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Exploring the Old Testament #2
Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Historical Books
The historical books, from Joshua to Ezra and Nehemiah, form the narrative backbone of the Old Testament. Without them the Pentateuch would stop cold and the Prophets would hang in suspension. Even the Psalms and Wisdom literature would lose some of their luster for lack of a setting. Without these historical books the New Testament would be resolving an incomplete narrative, answering a question only half and hesitantly posed. For all these reasons and more, it is a tragic fact that many of us today cannot give a brief and coherent account of this story. We fear that books with names like Judges, Kings and Chronicles would bore us. But nothing could be further from the truth. For the story they tell is full of action and intrigue, tragedy and suspense, vivid characters and memorable events. They are the stuff of great art and literature, and they have inspired men and women to lives and deeds of uncommon faith and courage. Exploring these books is essential for a true education, whether religious or otherwise. In this guidebook, Philip E. Satterthwaite and J. Gordon McConville introduce us to the content and the context of these historical books. We view them within the setting of ancient history and history writing, and come to appreciate their literary artistry, their role within the Scriptures of Israel, and their lasting value as theological and ethical resources. Designed especially for students, Exploring the Old Testament, Volume 2: A Guide to the Historical Books overflows with interesting and helpful features that encourage avid exploration and the joy of learning.
311 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2007
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42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 9, 2014
Solid but uninspiring. Not that I've read an inspiring book in this introduction/survey genre. These large format books with two columns are discouraging to read - each page takes so long! The colourful cover looks nice though :)
November 30, 2022
Read this book cover to cover for my Old Testament course in seminary. There is a wealth of information covered in this book on scholarly issues. It helped me to have a glimpse of the vast landscape of Old Testament scholarship (which can be very intimidating). However, some sections can be a little dry to read. Overall, I find the first half of the book to be more detailed, interesting anb helpful as compared to the other half of the book. Overall, this is a good OT introduction book to students who are just beginning to seriously study the OT.
April 26, 2022
Solid book that gives a good overview of the Historical Books of the Old Testament. Satterthwaite and McConville do a great job of laying out the divisions of the books and presenting various viewpoints on textual, historical, and thematic issues. Volume two of this series is accessible for any reader of the Bible.
May 3, 2023
This is a great series.
January 8, 2024
Super nerdy. Loved it.
December 22, 2016
This attractive volume by scholars Philip Satterthwaite and Gordon McConville is part of the four-volume set on Exploring the Old Testament published by IVP. This book has been widely used since its publication a few years ago and now there is a new release of this volume in paperback while the hardback edition is still available.
Much like its companion volumes it aims at serious beginning students, though anyone will find it useful. Because undergraduate students are a big part of the intended audience, there’s some discussion of scholarly trends that pastors will not find interesting. Still, because of the useful layout, those irrelevant sections are easily passed over.
Personally, I found too much coverage in the Introduction on the historicity, or the lack thereof, among some scholarship of these books. Though this book usually came to the right conclusion, most of us who preach the Word are not concerned with that dubious scholarship.
The chapters on the books themselves were much more interesting and valuable. Structure, outline, and theology were all well presented. This volume had the most meaningful charts in these series too from my point of view.
This volume is enlightening and I recommend it. For that matter, the whole set (there’s two more volumes that cover the New Testament as well) would be a boon to any student.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
Much like its companion volumes it aims at serious beginning students, though anyone will find it useful. Because undergraduate students are a big part of the intended audience, there’s some discussion of scholarly trends that pastors will not find interesting. Still, because of the useful layout, those irrelevant sections are easily passed over.
Personally, I found too much coverage in the Introduction on the historicity, or the lack thereof, among some scholarship of these books. Though this book usually came to the right conclusion, most of us who preach the Word are not concerned with that dubious scholarship.
The chapters on the books themselves were much more interesting and valuable. Structure, outline, and theology were all well presented. This volume had the most meaningful charts in these series too from my point of view.
This volume is enlightening and I recommend it. For that matter, the whole set (there’s two more volumes that cover the New Testament as well) would be a boon to any student.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
December 8, 2014
Solid starting place for students of the historical books, generally balancing well a presentation of the teaching of biblical books on their own terms and a sympathetic engagement with critical scholarship (of whose conclusions the authors are for the most part constructively sceptical).
The coverage of historical books is unbalanced, with a definite emphasis on the Former Prophets/Deuteronomistic History. This is an unfortunate trend for the whole genre of which this book is a part—though there is more on Chronicles than one usually finds. This suited my purposes just fine since I was teaching Former Prophets!
Bibliography is extensive and cuts across the spectrum, but was already dated when the book was published in 2007. For example, I counted only 6 works later than 2003, and some of these were repeats. This is probably only an indication of how long the book was "in press," and work on OT historiography has been booming in the last decade, but it is certainly something to be aware of.
All things considered, a very useful text.
The coverage of historical books is unbalanced, with a definite emphasis on the Former Prophets/Deuteronomistic History. This is an unfortunate trend for the whole genre of which this book is a part—though there is more on Chronicles than one usually finds. This suited my purposes just fine since I was teaching Former Prophets!
Bibliography is extensive and cuts across the spectrum, but was already dated when the book was published in 2007. For example, I counted only 6 works later than 2003, and some of these were repeats. This is probably only an indication of how long the book was "in press," and work on OT historiography has been booming in the last decade, but it is certainly something to be aware of.
All things considered, a very useful text.
June 5, 2018
If you want to get into Biblical studies of the OT, this is an excellent book. It talks about the historical books, their literary style and background stuff like archaeological findings about the books. You may get a little confuse, but I do not think this is a hard read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews