Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in Five Minutes

Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo.

• IntroductionPART ONE: GENERAL MATTERS1. How Does One Read the Bible from a Scholarly Perspective?2. What Is Religion?3. Can One Be Religious in a Scientific World?4. Do All Religions Have Sacred Books?5. Why Multiple Canons?6. What Is Biblical Exegesis?PART TWO: AUTHORSHIP, AUDIENCES, ORGANIZATION7. Who Wrote the Hebrew Bible?8. Why Are There Anonymous, Pseudonymous, and Fictitious Texts in the Bible?9. Who Are the Audiences of the Bible?10. What Does TaNak Stand For?11. What Are the Pentateuch, Hexateuch, and Enneateuch?12. Is There a Book of the Twelve or Are There Twelve Booklets of “Minor Prophets”?PART THREE: GENRES IN THE HEBREW BIBLE13. How Do We Determine Biblical Genres?14. Are There Myths in the Hebrew Bible?15. Is There Apocalyptic Literature in the Hebrew Bible?16. What Are Psalms Doing in the Hebrew Bible?17. Wisdom, Where Is It Found?18. What Is the Purpose of Proverbs?19. Is the Book of Job a Theodicy?20. Why Are There so Many Genealogies in the Hebrew Bible?PART FOUR: DATING THE BIBLE AND THE BIBLE AS HISTORY21. Pre-Exilic, Exilic, and Post-Exilic: Can We Date the Books of the Hebrew Bible?22. How Did Scribes Periodize the Past in the Hebrew Bible?23. What Was the Minimalist versus Maximalist Debate?24. Why Are There Two Versions of Israel’s Past in the Hebrew Bible?25. Is There Such a Thing as a “Deuteronomistic History”?26. Did the Hebrews Conquer Canaan?27. Was Josiah’s Scroll Lost and Found Twice?PART FIVE: THE HEBREW BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY28. Can Archaeology Prove the Truth of Biblical Texts?29. How to Read the “Archaeological Evidence”?30. How Is Archaeology Used to Support Nationalism?31. Is It Ethical to Excavate in Contested Areas?32. How Do You Define Cultic Context?PART SIX: TRANSLATION AND TRANSMISSION33. The Septuagint: What Are the Oldest Translation(s) of the Hebrew Bible?34. What Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Reveal about the Biblical Text?35. Was Philo of Alexandria the Earliest Biblical Commentator?36. What Is Old Testament Theology?37. What Is Rabbinic Interpretation?38. Who Were and Are the Samaritans?PART SEVEN: THEMES39. How Do the Moon, Month, and Sabbath Regulate Biblical Calendars?40. Does the Hebrew Bible Apply Holiness to Space or to Time?41. Which Numbers Can Be Symbolic in the Hebrew Bible?42. The Nephilim: Was the Flood Their Fault?43. Did Ancient Israelites Believe in Angels and Demons?44. Why Were the Ancestors De-Divinized?45. Heaven, Hell, or She’ol?46. Did the Hebrews Believe in an Afterlife?47. How Did Yhwh Become One?48. Israel in Twelve Tribes: Ideal or Real?49. Is Torah Law or Teaching?50. Where Is the Magic?51. Were the Biblical Prophets Diviners?52. What Is a Covenant?PART EIGHT: ISSUES53. Can Religious Texts Serve as Legitimate Explanations of the Origin of the Universe and Terrestrial Life in a Scientific World?54. Does the Hebrew Bible Endorse Genocide?55. Is the Hebrew Bible Patriarchal?56. Are There Polemics (Even) in the Hebrew Bible?57. Is the Hebrew Bible “Pro-Choice” or “Pro-Life”?58. How Does the Hebrew Bible Deal with Ecological Issues?59. (How) Does the Hebrew Bible Deal with LGBTQIA Issues?PART NINE: SELECTED BIBLICAL FIGURES60. Is Abraham/Ibrahim an Ecumenical Figure?61. Why Is Melchizedek So Mysterious? 62. Joseph: Does His Ability to Interpret Dreams Represent Actual Divinatory Practice?63. Moses: How Many Faces?64. Ruth: Whore and/or Matriarch?65. King David: Famous or Infamous?66. Jezebel: Does She Deserve Her Bad Reputation?67. How Many Isaiahs?68. Jeremiah: Why Is He So Well Remembered? 69. Jonah: How to Survive in the Belly of Hell? 70. Is Satan in the Hebrew Scriptures?71. Was Qohelet Fighting Depression?PART TEN: METHODS AND APPROACHES72. Synchronic versus Diachronic Readings: Why Choose?73. What Is Source Criticism?74. What Is “P”: A Source or an Editor?75. What Is Historical Criticism?76. What Are Redaction and Text Criticism?77. What Are Literary and Form Criticism?78. What Is Ideological Criticism?79. How Are Memory Studies Applied to the Study of the Hebrew Bible?80. How Is Social Anthropology Used to Understand the Hebrew Bible?81. How Are Gender Studies Approaches Used in the Study of the Hebrew Bible?82. What Are Post-Colonial Studies and How Are They Applied to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament?83. What Is Reception Criticism and How Is It Practiced in Hebrew Bible Scholarship?