Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets

by Mark J. Boda (Editor), James Gordon McConville (Editor)

2013 ECPA Book Award finalistWith the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, IVP's Black Dictionary series completes its coverage of the Old Testament canonical books. A true compendium of recent scholarship, the volume includes 115 articles covering all aspects of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve "minor prophets" and Daniel. Each book's historical, cultural, religious and literary background is thoroughly covered, alongside articles on interpretation history and critical method. Pastors, scholars and students will find this a deep resource for their Old Testament studies.

Genres: Reference, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Theology, Biblical, Christian, Dictionaries

992 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2012

Reviews

[Wilrens Hornstra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I have read the entire work for my personal blog at http://www.wilrens.org (where I have extensively discussed this book in a series of longer posts), I thought I should do a short review here as well.

In defence of the book: the subtitle (only included on the cover) does warn that this is a “Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship” (emphasis added), which is not the same as an expanded Bible dictionary. Many articles include an overview of at least the more important or influential scholarship on their particular topic - however flawed the respective scholarly view turned out to be eventually. And if that is what you want, you may be happier with this dictionary than I was.

For evangelical readers like myself, however, I don't think this is great. Therefore only two stars (I gave three on Amazon, but here, three means "like it"; I don't; it is merely "okay"). Here is my reasoning:

First, I came looking for something that is helpful in preparing teaching or Bible study. This it is not. I won’t often go back to this volume for my lecture preparation. I do use and enjoy the NT volumes in this series (so mine is not a case of anti-intellectual bias or rejection of scholarship as such). For this reason, I actually looked forward to this volume (this is why I wanted to read it), but I am disappointed. It did not help me understand the prophets better.

Second, I expect something that is legible and comprehensible for non-experts. This, too, it is not. The style and the level of writing are usually highly academic and difficult to read. Too often, an article presupposes quite a bit (how many readers know what semiotics or post-structuralism is?). In fact, it has made me wonder what the intended audience for this book is. For the biblical scholar it probably offers too little, for many others too much may be unintelligible. This leaves the book as a suitable shortcut for theology students, but that would be a rather small audience and I doubt it was intended this way. But if that is you, the book may be helpful, since it provides a quick overlook of scholarly opinions.

The scholars involved may be experts on their topic, but some are not overly gifted as writers or teachers. In my opinion, it would have been better for IVP to work with a smaller team of contributors with greater communicative and didactic skills.

Third, I expect an evangelical dictionary, since IVP is an evangelical publisher. In most articles, however, I do not recognise an evangelical approach or voice.

Most articles do display a clear historical-critical approach. Don’t get me wrong: I do not imply that evangelical and historical-critical are incompatible adjectives. (Although the particular brand of historical-critical in many articles probably does not sit easily with many evangelicals. Most articles assume that the prophetic books are the work of many hands over a long stretch of time, repeatedly adding substantial amounts of newly created material; I think it is fair to say that this is the axiom – the term used in “Formation of the Prophetic Books” – underlying most of the contributions to this volume.)

My point is rather that it has a clear position, identity, and flavour on this score, but “evangelical” is nowhere near as clear or frequent. Most articles connect their presentation with the history of mainline, non-evangelical scholarship and with present discussions in mainline, non-evangelical quarters, much less so with the discussions that have marked the evangelical movement in past and present.

Again, it is a compendium of biblical (not evangelical) scholarship. I was really looking forward to reading this, but it has been an anti-climax to the series.

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets is another of IVP’s successful “black” dictionaries. It’s edited by two respected scholars: Mark Boda and J. Gordon McConville. It is, perhaps, one of the most helpful of these black dictionaries because the prophets are clearly one of the trickiest genres. Though some of the entries are clearly aimed at those in major scholarly study, any Bible student could find much to glean from in this volume.

For first-time users there’s a guide at the beginning explaining how to use this dictionary as well as a list of abbreviations. If you scan the list of contributors, you will see several highly respected scholarly names.

The dictionary approaches an incredible array of subjects in alphabetical order. You will be hard-pressed to think of a term, even an obscure scholarly term, that affects prophetic study, and not find it in this volume. Additionally, you will have the equivalent of a scholarly introduction such as you would find in a major commentary on every prophetic book of the Old Testament. Most of the main issues will be covered such as structure, composition, and theology.

For example, look at the article on marriage and divorce. You will have a discussion of the practice of each in Israel, what it could be used as a metaphor for, and how it was used in various prophetic books. It’s really fascinating!

Some of the contributors will reach more critical conclusions that I’m comfortable with, but the scope of this volume makes it a winner. I’m not aware of any real competitor to it, and I highly recommend it.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m still on the fence about this series. These dictionaries are by far the most comprehensive resources for any and every subject imaginable in certain sections of the Bible, but the wide variety of theological backgrounds for each author gave me some ideological whiplash. The first article I read in this volume was on Isaiah and it made me want to throw the book in the fireplace. Other articles were far more reasonable, though some authors were excessive in unnecessary aspects of their article’s focus. This is a good resource for interacting with the full spectrum of theological interpretations on the Prophets.

[Brian Chilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book. However, it is not one I would necessarily recommend. I question how "evangelical" a book is when it appears that it does not necessarily accept messianic OT prophecy as legitimate. This is not true of all the authors. Nevertheless, there is a bit too much anti-supernaturalism in the book for my taste. Yet, some of the articles are quite good. If you read it, go into it with the "eating fish" mindset; eat the meat, and spit out the bones.

[Vanjr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this and write the review as a heavily read layman, not as a seminary graduate. This volume is a mixture of a large number of authors and this varies tremendously from the helpful to the obscure and even the down right boring. Some articles are mini commentaries. I read the entire text along with other materials over an extended length of time. I can see using the index and re-using it doing an individual book study.

[Kendall Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly riveting book of dictionary definitions regarding the prophets!
On the real it was a very well done dictionary filled with many cited sources for extra reading and compelling arguments toward the mysteries and theological implications of the prophets.
All for you, Alex McEwen!