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An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination Paperback – November 30, 2003

by Walter Brueggemann (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 40 ratings
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In this book Walter Brueggemann, America's premier biblical theologian, introduces the reader to the broad theological scope and chronological sweep of the Old Testament. He covers every book of the Old Testament in the order in which it appears in the Hebrew Bible and treats the most important issues and methods in contemporary interpretation of the Old Testament--literary, historical, and theological.

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  1. Print length
    452 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Westminster John Knox Press
  4. Publication date
    November 30, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0664224121
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0664224127
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eminent Old Testament scholar Brueggemann (Theology of the Old Testament) offers a clear and eloquent introductory study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament that surpasses many older introductions such as Anderson's Understanding the Old Testament and Bright's A History of Israel. Focusing on the literature of the Old Testament rather than on the ways that such literature grows out of the history of Israel, he emphasizes that the development of the Old Testament was an act of imaginative remembering. It evolved through what he calls a "traditioning" process, whereby the texts grew dynamically out of a confluence of historical, ideological, political and religious forces in Israel. Brueggemann arranges his introduction in canonical order (Torah, prophets, writings) to demonstrate the ways that various themes built upon one another and how the texts reflect the ongoing development of Israel. For example, the "writings"-which include Proverbs, Psalms and Job as well as Esther and Daniel-reflect, in Brueggemann's view, the diversity of life and faith characteristic of post-exilic Judaism. Brueggemann's reading of the Old Testament makes it alive for us today. As we interpret the text in our own times, we engage in the "traditioning" process, for each time we read, new meanings are disclosed to us. Although Brueggemann sometimes veers off into territory for which a background in biblical studies is necessary, his crystal clear prose, lucid ways of telling stories and canny theological insights make this introduction a real gem.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, he is the author of dozens of books, including Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now, Interrupting Silence: God's Command to Speak Out, and Truth and Hope: Essays for a Perilous Age.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westminster John Knox Press; 0 edition (November 30, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 452 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0664224121
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0664224127
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 40 ratings

About the author

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Walter Brueggemann

Walter Brueggemann

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Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary. He is the world's leading interpreter of the Old Testament and is the author of numerous books, including Westminster John Knox Press best sellers such as Genesis and First and Second Samuel in the Interpretation series, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination, and Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
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Top reviews from the United States

Joel Hills Sr.
5.0 out of 5 stars The Must Have Book!
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2013
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Walter Brueggemann's book is insightful and thought provoking. He gives you a deeper understanding of the Old Testament. I am currently using his book for my course in Old Testament, and it has helped me immensely. I recommend this book to anyone who is taking Old Testament studies.
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Sandra Barr
5.0 out of 5 stars Great conversation about the Old Testament!
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2013
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Well written and logically organized. It reads like a conversation but challenges your thought. I am not a seminarian or a theologian but I enjoyed the text.
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Gitfiddler Ed
4.0 out of 5 stars It could have been better
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2010
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There's a lot of good information in this book, especially if you are relatively new to Hebrew Bible ("Old Testament") studies. But there also lies one of its main flaws. In the Preface Dr. Brueggemann says boldly that, "the present book is my effort. . .to mediate and make available fresh learnings that will be of peculiar force for pastors and Christian congregations" (p. xi). However, the majority of the book is so obtuse that few pastors and/or members of congregations will be able to understand it. It is highly analytical, with technical terms, and theological jargon that complicate what he is trying to say. Once you work through all of that there is much value in what he has to say but, for the most part, it is lost to anyone who is not technically trained in biblical studies.

Brueggemann calls the transmission of the Hebrew Biblical narrative "imaginative remembering," which is really a catchy way of saying that the story drives the facts, rather than the other way around. But then he never tells the story. He merely dissects and analyzes the scholarship of the last 150 years and the "story" becomes lost in a maze biblical scholarship. Scholar NT Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, England, in his brilliant The New Testament and the People of God, carefully lays out the importance of the story in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Many other scholars have followed suit on relating the importance of "story" (sometimes simply referred to as "the narrative) which embodies the meaning of the message.

Current scholarship is fairly unanimous in saying that the theme of the Hebrew Bible is the story of "the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of the People of God." The one example of faithfulness to God is the "ancestor" Abraham. Throughout the Hebrew Bible when YHWH identifies himself to the People of God he does so in terms similar to this: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob" (Ex 2:24, 3:6, 3:15, etc., I Chr 16:16, Ps 47:9, etc.) The faithfulness of Abraham is reiterated in Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians and especially in the anonymous homily to the Hebrews (possibly written by the great Alexandrian Christian and rhetorician, Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). In Galatians and Hebrews Jesus' faithfulness to God is compared with the faithfulness of Abraham.

