Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament | TDOT (17 vols.)

by Helmer Ringgren; Heinz-Josef Fabry; G. Johannes Botterweck; Holger Gzella

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2018–2021

The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) is one of the most extensive and important works on the Old Testament ever produced. A requirement for sound scholarship on the Hebrew Bible, it remains as fundamental to Old Testament studies as its New Testament counterpart Theological Dictionary of the New Testament | TDNT does to New Testament studies.

TDOT provides extensive research and analysis of every Hebrew and Aramaic word group in the Old Testament. Leading scholars from a variety of Christian traditions and all across the globe contributed articles on individual words that explain the word’s semantic range, present its morphology, and identify its meaning in the Old Testament. Contributors employ philology as well as form-critical and traditio-historical methods to provide explanation for religious statements found in the original Hebrew.

To avoid artificially restricting the focus of the articles, TDOT considers larger groups of words that are related linguistically or semantically. Lexical work includes detailed surveys of a word’s occurrences, not only in biblical material but also in other ancient Near Eastern writings. Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Ugaritic, and Northwest Semitic sources receive detailed attention, as do Qumran’s texts and the Septuagint.

Also included is Volume XVI, which concludes the monumental, critically acclaimed Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament with an Aramaic dictionary. This latest and last TDOT volume incorporates nearly the complete lexicon of Biblical Aramaic as well as a major portion of the theologically, culturally, and historically relevant terms in other ancient Aramaic writings. Each article provides information on the term’s meaning and usage, is fully annotated, and contains a bibliography with cross-references to the entire TDOT series. Further enhancing Volume XVI are an introductory overview of the history of Aramaic and a comparative grammatical outline of ancient Aramaic at the end of the book.

TDOT is concluded with the final, seventeenth volume, an index to all sixteen previous volumes. The first part of this volume indexes keywords in Hebrew, Aramaic, and English, while the second part indexes all textual references—both biblical and extrabiblical.

Key Features

• Provides extensive research and analysis on every major word group in biblical Hebrew and Aramaic
• Documents semantical range, philology, morphology using form-critical and historical-critical methods
• Includes analysis of other ancient Near East texts including Qumran’s texts as well as the LXX
• Includes an introductory overview of the history of Aramaic
• Provides a lexicon of biblical Hebrew and Aramaic and other relevant terms
• Contains a bibliography with cross-references to the entire TDOT series
• Index for keywords in Hebrew, Aramaic, and English

Endorsements

Provides a much-needed resource into the language of the Old Testament, particularly as it relates to the ancient Near East . . . A must for any serious student of the Old Testament.

—Southwestern Journal of Theology

Product Details

• Title: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament
• Editors: G. Johannes Botterweck, Heinz-Josef Fabry, and Helmer Ringgren
• Translators: David E. Green and Douglas W. Scott
• Series: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT)
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1975–2018
• Volumes: 16
• Resources: 3
• Resource Type: Hebrew Dictionary
• Topic: Hebrew
• Resource ID: {75DF74A9-E963-4E90-9CFD-E66309167847}

About the Editors

G. Johannes Botterweck (1917–1981) was a twentieth-century German theologian who focused on Old Testament theology and language studies while teaching at Tübingen and the University of Bonn.

Heinz–Josef Fabry (b. 1944) completed and coedited TDOT, taking over after Botterweck’s death in 1981. Fabry also serves as a Hebraist faculty member at Bonn University.

Helmer Ringgren (1917–2012) was a Swedish theologian who taught comparative religion at Abo Akademi University and Old Testament exegesis at Uppsala Univeristy and also coedited the TDOT.