"The Making of the Bible is invaluable for anyone interested in Scripture and in the intertwined histories of Judaism and Christianity." -John Barton, author of A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths The authoritative new account of the Bible's origins, illuminating the 1,600-year tradition that shaped the Christian and Jewish holy books as millions know them today. The Bible as we know it today is best understood as a process, one that begins in the tenth century BCE. In this revelatory account, a world-renowned scholar of Hebrew scripture joins a foremost authority on the New Testament to write a new biography of the Book of Books, reconstructing Jewish and Christian scriptural histories, as well as the underappreciated contest between them, from which the Bible arose. Recent scholarship has overturned popular assumptions about Israel's past, suggesting, for instance, that the five books of the Torah were written not by Moses but during the reign of Josiah centuries later. The sources of the Gospels are also under scrutiny. Konrad Schmid and Jens Schroeter reveal the long, transformative journeys of these and other texts en route to inclusion in the holy books. The New Testament, the authors show, did not develop in the wake of an Old Testament set in stone. Rather the two evolved in parallel, in conversation with each other, ensuring a continuing mutual influence of Jewish and Christian traditions. Indeed, Schmid and Schroeter argue that Judaism might not have survived had it not been reshaped in competition with early Christianity. A remarkable synthesis of the latest Old and New Testament scholarship, The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet told of the world's best-known literature, revealing its buried lessons and secrets.

The volume presents a collection of international papers on the literary genesis of the deuteronomistic history and on "Deuteronomism" in the books from Genesis to Kings. They discuss the essence of Old Testament historiography together with the overall historical editorial and compositional relationship between "Pentateuch", "Hexateuch" and "Early Prophets".

“A landmark…If you have time to read only one book on the Bible this year, make sure that it is this one.”—Katherine J. Dell, Church Times “Excellent…With a sure touch, the authors lead the reader through the geopolitical context of the Hebrew Bible and the setting and background of the New Testament, finding something to say about practically every book’s origins and development.”—John Barton, The Tablet “A remarkable deep dive into foundational books whose origins are often taken for granted.”—Publishers Weekly In this revelatory account of the making of the foundational text of western civilization, a world-renowned scholar of the Hebrew scriptures joins a noted authority on the New Testament to reconstruct Jewish and Christian scriptural histories and reveal the underappreciated contest between them. The New Testament, they show, did not develop in the wake of an Old Testament set in stone. The two evolved in parallel, often in conversation with each other, ensuring a continuing mutual influence of Jewish and Christian traditions. A remarkable synthesis of the latest Old and New Testament scholarship, The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet of the long, transformative journeys of these texts on route to inclusion in the holy books, revealing their buried lessons and secrets.

The contributors to this volume on the literary and editorial history of the books from Genesis to Joshua present a collection of programmatic papers dealing with the history of research and individual points of exegesis which demonstrate the problematic nature of the Yahwist hypothesis and take new approaches to an interpretation of the redaction history of the Hexateuch, particularly in the parts not emanating from the priestly code. The individual papers are written by international Old Testament authorities from Europe, Israel and the USA. The contributors are: A. Graeme Auld, Uwe Becker, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Erhard Blum, Thomas B. Dozeman, William Johnstone, Ernst Axel Knauf, Reinhard Gregor Kratz, Albert de Pury, Thomas Romer, Hans-Christoph Schmitt, Jean Louis Ska."

The history and writings of the Samaritans remain an often overlooked subject in the field of biblical studies. This volume, which assembles papers presented at a 2010 symposium held in Zurich, illuminates the history of the Samaritans as well as passages that address them in biblical sources. Through a subsequent comparison to perspectives found in Samaritan sources concerning biblical, early Jewish, and early Christian history, we are presented with counterpoising perceptions that open up new opportunities for discourse.

In this collection of essays the innerbiblical exegesis of the Old Testament is reexamined from various angles.

The present volume contains a collection of articles from an international conference in Zurich that brought together leading voices from North America, Europe, and Israel to evaluate the present state of research on the composition of the Pentateuch. The aim of the conference was to clarify differences in methodology and to identify points of convergence in the present state of pentateuchal research as a basis for further discussion. "The essays in this volume provide important insights about the way toward a better understanding of the Pentateuch's literary development." Angela Roskop Erisman in Journal of the American Oriental Society 133.3 (2013), p. 551-553

