The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament

Granted this is an academic textbook, but there is much in this work for the average Christian who just wants to dig deeper into the Old Testament.Each chapter represents a different book in the Old Testament, and is was written by a scholar who has special research knowledge on that particular book. Chapters are not as long and drawn out as many academic Old Testament survey works can be. They are semi-concise, and filled with lots of information on each book of the Old Testament.Written from a conservative standpoint, the book takes a high view scripture and confirms the veracity of Scripture and verbal plenary inspiration.If I had to lodge one complaint against the text, I would criticize it for a lack of illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, and pictures and such. It's New Testament counterpart is filled with such, but this volume is lacking in that area, for some strange reason. I guess the publisher must've been on a limited budget when developing this volume. LOL.If you are getting ready to take an Old Testament survey class and this is your text, you've got something to get excited about.Blessings in Christ,Myke HarbuckByron, Georgia

This is a fantastic resource! It is well-written and engaging. The authors provide a wonderful defense of the evangelical view of inspiration and transmission of the text. The authors write with humility and grace and set a high standard for Christian scholarship.

A very thorough comprehensive. Highly recommend

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Chapter one was the authors getting us to understand what they meant by "introduction" and "criticism". Chapters 2-4 were the settings of the Old Testament. Chapters 5-6 are how we got today's bible. Chapters 7-9 are the different methodologies of criticism. by the time you reach the chapter on Genesis you are one third of the way through the book.Each Bible book how it got its english name canonicity composition literary form structure outline issues study questionsThe criticism parts of the book ( chapters 7-9 and several pages for each biblical book) were the parts that I did not personally care for. They seemed to bore my and did not effect my understanding of the author or authors of each biblical book. I had read the New Testament its Background and Message before this and was expecting something similar to it. They did a good job trying to bring three thousand year old information to us in an understandable way. It is a blessing to know that most of the sacred text have not changed or changed very little but not effecting the meaning.They first laid out the verifiable data for each topic and then moved to interpretations with an emphasis on the author's interpretations.

This is an outstanding book that opens the eyes of evangelicals and critical scholars alike. It offers a well-rounded approach to the historicity of Scripture. Well done.!

This is a great book when looking for an introduction to the OT. It is fairly easy to read, and each chapter ends with questions which encourage the reader to retain what was just read. This book seemed at least to this reader, to take fairly complex subjects and make them understandable and very readable.

Study questions elicit in-class or reverse class interactivity. Helpful info for engaging secular scholarship, archaelogists, etc. A little weak on interacting with Jewish worldviews.

An excellent book. It provides a timeline that shows the flow of the History of the Old Testament. It also gives an excellent background of the World around the bíblical history, that allows you to have a clearer view of the biblical narrative in its historical and cultural context, so that you feel it more as it really is: historical narrative. I haven't finished it yet, but so far so good. The authors are really good teachers. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to understand the context and the themes of each book of the Torah.