Free An Introduction To The Old Testament Poetic Books Ebooks Online
The poetic books of the Old Testament—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon—are often called humankind's reach toward God. The other books of the Old Testament picture God's reach toward man through the redemptive story. Yet these five books reveal the very heart of men and women struggling with monumental issues such as suffering, sin, forgiveness, joy, worship, and the passionate love between a man and woman.C. Hassell Bullock, a noted Old Testament scholar, delves deep into the hearts of the five poetic books, offering readers helpful details, like:Hermeneutical considerations for each bookTheological content and themesDetailed analyses of each bookCultural perspectives.Hebrew is a language of "intrinsic musical quality that naturally supports poetic expression," says Bullock in his introduction. That poetic expression comes from the heart of the Old Testament writers and reaches all of us exactly where we are in our own struggles and joys.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Moody Publishers; Revised ed. edition (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802441572
ISBN-13: 978-0802441577
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
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I read this book as an assigned text for a seminary course on the Old Testament poetic books. I had previously read David Howard's complementary "Introduction to the OT Historical Books" (part of the same series as Bullock's poetic intro) for another course, and I really appreciated Howard's work. So, I expected Bullock's work to be comparable.Frankly, I was disappointed. I found Bullock's writing style to be rather cumbersome and bland. Whereas Howard's writing was engaging and accessible, I found myself struggling to stay on track with Bullock. I also found his use of first-person plural pronouns to be strange. He frequently mentioned that "we" were making a particular conclusion or "we" were subscribing to a particular interpretation. Who is that "we?" Is he making decisions on behalf of me, the reader? Is he speaking on behalf of a group of nameless co-authors? Or is he presuming to speak for the entire evangelical community? In any case, the use of "we" was always odd and often annoying.These quibbles aside, Bullock's work is still substantial and helpful. He does a decent job of pulling together the various historical and contemporary scholarly positions for each of the poetic books. Of particular note was his approach to the various approaches taken to deal with the Song of Songs, in which he refused (to my surprise) to completely ignore the allegorical method which has a rich history but has been basically cast aside by modern scholars. In each chapter, I found his interaction with different methodologies and theological perspectives to be gracious, while maintaining a robust evangelical base.
[An evangelical perspective:]In terms of theology, argumentation, and factual accuracy, this book is generally very sound. The most important consideration is theology, and though Bullock never explicitly affirms certain fundamentals like the authority of Scripture or the existence of God, he clearly presupposes them. For example, he is quick to point out, as any orthodox reader would hope, that the theme of Proverbs is, in fact, that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning wisdom" (174) and that Job supports, as expected, the truth of justice of God (128).He maintains a cautious and evenhanded tone in his discussion of contentious hermeneutical issues, ultimately weighing in on the side of exegetical conservatism, but not without giving a fair turn to contrasting viewpoints. In his discussion of interpretive methods for the Song of Songs, for instance, he does not dismiss the mythological method out-of-hand, but considers it thoroughly before labeling it as overly speculative (253).Unfortunately, Bullock makes several confusing and poorly supported interpretive choices on smaller issues. For instance, his position on the contrasting natures of the theology of wisdom (ancient versus modern) is unnecessarily dichotomous. Is the idea of a sovereign God (60) really just an ancient concern? Is a focus on mortality (74) really just a modern one?In his discussion of Job, Bullock makes what appears to be a fallacious argument regarding its structure: "the literary unity of Job should be assumed so that the message of the book as a whole may be determined" (97). But if the book has no literary unity, maybe it has no coherent message. Later he writes, "the wholistic [sic] approach takes precedence for the sake of literary integrity" (97).
An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol. 2: Expansions of the Old Testament and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic works Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, 2nd Edition Egypt and the Old Testament: Notes on the Historical Reliability of the Old Testament Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Pickers and Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas (John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music, sponsored by the Center for Texas) The Earliest Irish and English Bookarts: Visual and Poetic Forms Before A.D. 1000 (Middle Ages Series) The Poetic Landscape: A Contemporary Visual and Psychological Exploration The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts (A Long Line of Godly Men Profile) The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes (Hackett Classics) The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry & Poetic Theory The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qur'an, Mi'raj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality) The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Hermann Hesse The Book of Iohan: A New Poetic Translation of the Gospel of John A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms Introduction to the Old Testament: A Liberation Perspective The Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible An Introduction to the Old Testament: Second Edition The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures
