Chalice Introduction to the Old Testament

Chalice Introduction to the Old Testament. Edited by Marti J. Steussy. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2003. 275 pages.

This brief introduction, with fourteen contributors, constitutes a superb attempt to distill some of the arcana of Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern scholarship in order to present it in accessible form to non-specialists. All of the contributors are solid scholars, and all have some type of formal relationship to the Disciples of Christ (a branch of the Stone-Campbell Movement). It should be noted that although this volume accurately reflects the consensus of scholarship, its general tenor is (by intention) confessional in nature.

Steussy's introductory chapter in this volume is a deft and sensitive articulation of the book's focus, contents, and perspective. She notes that some of the contributions have a predominant historical and archaeological emphasis, but that others devote primary attention to literary and theological issues. In addition, within this chapter, she also summarizes issues such as dominant dating systems in the field (i.e., BCE=BC and CE=AD), gendered language for God, and terminology such as "Hebrew Bible," "Old Testament," and "First Testament." Moreover, she affirms that throughout the volume, YHWH will be used for the tetragrammaton (rather than following the problematic convention of rendering the personal name of Israel's god with the inaccurate euphemism "LORD"). Also, Lowell Handy's introductory essay on the "Geographical and Historical Background for Understanding Ancient Israel" will serve the readership well.

The core of the volume consists of fourteen chapters on the canon of the Old Testament. Often one chapter of this volume will treat a single biblical book (e.g., Richard H. Lowery is able to devote an entire chapter to the book of Genesis and Claudia V. Camp is able to devote an entire chapter to Job). For various reasons (e.g., the exigencies of space), however, a number of chapters in this volume treat multiple biblical books. For example, Carolyn Higginbotham treats both Joshua and Judges in a single chapter (of some seventeen pages). Raymond F. Person Jr., treats the "Book of the Twelve" (i.e., the Minor Prophets) in a single chapter (of some fourteen pages). Nevertheless, the brevity of these chapters should not be considered to be indicative of superficiality. Rather, it is readily apparent that each chapter is a fine, if perforce brief, synthesis of the best of scholarship. One of the most laudable components of this volume is the decision to include a chapter (by Walter Harrelson) devoted to the Old Testament apocrypha. The volume concludes with a brief glossary and subject index.

Of course, this volume is not intended to replace the hardcore classical introductions to the Old Testament (such as J. Alberto Soggin's Introduction to the Old Testament or Brevard S. Child's Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture); however, I am confident that students in confessional institutions and parishioners will find it to be a most useful volume.

Christopher A. Rollston

Emmanuel School of Religion

Copyright Christian Theological Seminary Winter 2005
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