Bible
The Old Testament as Literature Foundations for Christian Interpretation Tremper Longman III APPROACHING THE OLD TESTAMENT
Tremper Longman has studied and taught the Old Testament and its interpretation for four decades. Now, in a planned three-book project, he presents his mature thoughts on three ways of approaching the Old Testament text: as literature, as history, and as a source of theology. This first volume explores the importance of reading the Old Testament as literature. Each culture tells its stories and writes its poems in different ways. To read and understand the Old Testament texts the way the ancient authors intended, we need to be aware of the conventions of Hebrew storytelling and poetry that they used. In part one, dealing with literary theory, Longman investigates how texts create meaning, the history of the study of the Old Testament as literature, and how genre dictates reading strategy. He explores the Hebrew conventions for both narrative and poetry in conversa- tion with contemporary literary approaches. Parts two and three delve into practice, using the tools gained in part one to analyze and interpret a variety of Old Testament narratives and poetry.
CONTENTS
JUNE 2024 • 320 pp. • cloth • $34.99 • 9781540961310
Introduction: Scope and Procedure
Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He has served in leadership of the Institute for Biblical Research for many years. Longman is the author of more than thirty books, in- cluding biblical commentaries, scholarly works, and popular books on how to interpret the Bible. He is also one of the senior transla- tors and a member of the Bible Translation Committee for the New Living Translation.
PART 1: LITERARY THEORY AND THE CONVENTIONS OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE AND POETRY 1. The Location of Meaning 2. History of the Study of the Old Testament as Literature 3. Genre Triggers Reading Strategy 4. Narrative Prose as Genre
5. Poetry as Genre 6. Intertextuality
PART 2: THE ANALYSIS OF ILLUSTRATIVE PROSE- NARRATIVE TEXTS 7. Literary Readings of Prose Narratives from the Torah 8. Literary Readings of Prose Narratives from the Historical Books PART 3: THE ANALYSIS OF ILLUSTRATIVE POETIC TEXTS 9. Literary Readings of Poetic Texts from the Psalms 10. Literary Readings of Poetic Texts from Wisdom Literature 11. Literary Readings of Poetic Texts from the Prophets and Epic Poetry Postlude: The Old Testament as Literature Indexes
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