Customer Reviews

Anthropology of the Old Testament

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This is the definitive book of Old Testament anthropology. I first saw this book referred to as a primary source by several scholarly works, and decided to read the book myself. This book does clearly explain the visually expressive way the Ancient Hebrews viewed the world. Nouns often represented an action: "hands" represented doing, "breath" represented living, "tongue" represented speaking, and "feet" represented moving.

Also Wolff creates a compelling argument that the Old Testament Hebrews literally saw the soul as an actual physical member deep within their bodies. "Sheol" and the afterlife, and many other topics are also discussed and explained. This book strongly influenced the way I read the entire Bible, because I feel more able to view the words from the perspective in which the words were originally written.

This book is basically a word study of the Hebrew terms in the OT that relate to anthropology (nephesh, basar, dam, etc.). At least a basic knowledge of the Hebrew vocabulary in the OT will be helpful.

Serious students need to own this one.

No one in the 21st century understands the Jewish context of the Bible (including the N.T.). If you read the Bible at all you need this book to understand what many things mean. It will clear up the idea of Soul Sheol Life etc... Get it, you will gain new insight into the life of all the Bible folks, even Jesus. So there you go! Get it!