Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) [Hardcover]

T. Desmond Alexander (Editor), David W. Baker (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2002

A 2003 LOGOS Book Award Winner! An ECPA 2003 Gold Medallion Finalist! The first five books of the Old Testament lay the foundation on which the rest of Scripture stands. Its great themes, epochal events and towering figures set down vectors on which the biblical story is played out. The very shape of the rest of the Old Testament would collapse were the Penteteuch to be removed. The structure of New Testament thought would be barely intelligible without it. Here we meet the great ancestral figures of Israel--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and the towering figure of Moses, whose presence dominates four of these five books. The creative act of God, the paradisal garden, the exile of Adam and Eve, the judgment of the great flood, the call of Abraham from among the nations, the covenant of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, the plan of the tabernacle, the varied experiences of Israel in the wilderness, and the announcement of the covenant blessings and curses--all of these and more contribute to a work of world-formative power. This dictionary explores the major themes and contours of the Pentateuch. Behind and beneath the grandeur of the Pentateuch, issues of historicity have both puzzled and beckoned. But whereas in the mid-twentieth century many English-speaking scholars were confident of archaeological support for the patriarchal accounts, the climate has now changed. In the most extreme cases, some contemporary scholars have radically challenged the antiquity of the ancestral stories, arguing for their final composition even as late as the Hellenistic era. This dictionary examines and weighs the historical issues and poses possible solutions. The documentary hypothesis, the former reigning critical consensus, is now widely rumored to be on life support with no heir apparent. Meanwhile, conservative scholars reconsider what indeed a claim to Mosaic authorship should entail. This dictionary offers an assessment of the array of questions surrounding these issues and considers some possible ways forward for evangelical scholarship. At the same time, there has been a fruitful turning to the nature, message and art of the received text of the Pentateuch. Literary studies of brief episodes, sprawling sagas, complex narrative and even the fivefold composition of the Pentateuch itself have delivered promising and exciting results. This dictionary offers both appreciative panoramas and close-up assessments of these developments and their methods. The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch is the first in a four-volume series covering the text of the Old Testament. Following in the tradition of the four award-winning IVP dictionaries focused on the New Testament and its background, this encyclopedic work is characterized by close attention to the text of the Old Testament and the ongoing conversation of contemporary scholarship. In exploring the major themes and issues of the Pentateuch, editors T. Desmond Alexander and David W.Baker, with an international and expert group of scholars, inform and challenge through authoritative overviews, detailed examinations and new insights from the world of the ancient Near East. The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch is designed to be your first stop in the study and research of the Pentateuch, on which the rest of the Bible is built.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I like the idea of a Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, and the decision to focus on major topics is well judged. There is a great deal of very useful discussion and analysis in the volume. It should open up the study of the Pentateuch in new ways for many a reader, and I welcome the project most warmly." (Robert P. Gordon, Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge )

"By focusing on a single main section of Scripture, the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch allows for greater scope and in-depth handling of individual topics. Well researched and comprehensive in treatment, it will be a good addition to the library of students, pastors, scholars and laypeople." (Christopher R. Seitz, Professor of Biblical Interpretation, Wycliffe College )

"The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch contains a wealth of important information for all students of this foundational portion of Scripture. The articles are all written by leading scholars in the field under the guidance of two preeminent Old Testament interpreters well known for their own work on the Pentateuch. This dictionary is not only informative but also readable. I highly recommend it." (Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College )

About the Author

Baker (A.B., M.C.S., M.Phil., Ph.D.) is professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. He serves as editor for the Evangelical Theological Society Dissertation and Evangelical Theological Society Studies series as well as for Sources for Biblical and Theological Studies (Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake). He is coauthor (with Bill T. Arnold) of The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches. In addition, he has written many articles, essays and commentaries.

Dr Desmond Alexander is senior lecturer in Biblical Studies at Union Theological College and associate director for Post-graduate Studies in the Institute of Theology at Queen's University, Belfast. He currently chairs the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research, as well as Southern Theological Seminaries, a UK based charity committed to the establishment of a centre for theological education and vocational training in the south of Argentina.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 976 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (December 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830817816
• ISBN-13: 978-0830817818
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.4 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Religion

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A triumph of conservative OT scholarship, July 27, 2005

By 

Kevin Davis (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) (Hardcover)

This would be an excellent resource for anyone engaging with the minimalists in regard to the historicity of Ancient Israel.

Here's the description and praises from the back of the book cover:

The first five books of the Old Testament lay the foundation on which the rest of Scripture stands. Its great themes, epochal events and towering figures set down vectors on which the biblical story is played out. The very shape of the rest of the Old Testament would collapse were the Penteteuch to be removed. The structure of New Testament thought would be barely intelligible without it.

