Text in Context

Abstract

Abstract This book is a collection of essays by members of the Society for Old Testament Study, and reviews new approaches and major developments in established approaches to Old Testament study over a wide range of topics. The scholarly study of the Old Testament is now marked by a rich diversity of approaches and concerns. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, an interest in the text and the implications for its interpretation of the fact that it is no longer the preserve of a single scholarly community have become central, while the reconstruction of the history of the people from whom it derived has been transformed by new methods. The Society for Old Testament Study decided that this latest volume in its series of its publications should reflect these changes and have a particular concentration on literary and historical study. In doing so, it has not only clearly recognized the diversity now inherent in Old Testament study but has also welcomed the integration into its field of the wide range of approaches available in current literary and historical investigation. The title, arrangement, and content of the present volume reflect these developments. The study of the biblical text and how it is received and interpreted by its various readerships has a certain logical priority over the study of its historical background and authorship, yet an ongoing investigation of issues relating to the latter cannot await definitive conclusions on the former. So, in the book, essays on the text and its reception discuss primary issues that arise in Old Testament study, while those on background and authorship reflect the continued vitality of, and the fresh perspectives possible in, more traditional scholarly concerns. The book is arranged in three parts: I The Old Testament and the Reader (5 chapters); II The Text of the Old Testament (5 chapters); and III The Old Testament and its authors (6 chapters).