A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament: 2nd Edition Paperback – September 1, 2005

A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament by Bruce Birch, Walter Brueggermann, Terence Fretheim, and David Peterson, 2nd EditionI am alway impressed when I see '2nd Edition' on a book. It means enough people took the time and money to read it and comment on it that the authors took the time and energy (not to mention the publishers money) to publish an updated version of the book. And this book deserves all the congratulations it gets. Of the five texts I had in 'systematic' courses at seminary, this was certainly the best. It is made even better by the fact that it was virtually impossible to discern the seams where Brueggemann's Lutheran material ends and Birch's Methodist treatment begins.This book was the best, primarily because it did not nicely stay within the strictly theological lines. In a class where the other two books were a bit light, the broad range of BBF&P was a real virtue.This book is an example of something I have found odd throughout my readin of the Old Testament. All the best books seem to be written by Christians. Even the best commentaries on OT books are written by Christians, and more by Protestants than by Catholics (althought that tide may be changing). And when I compare theological writings by a Jew on Genesis (Creation and the Persistence of Evil by Jon Levenson) I get a completely different picture of Jewish theology. This is not because Christian theology is infused with a light shining backwards from the New Testament. Most modern scholarship, even by those who consider themselves evengelicals, take the text as presented, not as a mirror to the future.One wonders why we don't use Kugel or Levenson or Fishbine or Kaufmann as our texts. What do the folks at Yeshiva use as an introduction to OT theology? But getting back to this book.I appreciate the fact that the book follows the order of the books in the Protestant translations of the OT, as that was also the way we studied them, and that is the way with which we are most familiar. And, that order has theological significance, which is why the Jewish Bible is arranged in a different way.The primary virtue for our class was that BBF&P combined history with theology. This is only appropriate, since Jewish theology is bound up in being 'in history'. Every chapter gave some reflection on the historical perspectives, the social perspectives, and the theological issues.The only major divergence from the Protestant Bible order was to address the wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiates, Psalms, Song of Songs)last, since they do not fit neatly between the Deuteronomic History and the Prophets.This is a great textbook. I am hard pressed to recommend it to a reader who is really interested in OT theology. To them, I suggest they swap this book for Bright's A History of Israel and Bruggermann's OT theology works, or maybe similar works by Von Rad. You may also try various books by Jon Levenson, especially 'Zion and Sinai'. (I have not read this book, but it is inexpensive and well reviewed).

I have been teaching about the period from the exile to the birth of Jesus off and on for the last 15 years. I was never able to find a good, readable, authoritative presentation of this period that did not seem highly biased religiously. This book fills the gap. The author has an excellent presentation of the actions of Zarubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, showing them within the context of the evolving policies of their Persian overlords. He traces well the evolution of Jewish theological and political thought during the period with particular attention to how they incorporated thoughts from Persians, Greeks, and Ptolemies.

A lot of scholarly theological work is dry and one wonders whether or not the authors believe. Not so with this work. The authors clearly write from a standpoint of devotion mixed with rigorous scholarship. The work is structured in historical sections rather than by books, giving a welcome Biblical Theological (big picture) perspective to the writing. The authors are clearly not afraid to apply textual scholarly methods to a sacred text, and the outcome is convincing and powerful.

This has been one of the more influential books of this semester and my time at college.I often find myself thinking about the topics discussed in this book weeks after I have read them. Theologians who wrote this book worked hard to make it extremely insightful. If you read this book, you will walk away thinking, "I've never thought of it that way."As a Bible Student in college, this book was heavy in information, yet I could read it alongside of all my other textbooks and be able to remember the information. That is a very rare thing for books.

This work is a seminary-level introduction to the Old Testament that bridges the gap between the academic and the confessional study of the Bible. Birch's much-needed approach is founded upon historical-critical scholarship, but it focuses primarily upon the biblical text as theological witness. Welcomed attention is given to how the OT functions theologically for the contemporary community of faith. This book's most likely place will be as a supplementary textbook that is used alongside a more traditional introductory text.

I am a student of Pastoral Ministry at the Masters level. I have found the work done in this book, with the citings and notes to be of extreme value to me and my writings. This book is helpful to any level of reader because of the clear way it explains and uses graphs and pictorials. Worth the buy to keep in your library.

Bought this along with the two volumes of "Exploring the New Testament" series in fantastic. I have it prominently displayed on my shelf and I am constantly going back to reference things. Not the type of book I would read straight though (though you could) - but an excellent resource.

This was the main text in my Old Testament class at Wesley Seminary in Washington, DC. I had an earlier edition and found this to expand the information rom the other text. It was very good and I am glad that I ysed it.