The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ed. by Stephen B. Chapman and Marvin A. Sweeney

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ed. by Stephen B. Chapman and Marvin A. Sweeney Isaac M. Alderman stephen b. chapman and marvin a. sweeney, The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (Cambridge Companions to Religion; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016). Pp. xvii + 525. $101.27. This collection of twenty-three essays is introduced as an attempt to express that the diversity of the field is a result of the diversity of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament itself. There is no neutral approach, because there are no neutral texts. The editors also hope to model the collaborative possibilities by engaging this diversity. The volume consists of five parts, addressing the matters of text, historical context, methods, collections and genres, and receptions. The first section ("Text and Canon") consists of two essays. In "Texts, Titles, and Translations," James C. VandkerKam addresses the extant textual evidence of the Hebrew Bible, such as the Hebrew and Greek versions, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient translations. He also covers the ways in which the biblical books were denoted, such as "the Law and the Prophets." Finally, he discusses matters of modern translations. Apart from a shared display of alliteration, Chapman's essay ("Collections, Canons, and Communities") treats the process and meaning of canonicity, including explanations of the different usages, history, and impact of various terms such as Old Testament, [End Page 743] Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh. He also addresses the examples of canon lists from various points in time. In part 2 ("Historical Background"), the first two entries directly address matters of context, looking at the ancient Near East and Israelite religion, while the third is more theoretical. Kenton L. Sparks ("The Ancient Near Eastern Context") provides an outline of the history of the Near East from the time preceding the Israelites until the Maccabean Revolt. Brent A. Strawn ("The History of Israelite Religion") gives an overview of some of the concerns and sources for the task of historical reconstruction. In the final entry, Marc Zvi Brettler ("The Hebrew Bible and History") explains tensions between history and historiography. He concludes that the Bible provides many narratives that depict a past, but that political or religious motivations behind them make problematic the use of the Bible as a primary source for constructing a history of Israel. The third part of the volume ("Methods and Approaches") also has only three entries. John J. Collins ("Historical-Critical Methods") examines the history of the approach and delineates its principles and discusses the criticisms of those principles. He concludes that the critics of the method are generally unconvincing. He praises the approach for freeing the text from fundamentalism and allowing collaboration among people of different faiths, or no faith at all. The second and third entries are broader in scope, looking at social-scientific (Victor H. Matthews, "Social Science Models") and literary (Adele Berlin, "Literary Approaches to the Hebrew Bible") approaches to the Bible. Berlin's contribution is especially interesting with regard to the divide among scholars whose literary approaches might be considered modern versus postmodern. Part 4 ("Subcollections and Genres") contains the following essays, constituting more than one-third of the volume: Thomas B. Dozeman, "The Pentateuch and Israelite Law"; Richard D. Nelson, "The Former Prophets and Historiography"; Marvin A. Sweeney, "The Latter Prophets and Prophecy"; William P. Brown, "The Psalms and Hebrew Poetry"; Samuel E. Balentine, "Wisdom"; Ehud Ben Zvi, "Late Historical Books and Rewritten History"; Lawrence M. Wills, "The Biblical Short Story"; Stephen L. Cook, "Apocalyptic Writings"; and Sharon Pace, "Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Books." These articles are not dissimilar to the introductions found at the beginning of certain sections of the New Oxford Annotated Bible. These entries could be very useful as introductory readings in a survey class. Part 5 ("Reception and Use") contains the following six articles: Frederick E. Greenspahn, "The Hebrew Bible in Judaism"; R. W. L. Moberly, "The Old Testament in Christianity"; Walid A. Saleh, "The Hebrew Bible in Islam"; David Lyle Jeffrey, "The Hebrew Bible in Art and Literature"; Nancy J. Duff, "The Old Testament in Public: The Ten Commandments, Evolution, and Sabbath Closing Laws"; and John Goldingay, "The Theology of the...