Here we meet the great ancestral figures of Israel--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and the towering figure of Moses, whose presence dominates four of these five books. The creative act of God, the paradisal garden, the exile of Adam and Eve, the judgment of the great flood, the call of Abraham from among the nations, the covenant of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, the plan of the tabernacle, the varied experiences of Israel in the wilderness, and the announcement of the covenant blassings and curses--all of these and more contribute to a work of world-formative power. This dictionary explores the major themes and contours of the Pentateuch.

Behind and beneath the grandeur of the Pentateuch, issues of historicity have both puzzled and beckoned. But wheras in the mid-twentieth century many English-speaking scholars were confident of archaeological support for the patriarchal accounts, the climate has now changed. In the most extreme cases, some contemporary scholars have radically challenged the antiquity of the ancestral stories, arguing for their final composition even as late as the Hellenistic era. This dictionary examines and weighs the historical issues and poses possible solutions.

The documentary hypothesis, the former reigning critical consensus, is now widely rumored to be on life support, with no heir apparent. Meanwhile, conservative scholars reconsider what indeed a claim to Mosaic authorship should entail. This dictionary offers an assessment of the array of questions surrounding these issues and considers some possible ways forward for evangelical scholarship.

At the same time, there has been a fruitful turning to the nature, message and art of the received text of the Pentateuch. Literary studies of brief episodes, sprawling sagas, complex narrative and even the fivefold composition of the Pentateuch itself have delivered promising and exciting results. This dictionary offers both appreciative panoramas and close-up assessments of these developments and their methods.

The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch is the first in a four-volume series covering the text of the Old Testament. Following in the tradition of the four award-winning IVP dictionaries focused on the New Testament and its background, this encyclopedic work is characterized by close attention to the text of the Old Testament and the ongoing conversation of contemporary scholarship. In exploring the major themes and issues of the Pentateuch, editors T. Desmond Alexander and David W.Baker, with an international and expert group of scholars, inform and challenge through authoritative overviews, detailed examinations and new insights from the world of the ancient Near East.

"The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch contains a wealth of important information for all students of this foundational portion of Scripture. The articles are all written by leading scholars in the field under the guidance of two preeminent Old Testament interpreters well known for their own work on the Pentateuch. This dictionary is not only informative but also readable. I highly recommend it."
Tremper Longman III, Westmont College

"I like the idea of a Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, and the decision to focus on major topics is well judged. There is a great deal of very useful discussion and analysis in the volume. It should open up the study of the Pentateuch in new ways for many a reader, and I welcome the project most warmly."
Robert P. Gordon, University of Cambridge

"By focusing on a single main section of Scripture, the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch allows for greater scope and in-depth handling of individual topics. Well researched and comprehensive in treatment, it will be a good addition to the library of students, pastors, scholars and laypeople."
Christopher R. Seitz, University of St Andrews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Standard Work for Years to Come, January 25, 2009

By 

Dennis M. Swanson "Narnia3.com" (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Hardcover)

InterVarsity Press has been establishing itself as a leading publisher of scholarly reference works for the last several years. After the completion of the four volume Dictionary of the New Testament series, they have embarked on a matching four volume set on the Old Testament.

The editors have assembled an impressive list of nearly 100 individual contributors representing a full spectrum of evangelical scholars. There is a helpful list of the contributors by name with a listing of the articles they authored. The editors have included a useful section on "How to Use this Dictionary" (xi-xii) that details the structural features of the work. There is also a listing of abbreviations, which, although it is a duplication of the Society of Biblical Literature guidelines, it is still a handy quick reference for this volume. The volume is arranged in a helpful two-column format and each article is outlined at the beginning and all have rather extensive bibliographic support.

It is impossible to discuss even a small portion of the nearly 200 articles in this massive volume. Some are worthy of special note however. The article by B. T. Arnold on "History of Pentateuchal Criticism" (622-31) is an excellent survey of the major issues and personalities in Old Testament historical criticism. The articles on the "Date of the Exodus" (258-72) by John H. Walton and the "Exodus Route and Wilderness Itinerary" (272-80) by Peter Enns are exceptionally detailed with excellent charts. There is also a thought-provoking article on "Preaching from the Pentateuch" (637-43).

The publisher is to be commended for commissioning this new addition to Biblical reference as are the editors for the end result, which is a work that should serve as the standard reference work on the Pentateuch for many years.

5.0 out of 5 stars Dictionary of Old Testament, April 16, 2010

By 

James R. Carmichael, Jr. (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) (Hardcover)

This work is a valuable tool in my own study. I recommend it to anyone wanting a deeper understanding of Scripture.