Overview

The promise of land and progeny to the patriarchs-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-is a central, recurring feature of the Pentateuch. From the beginning of the story of Abraham to the last moment of Moses's life, this promise forms the guiding theological statement for each narrative. Yet literary and historical inquiries ascribe the promise texts to a variety of sources, layers, and redactions, raising questions about how the promise functioned in its original manifestations and how it can be used to understand the formation of the Pentateuch as a whole. Joel S. Baden reexamines the patriarchal promise in its historical and contemporaneous contexts, evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of both final-form and literary-historical approaches to the promise. He pays close attention to the methodologies employed in both documentary and non-documentary analyses and aims to bring source-critical analysis of the promise to bear on the understanding of the canonical text for contemporary readers. The Promise to the Patriarchs addresses the question of how the literary-historical perspective can illuminate and even deepen the theological meaning of the Pentateuch, particularly of the promise at the heart of this central biblical corpus.

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9780199898244

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Reviews

eloquent and erudite ... Baden's research offers a refreshing strategy for engaging familiar methodologies as a means to consider anew narrative details of the Pentateuch ... Recommended. H. M. Szpek, CHOICE

Eloquent and erudite... Baden's research offers a refreshing strategy for engaging familiar methodologies as a means to consider anew narrative details of the Pentateuch. --CHOICE

eloquent and erudite ... Baden's research offers a refreshing strategy for engaging familiar methodologies as a means to consider anew narrative details of the Pentateuch ... Recommended. * H. M. Szpek, CHOICE *

""Because Baden is a superior writer and scholar, he makes difficult technical material clear and theologically illuminating.""--Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology ""Eloquent and erudite... Baden's research offers a refreshing strategy for engaging familiar methodologies as a means to consider anew narrative details of the Pentateuch."" --CHOICE ""In sum, this is an important book for those interested in, or even vaguely bemused by, source criticism of the Pentateuch. It is smart, robust, and often convincing. It may even attract some scholars for whom source criticism is passe', because the arguments are often sharp, and it's fun to watch the parry and trhust of the intellectual badinage."" --Biblical Interpretation

Author Information

Joel S. Baden is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Yale Divinity School.

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