Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction

By Lawrence Boadt and Lawrence Boadt CSP

Book Overview

Reading the Old Testament is a clear and carefully organized introduction for contemporary readers. It is designed to guide the student of the Bible through the text and its problems, enrich their understanding of the individual biblical books, and explore the way the Bible came to be written. Reading the Old Testament combines the latest scholarship with sensitivity to religious issues and Israel's ever deepening understanding of God's ways. The author gives special attention to recent archeological discoveries in the Middle East and how these affect our understanding of the Old Testament. The book contains numerous maps, charts, and drawings. Reading the Old Testament is particularly illuminating about the way Israel's religious experience was translated into written records. No other introduction offers the same thorough treatment of the Exile and the post-exilic periods as crucial times in the formation of the Old Testament. +

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809126311
• ISBN13: 9780809126316
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

An exceptional work

This book is so winning (and to some, unnerving) because Boadt approaches the material so reverently. I would recommend it to someone still struggling with fundamentalist hermeneutics because he so unconsciously instructs the reader in historical-literary-generic methods of interpretation by example, while obviously intending chiefly to give insight into the important theological doctrines and themes of the Old Testament...

Should be the standard seminary OT intro textbook

Boadt's book is a masterpiece of introducing critical, theological methods to the professional or casual theologian. It is simply the best OT book I've read and several friends that I have recommended it to have agreed. Although it was intended to be graduate level, it is being used increasingly at the undergraduate level, even at some more traditionally fundamentalist schools.Boadt is Catholic? I only know that from the reviews,...

Best OT Intro Available

This is a great introduction to the Old Testament. Those who label Boadt a "liberal" or "heterodox" either haven't read this book or don't understand what the Catholic Church teaches. Typically the criticism against Boadt comes from two arenas, fundamentalist Protestants or fundamentalist Catholic apologists ("fundapologists") like those from EWTN or Catholic Answers. While Boadt is a Roman Catholic, his book will benefit...

GREAT BOOK - DON'T BE PUT OFF BY THE "LIBERAL/CATHOLIC" TAG

This book makes historical study of the OT fascinating. I do not wholly agree with the author's a priori assumptions - mine are conservative and evangelical in contrast with his catholic perspective. On the other hand it is very unfair to the author to suggest that he does not see Holy Scripture as divinely inspired. I am not even so sure he deserves the "liberal" tag: the fact that he is willing to explain the views of liberal...

Not Divinely Inspired?

This book is probably the best Inrto to the OT I've seen. It is highly readable, the suggested scripture readings are excellent, and one really does marvel at how neatly themes are woven to the entire Old Testament, almost to the point of being tied up with a bow! Readers who take from this book that its author sees biblical texts as "not inspired by God" would do well to read it again! The whole point of the book is to...