The Hebrew Bible has long been the subject of theological inquiries and debates in Judaism and Christianity. But is there something like theology already in the Hebrew Bible itself? Is it possible to describe the literary growth of the Hebrew Bible by means of an ongoing theological debate? Answers to these questions depend on how one conceives of the category "theology." In this book, Konrad Schmid reconstructs the development of this category, then describes and discusses biblical texts in the Hebrew Bible that are relevant to the question Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible? The book consists of two main sections. In the first, Schmid traces the notion of "theology" from its earliest use, in Greek philosophy, through the medieval period and to today. He pays close attention to "biblical theology," particularly the different understandings of this idea as something emanating from the Hebrew Bible itself versus something that readers impose onto the biblical text. He also tracks the influence of the discipline of comparative religion on biblical theology, especially with regard to the growing division between biblical and systematic theology. In the second part, Schmid focuses specifically on "implicit" biblical theology, that is, theological reflection apparent within the Hebrew Bible itself. He provides several examples, such as the theologization of the law that resulted from inner-biblical exegesis and Jeremiah's universal theology of history. Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible? will serve as an important reference to all those interested in the question posed by the title. Schmid provides a nuanced answer to this question that both takes into account the convoluted history of biblical theology and lays out new ways of approaching the subject.

Unter den Teildisziplinen der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft galt die Theologie des Alten Testaments lange als deren vornehmste Aufgabe. Doch in den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde mehr und mehr undeutlich, was eine Theologie des Alten Testaments eigentlich zu leisten habe. Konrad Schmid wendet sich zuerst der historischen Klärung des Theologiebegriffs in Anwendung auf die Bibel zu, diskutiert dann die Vielgestaltigkeit vorliegender Hebräischer Bibeln und Alter Testamente, um dann die theologischen Prägungen der Bücher und Sammlungen des Alten Testaments anhand prominenter Leittexte zu erheben. Weiter schließt der Autor eine Skizze zur Theologiegeschichte des Alten Testaments sowie eine thematisch orientierte und historisch differenzierte Darstellung wichtiger Themen alttestamentlicher Theologie mit ein. Der Band versteht sich gleichzeitig als eine gewisse Synthese der gegenwärtigen Forschung am Alten Testament in theologischer Perspektive.

The Pentateuch lies at the heart of the Western humanities. Yet despite nearly two centuries of scholarship, its historical origins and its literary history are still a subject of intense discussion. Critical scholarship has isolated multiple layers of tradition, inconsistent laws, and narratives that could only have originated from separate communities within ancient Israel, and were joined together at a relatively late stage by a process of splicing and editing. Recent developments in academic biblical studies, however, jeopardize the revolutionary progress that has been accomplished over the last two centuries. The past forty years of scholarship have witnessed not simply a proliferation of intellectual models, but the fragmentation of discourse within the three main research centers of Europe, Israel, and North America. Even when they employ the same terminology (redactor, author, source, exegesis), scholars often mean quite different things. Concepts taken for granted by one group of scholars (such as the existence of the Elohist source) are dismissed out of hand by other scholarly communities. In effect, independent and sometimes competing scholarly discourses have emerged in Europe, Israel, and North America. Each centers on the Pentateuch, each operates with its own set of working assumptions, and each is confident of its own claims. This volume seeks to stimulate international discussion about the Pentateuch in order to help the discipline move toward a set of shared assumptions and a common discourse. With the wide range of perspectives examined, this publication is an invaluable resource for subsequent research.

This title presents a comprehensive and profound introduction to the literature and history of the Old Testament. Beginning with methods and sources, this Handbook looks at the Biblical text, archaeology, other texts, and iconography. It explores varying exegetical methods, including historical criticism, canonical approach, feminist, social scientific and liberation theology. Methods in archaeology, Hebrew epigraphic and iconography are also covered. The second section is devoted to the history and religious history of Ancient Israel. Introductory matters, such as fundamental terminology and definitions, ethnic identity, ancestors and the dead, geography and time reckoning are explicated before the book moves on to a historical survey from the Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE) to the early Roman period (ending about 63 CE). The heart of the book is a detailed survey of the Hebrew canonical books, section by section and book by book. The discussion for each book includes: biblical presentation and content; problems arising from the history of literary analysis and research; the origin and growth of the writing; the theology; and notes on reception history. This book will provide students with everything they need to study the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

Renowned Hebrew Bible scholar Konrad Schmid here provides a comprehensive discussion of the task, history, and conditions of the history of Old Testament literature. He carefully considers the dynamics of language, orality, literacy, and the range of social and political conditions that shaped Israels writing at each period of the peoples history and explores the significance of the transformation of various writings into Scripture and a biblical canon.

