An Introduction to the Bible: Revised Edition

This text provides a comprehensive and definitive introduction to the literature cultures and theologies of the early Jewish and Christian traditions. Designed to be read with selected passages from the Bible and the Apocrypha An Introduction to the Bible offers essential information to students with little or no experience in the academic study of religion. It will help students gain a solid background for future work in biblical studies. The revised edition includes information regarding new directions in biblical studies a revised bibliography and a subject index - as well as maps charts and photographs. "This volume is pedagogically self-aware. Here speak teachers who live close to the teaching environment. The narrative account of a great deal of material is patient attentive to detail willing to pause to provide small instructional clues all the time keeping the big picture in focus. This second edition of the book attests both to the vitality of its authors and to the positive reception the book has already enjoyed. Given the large cultural crisis upon us such instruction in a context that reaches beyond the choir is welcome and enormously important. Clear well organized up to date and reflective of reliable scholarly consensus. Most important I suspect is the likelihood that its student-users will sign up for more scripture study....The book will help students generate not only a beginning with the Bible but a long-term interest." --Walter Brueggemann Columbia Theological Seminary Decatur Georgia. "As most instructors of introductory survey courses in biblical studies will attest finding a suitable textbook can be quite a challenge. The revised edition of An Introduction to the Bible marks a strong contribution to the field. It is a well-structured clearly written textbook. The authors incorporate many of the newest discussions regarding the formation and subsequent understandings of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Students using this book will be exposed to the rich content of ancient Near Eastern studies. They will also find themselves challenged to read these classical texts using some of the most recent hermeneutic arguments in circulation....An Introduction to the Bible provides an excellent entry point for a critical approach to the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity."---C. Shaun Longstreet Texas A&M University excerpted from the Review of Biblical Literature August 2003.