The Old Testament Library Series (7 vols.)

by Susan Niditch; A. Graeme Auld; Marvin A. Sweeney; J. Cheryl Exum

and

3 more

Publisher:

Westminster John Knox

, 2000–2011

Overview

This seven-volume series of The Old Testament Library offers powerful commentary, exegesis, and literary insight into some of the most critical writings in the Old Testament. The series covers Judges, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. Biblical scholars including A. Graeme Auld, Marvin A. Sweeney, and J. Cheryl Exum bring fresh understanding to these well-known passages, from the often neglected book of Micah to the sweeping historical narrative of Kings. Deepen your appreciation for the poetry in Jeremiah and the Song of Songs. Be inspired by the theology of Isaiah. Get to know David as he appears in Samuel. With over 3,000 pages of rich scholarship, The Old Testament Library Series (OTL) is worthy of a prominent place in any modern biblical scholar’s library.

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Key Features

• Observations by some of today’s leading biblical scholars
• Fresh insights into well-known Old Testament books
• Relevant commentary, exegesis, and literary criticism for today’s Christian

Praise for the Print Edition

This series provides an extraordinary service to biblical scholarship.

—Reviews in Religion & Theology

Belongs on the shelves of students, clergy, and professional scholars as well as the serious layperson.

—Journal of Biblical Theology

Product Details

• Title: The Old Testament Library
• Series: The Old Testament Library Series (OTL)
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Volumes: 7
• Pages: 3,143

Judges

• Author: Susan Niditch
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 320

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Susan Niditch’s commentary on the book of Judges pays careful attention to the literary and narrative techniques of the text and yields fresh readings of the book’s difficult passages: stories of violence, ethnic conflict, and gender issues. Niditch aptly and richly conveys the theological impact and enduring significance of these stories.

Susan Niditch is Samuel Green Professor of Religion at Amherst College. She is the author of many books, including Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature in the acclaimed Library of Ancient Israel, published by Westminster John Knox Press.

I & II Samuel

• Author: A. Graeme Auld
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 712

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this new addition to the Old Testament Library series, A. Graeme Auld writes, “This book is about David.” The author demonstrates how all the other personalities in First and Second Samuel—including Samuel, for whom the books were named—are present so that we may see and know David better. These fascinating stories detail the lives of David, his predecessors, and their families. Auld explains that though we read these books from beginning to end, we need to understand that they were composed from the end to the beginning. By reconstructing what must have gone before, the story of David sets up and explains the succeeding story of monarchy in Israel.

A. Graeme Auld is professor emeritus of Hebrew Bible at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

I & II Kings

• Author: Marvin A. Sweeney
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 512

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume offers a close reading of the historical books of First and Second Kings, concentrating on not only issues in the history of Israel but also the literary techniques of storytelling used in these books. Marvin A. Sweeney provides a major contribution to the prominent Old Testament Library series with advanced discussions of textual difficulties in the books of Kings as well as compelling narrative interpretations.

Marvin A. Sweeney is professor of Hebrew Bible at Claremont School of Theology and professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University.

Song of Songs

• Author: J. Cheryl Exum
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 288

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This original commentary highlights the poetic genius of the Song of Songs, one of the most elusive texts of the Hebrew Bible. J. Cheryl Exum illustrates that genius in the way the song demonstrates to its readers that love is as strong as death. She shows how the song immortalizes love, offering a mature sensitivity to how being in love is different for the woman and the man. Many long-standing conundrums in the interpretation of the book are given persuasive solutions in Exum’s verse-by-verse exegesis.

J. Cheryl Exum is professor of biblical studies at the University of Sheffield. The author of numerous scholarly works on the Hebrew Bible, her books include Tragedy and Biblical Narrative, Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives as well as Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. She is executive editor of the journal Biblical Interpretation and a director of Sheffield Phoenix Press.

Isaiah

• Author: Brevard S. Childs
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 555

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this important addition to the Old Testament Library, renowned scholar Brevard S. Childs writes on the Old Testament’s most important theological book. He furnishes a fresh translation from the Hebrew and discusses questions of text, philology, historical background, and literary architecture, and then proceeds with a critically informed, theological interpretation of the text.

Brevard S. Childs is Sterling Professor of Divinity and fellow of Davenport College, The Divinity School, Yale University, and author of Biblical Theology in Crisis and The Book of Exodus (Old Testament Library), both from Westminster John Knox Press.

Jeremiah

• Author: Leslie C. Allen
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 576

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |7

This book of Jeremiah offers a remarkable range of literature, including prose, poetry, homilies, oracles, and proverbs. This commentary understands the book as a work of religious literature, to be examined in its final form, yet with careful attention to the historical contexts of writing and development through which the text took shape. Jeremiah proclaimed a message of coming judgment, because of the people's unfaithful worship, and yet also emphasized the call to know Yahweh and to live as God’s faithful people. Through it all, Leslie C. Allen identifies a trajectory of grace, in which the proclamations of doom can be understood within the context of promises for a renewed future.

Leslie C. Allen is a senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has also written commentaries on Psalms and Ezekiel for the Word Biblical Commentary and on Chronicles for The New Interpreter’s Bible.

Micah

• Author: James L. Mays
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 180

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |6 | 7

This much-needed commentary provides an authoritative guide to a better understanding of the often-neglected book of Micah. It gives insight into the individual sayings of Micah, to the way they were understood and used as they were gathered into the growing collection, and to their role in the final form of the document. “I am convinced,” says James L. Mays, that Micah “is not just a collection of prophetic sayings, but is the outcome of a history of prophetic proclamations and is itself, in its final form, prophecy.”

James L. Mays is Cyrus M. McCormick Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.