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Average Customer Rating:

OVERSIMPLISTIC, A BIT BIASED TOWARD THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE

Customer Rating:

L&D try to bring conservative and critical-liberal scholarship together in a somewhat insipid dialogue. Their approach is a bit dry, dull and over simplistic. They avoid taking sides on controversial or difficult issues and have a very thin discussion on methodology, historiography; while no or very little discussion on issues of compositional process, canon formation or OT theology as a canonical whole. This is the first OT introduction I read, so I have no grounding for broader comparison. That said, it left me with a sense of dissatisfaction and of 'wanting more', mainly I think because they are not fully honest to the nature of the OT material, manifested on their over-caution of erring of the liberal side. Greatly welcomed is an OT parallel for Raymond Brown's "An Introduction to the New Testament." Any suggestions?

Excellent

Customer Rating:

`An Introduction to the Old Testament' by Longman and Dillard is an outstanding survey of the Old Testament from a moderate conservative perspective. The following comments are offered for potential purchasers. Structure - The text provides a book-by-book analysis of the Protestant Old Testament, including a bibliography, discussion of authorship, literary analysis and theological analysis for each individual book. At a little over 500 pages it has the right detail for an introduction, comprehensive yet not overly detailed. At the same time, for readers seeking more, the authors do a nice job of surfacing key issues that warrant further study. Approaching the text from a non-reformed perspective I would have appreciated inclusion of the Deuterocanonical or apocryphal books. Bibliographies - Though it is always a challenge to strike the right balance between the competing desires to be both comprehensive and detailed, I would have preferred a smaller more detailed list of recommendations. Theology - The authors represent a moderate reformed position, advocating divine inspiration, while also engaging with relevant aspects of critical scholarship. As most readers are likely aware, in this field `critical scholarship' is a rather technical term - critical in the narrow sense of opposing traditional views - not critical in a broader more neutral sense. Indeed, critical biblical scholarship is quite dogmatic, often, ironically, more so than its non-critical counterpart. Overall, this text is highly recommended for readers seeking a scholarly introduction to the Old Testament. Additionally, there are a plethora of outstanding MP3 lectures available from itunes (Reformed Theological Seminary, Concordia Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, Yale, etc.), that readers may find helpful.

Intro To Old Test - 2nd ed	Customer Rating:
Weak on defense of Conservaive views of Authorship. Some books not clear as to view authors prefer. Organization of key intrepretative problems (i.e. Date of Exodus) wordy in some places and weak in others. Up to date information is very good. Need larger section on Mimimalist verses Maximalist issues.

New Edition Available!	Customer Rating:
This is an excellent overview of the OT, with helpful chapters on each book. But, it's a 1994 and somewhat dated. The book now has a second edition, which Amazon curiously does not list. The newer version is a year or two old, published by Zondervan, with Tremper Longman III listed as the first author - e.g., "Longman and Dillard."

An excellent concise overview

Customer Rating:

Professor's Dillard and Longman's Introduction to the Old Testament is an outstanding resource for understanding the literary, theological, and historical background of every Old Testament book. It is evangelical in its perspective, yet interacts with historical - cricial methods of interpretation that have been prominent over the past 100 + years or so. A typical overview of each Old Testament book will start with an overview, useful commentaries and articles for each book, the historical background (date, author, and purpose), a literary analysis of the structure of the book, its theological message and how it applies to the New Testament. The reader of the book will find an outstanding reference book for understanding and studying the individual books of the Old Testament. A real strength of this book is its description of the literary style of a book and what that means for the reader. Yet, the authors warn wisely that while it is important to take into account the book's literary context for the reader, the importance of understanding a particular Old Testament book, the importance of placing literary context within the historical context is paramount. The authors make solid use of previous scholarship in their introductions for each book, even wisely dividing what is useful from the neo-orthodox and critical scholars and what is not. This reference book will be of great use to ministers, lay teachers and the general student of the Bible.