The Oracles of God: The Old Testament Canon

by Andrew E. Steinmann

The Oracles of God surveys the history of the formation of the Old Testament canon. The author investigates the evidence from early Judaism and early Christianity from 200 B.C. to the post-Constantinian church. He argues that the canon was originally a collection of holy and authoritative books in the Persian period and was formed and standardized over the course of the centuries. This book provides a thorough introduction to the history of the Old Testament canon and a solid contribution to scholarship on the Hebrew Scriptures in the ancient world.

Genres: Religion, Church History

Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Andrew Steinmann is Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University Chicago where he has taught since 2001. Dr. Steinmann holds a PhD from the University of Michigan and is an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Dr. Steinmann's publications include over 75 articles and book reviews in national and international peer-reviewed scholarly journals and festschriften. In addition, he is a regular guest on the radio program Issues, Etc.

In September 2011 he was named to the Translation Oversight Committee for the Christian Standard Bible. His publisher is Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis through whom he has published and collaborated on more than 10 books and other material. He is currently working on a new commentary on Esther to the new Christian Standard Commentary series published by Holman.

Dr. Steinmann is married to Rebecca Steinmann, the co-editor of the sixth edition of the widely used Sheehy's Emergency Nursing: Principles and Practice (Mosby Elsivier, 2010) and a contributor to Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course: Provider Manual (Third ed.; Des Plains, IL: Emergency Nurses Association, 2004), AACN Procedure Manual for Pediatric Acute and Critical Care (St. Louis: Saunders Elsivier, 2008) and Emergency Nursing Core Curriculum (Seventh ed.; Elsivier, 2018). They and their cat Lightning live in suburban Chicago where they enjoy birding and cultural events, especially the Lyric Opera.

Reviews

[James Stroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steinmann offers intelligible answers to pressing problems with the O.T. canon. Gives evidence that the rabbis of post-2nd temple Judaism were not questioning the canonicity of certain books, such as the Song of Songs or Ecclesiastes, in their discussions. Also shows how the O.T. canon may have been standardized long before canonical lists appeared, and the date in which they appear are not necessarily related to the date the canon was standardized. A must read for those interested in the subject.