Rolf Rendtorff is interested above all in the process by which the Pentateuch reached the form in which it now lies before us. He concludes that the classic Documentary Hypothesis has been tried in the fire and found wanting, and traces briefly the scholarly path that led him to this conclusion. His approach has been met with strong disagreement, cautious agreement, and, in some quarters, relief and readiness to look for other ways than that of the documentary hypothesis to explain the formation of the Pentateuch. It is certain, however, that scholars of the Pentateuch cannot ignore Rendtorff's important volume.

God's covenant with Israel is one of the most important themes of Old Testament scholarship: 'I will be your God, you shall be my people'. Yet this has only rarely been the focus of a comprehensive study.Professor Rendtorff explores the different ways the covenant formula is used in the Bible, its structural and theological functions, the connections between covenant and election.An important contribution to a canonical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.

The Old Testament is a collection of writings which came into being over a period of more than a thousand years in the history of the people of Israel and which reflect the life of the people in this period. Therefore, there is a reciprocal relationship between the writings or "books" of the Old Testament and the life of Israel in its history. The understanding of the texts presupposes insights into the historical context and the development of the life of Israelite society, while at the same time the texts themselves are the most important, indeed for the most part the only, source for it. This "Introduction" attempts to take account of this reciprocal relationship. The first part deals with the history of Israel. However, its approach differs from most accounts of this history. It takes the Old Testament texts themselves as a starting point and first of all outlines the picture of historical developments and associations which the texts present. An attempt is then made, on this basis, to reconstruct historical developments by introducing material from outside the Bible. This method of working leads to close connections between the second and third parts, because it has to take account of the nature and original purpose of the texts and their function within the biblical books as they are now. The second part attempts to present the texts collected in the Old Testament as expressions of the life of Israel. The third part discusses the books of the Old Testament in their present form.

Rolf Rendtorff war einer der bedeutendsten Alttestamentler des 20. Jh., der mit seinen vielfach A"bersetzten LehrbA"chern und Einzelstudien eine hohe internationale Ausstrahlung besaA. In seinem Lebenswerk vereinte er Komponenten, die sonst getrennt sind: Er war einerseits ein kreativer Wissenschaftler an der UniversitAt Heidelberg, der u.a. das priesterliche Denken im Alten Testament erforschte, die klassische Quellenscheidung durch ein A"berlieferungsgeschichtliches Modell erschA"tterte, schlieAlich aber eine Wende hin zum Endtext vollzog und zu einem Hauptvertreter der kanonischen Schriftauslegung wurde. Ebenso hat sich Rendtorff in der Kirche engagiert, wo er fA"r eine Aberwindung antijA"discher Traditionen und ein erneuertes VerhAltnis zur Synagoge kAmpfte. Ein drittes bedeutendes Element war sein hochschulpolitisches Wirken v.a. als Rektor der UniversitAt Heidelberg. Er war eine Leitfigur der 68er Generation und ein Kopf der ReformuniversitAt, womit auch sein parteipolitisches Engagement als Bundestagskandidat der SPD zusammenhing. Als besondere Komponente seines Oeuvres muss man viertens seine auAergewAhnlich enge Verbindung zu Israel herausstellen, die sich wissenschaftlich-theologisch, kirchlich und politisch in z. T. dramatischen UmbrA"chen niederschlug. Ein internationaler SchA"lerkreis legt hier eine kritische WA"rdigung von Werk und Auftrag dieses politisch und kirchlich engagierten Wissenschaftlers und Freund Israels vor, von dem hier erstmals Predigten abgedruckt sind.