From Epic to Canon

Frank Moore Cross is the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages (Emeritus) in the Department of Near Eastern Languages at Harvard University. His many books include The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Biblical Studies, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and, as editor, the Hermeneia series of Old Testament commentaries and Qumran and the History of Biblical Text. In addition, he has received several honorary degrees and prizes, including the William Foxwell Albright Award in Biblical Scholarship, the Israel Museum's Percia Schimmel Prize in Archaeology, and the Medalla de Honor of the University of Madrid.

Distinguished scholar Cross, author of the classic Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, uses excavations at the city of Gerizim, the Daliyeh Papyri and other archaeological finds to give fresh meaning to the reading of the Hebrew Bible... Impeccable scholarship and lucid prose make Cross's book a must-read for Hebrew Bible scholars. Publishers Weekly This book is surely destined to become a classic, a crowning achievement to a distinguished life of scholarship. Biblical Archaeology Review [ From Epic to Canon] has a unity found in the major scholarly concerns which have characterized Cross's academic career... He has an unerring eye for questions which need to be answered and to which is it important to bring a whole range of scholarly tools, archaeological, historical and literary. -- R. Davidson Journal of Theological Studies A book of substantive argument, scholarly depth, textured reflection, and elegant presentation. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Cross's study is greatly enhanced by the new evidence that has been discovered including the Dead Sea Scrolls. He carefully examines how these documents influence the way we think about the beliefs and institutions of ancient Israel. Front Table In the study of the Old Testament, perhaps no one has been a better and more stimulating scholar in the past half century than Frank Moore Cross, emeritus professor at Harvard, editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls and author of salient books and articles. Cross is one of the few who commands the whole range of the biblical field, from the second millenium BCE to the Roman period. He has embodied the model of the scholar, who is, as Shakespeare puts it in Henry VIII 'Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading. To those men who sought him sweet as summer.'. -- Mark Hamliton Stone-Campbell Journal