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Opening Israel's Scriptures

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Opening Israel's Scriptures is a collection of thirty-six essays on the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis to Chronicles, which gives powerful insight into the complexity and inexhaustibility of the Hebrew Scriptures as a theological resource. Based on more than two decades of lectures on Old Testament interpretation, Ellen F. Davis offers a selective yet comprehensive guide to the core concepts, literary patterns, storylines, and theological perspectives that are central to Israel's Scriptures. Underlying the whole study is the primary assumption that each book of the canon has literary and theological coherence, though not uniformity.

In both her close readings of individual texts and in her broad demonstrations of the coherence of whole books, Davis models the best practices of contemporary exegesis, integrating the insights of contemporary scholars with those of classical theological resources in Jewish and Christian traditions. Throughout, she keeps an eye to the experiences and concerns of contemporary readers, showing through multiple examples that the critical interpretation of texts is provisional, open-ended work--a collaboration across generations and cultures. Ultimately what she offers is an invitation into the more spacious world that the Bible discloses, which challenges ordinary conceptions of how things "really" are.

464 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2019

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About the author

Ellen F. Davis

20 books72 followers

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Austin Spence.
233 reviews24 followers
July 29, 2022
Haven't read many books exclusively on the Old Testament, but this is my favorite. Queen Ellen provides a warm bath for folks (me included) who struggle to reconcile the OT. It is doable friends! Each chapter is an essay devoted to a book, and it weaves in and out of interpretation and her own translation, providing contemporary insights when available.

(Trying to finish books from school that we were assigned a fraction to read, more to come)
Profile Image for Parker Friesen.
163 reviews4 followers
August 5, 2024
Read it for a seminary class. This was excellent. It's thorough and accessible.
Profile Image for Aaron Z Carlson.
45 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2023
Fantastic book! We had about six texts for our intro to OT course. This was among the best of them. The text goes beyond giving you an introductory foundation. Rather the essays dice deeper with insight and gleam new nuggets of information. I was please that it went beyond summarization/cliff notes and provided innovative insights.
Profile Image for Allison Wise.
121 reviews6 followers
November 18, 2024
I reallyyyy liked this one!!!! Davis writes beautifully and her insights into the Old Testament are thoughtful, cohesive, and provoke reflection.
Profile Image for Haley Schlatter.
49 reviews
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March 11, 2025
Preferred text over the quarter! Not sure I’d recommend it to read through front to back but super helpful when focusing in on a specific book or period.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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