A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament ─ The Hebrew Bible in Its Context

Engaging and accessible to students from all backgrounds, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context, Third Edition, is an updated and concise version of Michael D. Coogan's best-sellingThe Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, Third Edition (OUP, 2013). Coogan works primarily from a historical and critical methodology but also introduces students to literary analysis and other interpretive strategies.

Providing a nondenominational and nondoctrinal treatment, this text offers a unique and captivating introduction to the Hebrew scriptures themselves and to how they have been--and can be--interpreted.

PEDAGOGICAL FEATURES

* Chapter introductions connecting each chapter to the preceding material and previewing the material to come

* Chapter summaries that highlight key points and link each chapter to the rest of the book

* Important terms, boldfaced at their first appearance and defined in the glossary

* Numerous strategically placed text boxes that offer interesting and useful supplementary information

* Timelines, photos, illustrations, maps, and a four-color insert on Jerusalem in biblical times

* Review questions, suggestions for further reading, a general bibliography, and annotated bibliographies at the end of each chapter

* A FREE 6-month subscription to Oxford Biblical Studies Online (www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com)--a $180 value--with the purchase of every new copy of this text.

Michael D. Coogan is Lecturer on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the Harvard Divinity School and the Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. He is the author ofThe Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, Third Edition (OUP, 2013),A Reader of Ancient Near Eastern Texts (2012), and The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction (2008), all published by Oxford University Press.

Cynthia R. Chapman is the Adelia A.F. Johnston and Harry Thomas Frank Associate Professor of Religion at Oberlin College, where she has taught biblical studies for twelve years. She is the author ofThe Gendered Language of Warfare in the Israelite-Assyrian Encounter (2004) and is currently completing a second book on maternal kinship titledThe House of the Mother: The Social Function of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry.