'Whybray's recent book is a masterful review of all the options set out by critical scholarship since Wellhausen, i.e., over the last century. It is an exhaustive and up to date treatment, concise and highly readable.' E. Dyck, Crux 'Sensitive to standards of ancient historiography and parallels from the Greek sphere, Whybray proposes that the Pentateuch is the work of an ancient historian, possibly designed as a supplement or prologue to the deuteronomistic history. The analysis of the work of others and of the state of [CHECK REVIEW!] extremely valuable; the final suggestion makes it all the more engaging. Essential for all concerned with fundamentals of critical biblical studies.' W. Lee Humphreys, Religious Studies Review

Preliminary material /Editors CONGRESS VOLUME: OXFORD 1959 -- GIBEON'S HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF EXCAVATION /JAMES B. PRITCHARD -- METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF OLD TESTAMENT STUDY /IVAN ENGNELL -- THEOPHANY AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN THE OLD TESTAMEMT /JAMES BARR -- LES BASES THÉOLOGIQUES DE L'ETHIQUE DE L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT /ED. JACOB -- DAS KRYPTOGRAMM DES SEFER ABISCHA /F. PÉREZ CASTRO -- SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ARK /EDUARD NIELSEN -- ON THE ETHICS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS /E. HAMMERSHAIMB -- THE INSTRUCTIONS OF 'ONCHSHESHONQY AND BIBLICAL WISDOM LITERATURE /B. GEMSER -- DIE STILISTISCHE ANALYSE BEI DEN PROPHETEN /L. ALONSO-SCHÖKEL -- DER NAME DES KÖNIGS DAVID /J. J. STAMM -- THE ORIGIN OF THE KETHIB-QERE SYSTEM: A NEW APPROACH /HARRY M. ORLINSKY -- THE REVISED STANDARD VERSION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT /MILLAR BURROWS -- THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED PALESTINIAN TARGUM: ITS ANTIQUITY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OTHER TARGUMS /A. DIEZ MACHO -- EXORCISMES ET GUÉRISONS DANS LES ÉCRITS DE QOUMRÂN /A. DUPONT-SOMMER -- DER BEITRAG DER ARCHÄOLOGIE ZUR GESCHICHTE ISRAELS /MARTIN NOTH -- PROBLEMS OF HEBREW PROSODY /STANISLAV SEGERT -- EINE DER KRIEGSROLLE VON QUMRĀN VERWANDTE LITERATURGATTUNG IM CODEX XXVIII DER LEIPZIGER SAMMLUNG /HANS BARDTKE -- DAS HEBRÄISCHE VERBALSYSTEM IM LICHTE DER GEGENWÄRTIGEN FORSCHUNG /RUDOLF MEYER -- THE ANGELIC LITURGY AT QUMRÂN-4Q SEREK ŠÎRÔT 'ÔLAT HAŠŠABBĀT /J. STRUGNELL -- DIE GOTTESVEREHRUNG DER PATRIARCHEN IM LICHTE DER PENTATEUCHQUELLEN /LEONHARD ROST.

Trent C. Butler's excellent commentary on Joshua is updated and revised. This new edition takes into account the most recent scholarly work on the book of Joshua. The commentary includes Butler's translation of the text, explanatory notes, and commentary to help any professor, student, or pastor with research and writing. Features include: -solid biblical scholarship for teachers, pastors, and students -updated bibliography commentary for deeper study -thorough coverage of the biblical languages -close analysis of ancient manuscripts of Joshua The Word Biblical Commentary series offers the best in critical scholarship firmly committed to the authority of Scripture as divine revelation. It is perfect for scholars, students of the Bible, ministers, and anyone who wants a theological understanding of Scripture.

Ratheiser's study provides the framework for a non-confessional, mitzvoth ethics-centered and historical-philological approach to the Jewish bible and deals with the basic steps of an alternative paradigmatic perspective on the biblical text. The author seeks to demostrate the ineptness of confessional and ahistorical approaches to the Jewish bible. Based on his observations and his survey of the history of interpretation of the Jewish bible, Ratheiser introduces an alternative hermeneutical-exegetical approach to the Jewish bible: the paradigm of examples. His study concludes that the biblical text is a collection of writings designed and formed from a specifically ethical-ethnic outlook. In other words, he regards the Jewish bible to be written as an etiology of ancient instruction by ancient Jews to Jews and for Jews. As such, it serves as a religious-ethical identity marker that provides ancient Jews and their descendants with an etiology of Jewish life. Ratheiser regards this religious-ethical agenda to have been the driving force in the minds of the final editors/compilers of the biblical text as we have it today.

The language of 'christophanies' is used technically by scholars to refer to appearances of the incarnate Son of God after his resurrection, as narrated in the New Testament Gospels and Acts. At a more popular level, though, the term is increasingly applied to alleged appearances of the pre-incarnate Son in the Old Testament. That Jesus appeared to - and was even recognized by - the likes of Abraham and Moses is usually argued from several scriptural trajectories. The New Testament suggests that God the Father is invisible, inviting us to ask who conducted the Old Testament appearances; the mysterious Angel of the Lord has often been interpreted as a manifestation of the divine Son; and several New Testament passages imply Old Testament appearances of and encounters with Jesus. It seems obvious, indeed orthodox, to affirm that Jesus has always been at work in communicating with and saving his world. However, Andrew Malone argues that, while Christ-centred readings of the Old Testament abound, christophanies prove to be a flimsy foundation on which to build. Despite apparent success, any scholarship commending the idea does not withstand close scrutiny. Malone carefully sifts the evidence to show that the popular arguments should be abandoned, and that the pursuit of Old Testament christophanies ultimately threatens to undermine the very values it promotes. He concludes that it better honours the Trinity and the text of Scripture to allow that the Father and the Spirit, as well as the Son, were themselves involved in Old Testament appearances.

In this collection of essays-many of them here published in English for the first time-the distinguished Norwegian Old Testament scholar, Magne S3/4b°, investigates the complex and variegated history of traditions constituting the literature of the Old Testament. Professor S3/4b° provides tradition-historical studies of particular texts (such as the 'revelation' of God's name in Exodus and passages presenting the early preaching of Isaiah) and of particular theological themes (such as the priestly theology in the Pentateuch and the relation of apocalyptic to prophecy and wisdom), as well as more wide-ranging considerations of the significance of tradition history in Old Testament studies. The focus is on the diverse and creative development of the traditions, and on the final transition from pluriformity to canonical unity.