Composition. In these as well as in sections dealing with ‘books’ proper, the discussion is clearly structured in terms of Biblical Context, discussing the text’s structure and contents; relevant Textual Issues and Major Issues in the History of Critical Interpretation; Origins, constructing probable historical development; Theology; and Notes on the History of Reception.
Part VII, finally, presents a Basic Outline of a Theology of the Old Testament. After an orientation to past scholarship, it emphasizes the diversity of material contained in the Old Testament and favours a history of religions approach accordingly, before concluding with a note about the Old Testament in the Christian scriptural context. Last but not least, the volume is completed by a series of chronological tables; a bibliography of basic literature on a range of topics covered by the volume and to which regular reference is made in the main text; a glossary, also referenced in the main text; and a series of basic indices.