The Oracles of God: The Old Testament Canon [Paperback]

Andrew Steinmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

The Oracles of God surveys the history of the formation of the Old Testament canon. The author investigates the evidence from early Judaism and early Christianity from 200 B.C. to the post-Constantinian church. He argues that the canon was originally a collection of holy and authoritative books in the Persian period and was formed and standardized over the course of the centuries. This book provides a thorough introduction to the history of the Old Testament canon and a solid contribution to scholarship on the Hebrew Scriptures in the ancient world.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Concordia Publishing House (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0570042828
• ISBN-13: 978-0570042822
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,548,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Steinmann is Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia Univeristy Chicago where he has taught since 2001. Dr. Steinmann holds a PhD from the University of Michigan and is an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Dr. Steinmann's publications include over 50 articles and book reviews in national and international peer-reviewed scholarly journals. In addition, he is a regular guest on the radio programs Issues, Etc., and The Bible Study.

In September 2011 he was named to the Translation Oversight Committee for the Holman Christian Standard Bible. His publisher is Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis through whom he has published and collaborated on more than 10 books and other material. He is currently co-authoring an Old Testament Isagogics textbook with Reed Lessing of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and has signed a contract to write commentaries on 1 & 2 Samuel in the Concordia Commentary series.

Dr. Steinmann is married to Rebecca Steinmann, the co-editor of the latest edition of the widely used Sheehy's Emergency Nursing. They and their cat Lightning live in suburban Chicago where they enjoy birding and cultural events, especially the Lyric Opera.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Challenging Re-examination of a complex issue, February 22, 2001

By 

David H Thiele (Pacific Adventist Univeristy, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oracles of God: The Old Testament Canon (Paperback)

As someone who teaches in the area of canonization and textual history, I read Stienmann with great interest. He has shown, convincingly, that there was far less diversity with regard to the canon in the Greek and Roman periods that many have thought. The canon was in effect closed in the Persian period. This conclusion is scarely revolutionary. It is in fact very conservative. However, Steinmann arrives at it, not on doctrinaire grounds, but through a thorough examination of the evidence.

Several of Steinmann's suggestions are more novel, e.g., his understanding of the canon as a temple archive, and, his view that the Jewish canon was originally bipartate (law and prophets) and not tripartate (law, prophets, and writings).

The primary evidence is presented, in the original languages with accompanying translation. The book is well written in lucid style. The argument is presented in a compact but compelling way.

I can see I will have to adjust my teaching in the light of this presentation.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Who decided what books are in the Old Testament, January 3, 2001

By 

Miriam B. Kahn "mbkcons" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Oracles of God: The Old Testament Canon (Paperback)

Andrew E. Steinmann, Lutheran Pastor at Lutheran Home in Westlake, OH and Adjunct Professor at Ashland University takes the reader through a detailed examination of the evidence for the `canon' of the Old Testament, that is, what was included or excluded and when. Was it as early as 500BCE or as late as 200CE? and who were the people or institutions responsible for deciding this? Steinmann examines evidence in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic from Jewish and Christian sources including the Talmud, Josephus, extant documents from the Qumran Caves and various Councils from 100 through 400 CE. The method of Steinmann's examination is to use this textual evidence to explain the organization of the Old Testament and to understand the books that were later grouped into the Apocrypha. The text is dense and intellectually challenging, requiring the layman and those unfamiliar with Hebrew and Greek to consult other sources when questioning the author's conclusions. Steinmann's conclusion speaks to a Christian scholarly audience, their scriptural tradition and religious acceptance of the Old Testament and its the Christian order of books. Some illustrations were printed upside down, otherwise, they are clear and readable.

Miriam Kahn, Columbus, OH