Although the relationship between texts has always been an important aspect of Old Testament studies, especially in literary criticism, the scale of comparison has broadened, including for example the interrelationships between First, Second and Third Isaiah, or the whole Book of the Twelve. These relatively new approaches raise a number of methodical questions which were addressed at the Tenth Joint Meeting of the British Society for Old Testament Study, held in Oxford, July 1997. Topics covered in the volume include: did the ancient authors have a well-defined concept of a book?; how did they relate to the literary work of their predecessors or contemporaries?; can we trace the theological motifs behind their use of other literary compositions?; and, what does an ancient version reveal about the way it interpreted its source text?
