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, Second Edition, is an updated, concise, and more pedagogical version of Michael D. Coogan's best-selling The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, Second Edition (OUP, 2010). Coogan works primarily from a historical and critical methodology but also introduces students to literary analysis and other interpretive strategies. He examines all the books of the Hebrew Bible and considers additional writings from the ancient Near East. The Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical books are included in an appendix. 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. Please contact your Oxford University Press Sales Representative at 800.280.0280 for details.

Michael D. Coogan is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Stonehill College, Lecturer in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School, and Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. One of the leading biblical scholars in the United States, he is the author of The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, Second Edition (OUP, 2010), the editor of Oxford Biblical Studies Online, and a coeditor of The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2010).