Konrad Schmid is a Swiss biblical scholar who belongs to a larger group of Continental researchers proposing new directions in the study of the Pentateuch. In this volume, a translation of his Erzvater und Exodus, Schmid argues that the ancestor tradition in Genesis and the Moses story in Exodus were two competing traditions of Israel's origins and were not combined until the time of the Priestly Code-that is, the early Persian period. Schmid interacts with the long tradition of European scholarship on the Hebrew Bible but departs from some of the main tenets of the Documentary Hypothesis: he argues that the pre-Priestly material in both text blocks is literarily and theologically so divergent that their present linkage is more appropriately interpreted as the result of a secondary redaction than as thematic variation stemming from J's oral prehistory. He dates Genesis-2 Kings to the Persian period and considers it a redactional work that, in its present shape, is a historical introduction to the message of future hope presented in the prophetic corpus of Isaiah-Malachi. Scholars and students alike will be pleased that this translation makes Schmid's important work readily available in English, both for the contributions made by Schmid and the summary of continental interpretation that he presents. In this edition, some passages have been expanded or modified in order to clarify issues or to engage with more-recent scholarship. The notes and bibliography have also been updated. Dr. Schmid is Professor of Old Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Zurich.

Text in English & German. Das wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Gedachtnis des Abendlandes erkennt die Urspr|nge der Idee von Naturgesetzen' bei den Vorsokratikern, Platon und der Stoa. Die rechtsfoermige Interpretation kosmischer Phanomene reicht jedoch in den Alten Orient zur|ck und hat auch Eingang in die alttestamentliche Literatur gefunden. Der vorliegende Band erschlieat und analysiert die entsprechenden Texte und formuliert so einen neuen Zugang zur Vorstellung von Naturgesetzen' in der Antike.

This title provides a comprehensive and profound introduction to the literature and history of the Old Testament. Beginning with methods and sources, this Handbook looks at the Biblical text, archaeology, other texts, and iconography. It explores varying exegetical methods, including historical criticism, canonical approach, feminist, social scientific and liberation theology. Methods in archaeology, Hebrew epigraphic and iconography are also covered. The second section is devoted to the history and religious history of Ancient Israel. Introductory matters, such as fundamental terminology and definitions, ethnic identity, ancestors and the dead, geography and time reckoning are explicated before the book moves on to a historical survey from the Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE) to the early Roman period (ending about 63 CE). The heart of the book is a detailed survey of the Hebrew canonical books, section by section and book by book. The discussion for each book includes: biblical presentation and content; problems arising from the history of literary analysis and research; the origin and growth of the writing; the theology; and notes on reception history. This book will provide students with everything they need to study the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

Today agreement regarding the formation of the Pentateuch is no longer as widespread as it was when the documentary hypothesis was first proposed. Numerous scholars find that more recent periods of Israelite history - the exilic and post-exilic periods - are more likely to have been behind important sections of the Pentateuch. This has resulted in a major shift in scholarship: no longer is the remote past of Israelite history the only era, or even the primary era, during which the Pentateuch came into formation. Rather, the development of the Pentateuch continued down into the Persian and Hellenistic periods. During these centuries, the post-exilic community brought together the texts of their own cultural heritage and blended these ancient stories with ex novo additions that reflected their current historical situation. The result was the Pentateuch as we know it today. This volume focuses on these final redactions included in the biblical text after the Priestly materials. The purpose of these final additions was to complete that which was deemed necessary to recount, as well as to update, reorient, and, sometimes, to correct older materials containing ideas that were no longer compatible with the post-exilic time of the editors.

From the Introduction: "The book of Job does not promote silence about God because we cannot say anything about him. Otherwise, this book would never have been written. But the book of Job does bid farewell to certain types of theology-and we need not bemoan their loss: theology as the wisdom of the world projected into heaven; theology as pious reflection on a higher being that then mistakes traditional or innovative ideas about God entirely for God himself; theology that purports to communicate direct revelation from God. The book of Job distrusts and disbelieves all this to its core. Instead, it states clearly that this is not God; these are only graven images. Such fundamental criticism of all pseudo-theology is-and here we can only agree with the book of Job-not the end but the very beginning of theology." This book is not an attempt to cover every angle and answer every question that we have about the book of Job. Instead, Konrad Schmid, in the introductory chapter, provides us with an analysis of the structure of the book that helps us to see the book as a whole. And Manfred Oeming, in the chapters that follow, provides clear snapshots of various elements of the book, including a summary of the dialogues, Job's monologue, Elihu's speech ("the Anti-Monologue"), Job's encounter with God, and the destination (of Job's journey). Between them, the two authors provide an accessible scholarly and theological approach to the book that is richly satisfying.