An Introduction to the Old Testament tells a story of the emergence of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, organizing coverage of Biblical books along a historical framework. The major scenes of the story are the various empires that shaped the Hebrew Bible: Mesopotamian and Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenistic. Through examining how these empires had an impact on the Bible, students can see ways in which the Old Testament was formed in the context of broader world history. A consistent emphasis is the diversity of perspectives that can be found in the Old Testament, even in writings from the same time and place. Students will be encouraged to ask new questions of Biblical texts that they may or may not know well. In every chapter they will gain practice in reading ancient texts as initially foreign to them. At the same time, they will be challenged to see how these texts, read in historical context, might have more to say to them than they initially supposed. In addition, students will be exposed to a range of scholarly methods (e.g. social-historical, literary, post-colonial, gender-critical) that have been used to probe and understand Biblical texts.

An Introduction to the Old Testament: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts of the Hebrew Bible PDF

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