What does Brueggemann do with this? Nothing. From pages 43-51 the section called "The Ancestors (Genesis 12 - 50)", although it embodies the story of Abraham, never focuses on his faithfulness, nor on its importance in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Yet following the story of Abraham's faithfulness the rest of the Hebrew Bible turns to the unfaithfulness of the People of God. That fact is railed against by the prophets, especially, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Amos.

While the author mentions the documentary hypothesis of the Torah by German scholars in the late nineteenth century (an hypothesis largely dismissed by modern scholars as being basically irrelevant to the story itself), he never addresses the question as to why there are so many names for God in the biblical text: El (the chief god of the Canaanites), El Shaddai (usually translated God Almighty, but some believe it could mean "God of Violence"), El Elyan (Most High God), Elohim (the plural "gods" - a literal translation of Gen 1:1 would be "The gods created heaven and earth"), and finally YHWH who identifies himself to Moses as the "God of Abraham" (Ex. 6:3). Brueggemann fails to consider that the various names for God, which appear regularly throughout the narrative of Israel's history, may, indeed, point to the question of to which god they they were to remain faithful. All the while YHWH proclaims that He is the God of Abraham. It was not until the People of God returned from exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C. that they seemed to know which God was theirs.

With all of this said, Brueggemann's book is still of immense value, however, it missed the story it could have told and which could have indeed sparked the "Christian Imagination."
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Joseph F. Krupa
5.0 out of 5 stars A scholar's view of the Old Testament
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2011
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An Introduction to the Old Testament is an interesting look into how scholars view the Word. Looking at Bruggeman's reflections helps understand how our current scripture became the transformational book it is.
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Randy Harshbarger
5.0 out of 5 stars happy reader
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2013
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this book is brandnew... wow ... how can you stay in business this way ... thanks much for good service
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FrKurt Messick
5.0 out of 5 stars A good and faithful study
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2003
I have been a fan of Walter Brueggemann, professor emeritus of biblical studies from Columbia Theological Seminary, since I encountered him through his text 'Theology of the Old Testament', which formed the basis of a course I took my first year in seminary. Brueggemann has a clear and strong writing style, coupled with definite and innovative ideas about the development of the Hebrew Scriptures as they have come to us.
Brueggemann looks at things from a canonical perspective, ordering the books differently from what most Christians would be used to in their Bibles. Starting with the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, he then proceeds through the prophets and then to the writings. following the canon of the Hebrew bible, and a more likely ordering of original authorship. While all texts have gone through a processes of being handed down, often edited/redacted in the process, their original ideas or events occurred in a particular order.
Brueggemann gives due respect to Brevard Childs and his ideas of canonical criticism while recognising that this can become a limiting tool, and so Brueggemann introduces the idea of imagination as a counter. True to form from his early text 'Theology of the Old Testament' and other texts, Brueggeman looks for the truth that resides in the tension between, in this case, in the tension between the normative and the imaginative becoming of the community.
Brueggemann brings in the wide range of biblical scholars in the course of his study, ignoring very few noted names along the way. This makes his text an ideal book for introductory courses in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament for undergraduates and seminarians. Brueggemann also puts forward his own interesting arguments and interpretations for consideration. The study of the text requires considerations that are historical, theological, literary, social/cultural, and more. These are all dealt with, but in a manner different from most texts.
The three broad sections of the text follow the Tanakh --Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This presents yet another tension for Brueggemann -- the tension between the historical claims and the canonical claims, which also become different from Jewish and Christian perspectives, and even within different Christian traditions. The development of scripture over time, Brueggemann states, is not a neutral academic process, but one in which formative processes and intentions have played a key role, but in which many of these underlying pieces have disappeared from historical view, and are generally absent from the direct text. Brueggemann sets up yet another tension between the ideas of imagination, ideology and inspiration, showing how ideas of these change over time, forming our interpretative paradigms along the way.
Brueggemann calls upon the church to take up a traditioning process, one that is disciplined and faithful, one that avoids both 'confessional closure' on the one hand and 'rationalistic impatience' on the other. In his conclusion, Brueggemann's faith in the scriptures comes through as one that continues the idea of re-imagining and traditioning in a decidedly Reformed framework; nevertheless, he finds fellow travelers in the likes of Roman Catholic Fr. Raymond Brown, who is quoted near the end as saying 'in the scriptures we are in our Father's house where the children are permitted to play.'
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malcolm hendry
5.0 out of 5 stars great first time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2013
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if your looking for a helpful simply way into the OT this book is just for you, easy to follow and well worth the money
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limani
5.0 out of 5 stars As new
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2013
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book arrived in reasonable time and was as new and is just what I wanted and I am reading it every morning
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