Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction [Paperback]

Lawrence Boadt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1984

Reading the Old Testament is a clear and carefully organized introduction for contemporary readers. It is designed to guide the student of the Bible through the text and its problems, enrich their understanding of the individual biblical books, and explore the way the Bible came to be written.

Reading the Old Testament combines the latest scholarship with sensitivity to religious issues and Israel's ever deepening understanding of God's ways. The author gives special attention to recent archeological discoveries in the Middle East and how these affect our understanding of the Old Testament. The book contains numerous maps, charts, and drawings.

Reading the Old Testament is particularly illuminating about the way Israel's religious experience was translated into written records. No other introduction offers the same thorough treatment of the Exile and the post-exilic periods as crucial times in the formation of the Old Testament.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Boadt, CSP, is an ordained priest in the Paulist Fathers, and professor emeritus of Scripture Studies at the Washington Theological Union. He has written and spoken widely on Old Testament topics, and currently serves as the president and publisher of Paulist Press in Mahwah, NJ.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press (January 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809126311
• ISBN-13: 978-0809126316
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.5 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 73 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Divinely Inspired? February 18, 2001

By Miss Jane

Format:Paperback

This book is probably the best Inrto to the OT I've seen. It is highly readable, the suggested scripture readings are excellent, and one really does marvel at how neatly themes are woven to the entire Old Testament, almost to the point of being tied up with a bow! Readers who take from this book that its author sees biblical texts as "not inspired by God" would do well to read it again! The whole point of the book is to show how the Israelites used their historical experiences as a lens through which to view their relationship with God, and ultimately God's relationship with all of mankind. As such, it traces the evolution of the development of the biblical texts through Israel's history. Of course Israelites were influenced by other cultures: they were continually surrounded by, at war with, and often oppressed by them! It would be a very strange thing for these influences NOT to be evidenced in the text! Granted, as witnessed in my recent "Intro to the OT Class" that used this book as a primary text, the need to separate "faith" and "history" temporarily to see how these books developed is a daunting undertaking; however, one's individual faith can only be enhanced by realization that it was Israel's faith in God that provided the impetus for the eventual writing down of oral tradition in the first place.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be the standard seminary OT intro textbook December 18, 2002

By Robert Wormley

Format:Paperback

Boadt's book is a masterpiece of introducing critical, theological methods to the professional or casual theologian. It is simply the best OT book I've read and several friends that I have recommended it to have agreed. Although it was intended to be graduate level, it is being used increasingly at the undergraduate level, even at some more traditionally fundamentalist schools.

Boadt is Catholic? I only know that from the reviews, and it is a testimony to his scholarship and objective approach to theology that you will not notice his Catholicism from reading this work. He is not a liberal either, I would best describe him as neo-evangelical in that he is not an inerrantist but neither is he a secular scholar. His love and respect for the Bible shows in his treatment of it. Although he is not afraid to utilize critical techniques to deal with issues of date, authorship and meaning of the Bible, he is not a text-critic by profession and so avoids that fields' tendency to dismember the Bible from over strenuous application of their pecular model.

I believe the best part of the books are his explanation of Jonah as in the genre of "Hebrew comedy" and his introduction to and application of source crit (JEPD) to the Torah. I never understood how overwhelming is the case for JEPD nor did I understand why the theory is so compelling until I read Boadt. He has converted me to an understanding of source criticism and has greatly matured and formed my theology.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars great basic primer June 7, 2000

By G. Byrne

Format:Paperback

I'm writing this in response to some of the other reviews you have received. I know both Fr. Boadt and the book well. I had Fr. Boadt in graduate school and we used his text, and I now use it to teach adults in parishes about the OT. While the book could use updating (it is 15 years old and much has happened in that time), it is a fine, informative work. Anyone who thinks Boadt does not see divine inspiration at work in the Bible is reading the book with blinders on. I recommend it highly.