The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #181

by Michael D. Coogan

Eminent biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan offers here a wide-ranging and stimulating exploration of the Old Testament, illuminating its importance as history, literature, and sacred text.

Coogan explains the differences between the Bible of Jewish tradition (the "Hebrew Bible") and the Old Testament of Christianity, and also examines the different contents of the Bibles used by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Protestants. He looks at the rise of modern biblical scholarship as well as the recovery of ancient Near Eastern literatures and their significance for biblical interpretation. Coogan explores the use of invented dialogue and historical fiction in the Old Testament, the presence of mythic elements in apparently historical accounts, and the relationship of ancient Israelite myths to those of their neighbors. The book considers the Old Testament's idea of divine justice, especially in Ecclesiastes and Job, and looks at notions of the afterlife in the ancient Near East and in ancient Israel. Coogan highlights the significance of the history and literature of the Old Testament and describes how non-biblical evidence, such as archaeological data and
texts, has placed the Old Testament in a larger and more illuminating context. The book also discusses law and ritual in the Bible as well as the biblical understandings of prophecy.

Here then is a marvelous overview of one of the great pillars of Western religion and culture, a book whose significance has endured for thousands of years and which remains vitally important today for Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide.

About the Oxford's Very Short Introductions offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, and Literary Theory to History. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given topic. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how it has developed and influenced society. Whatever the area of study, whatever the topic that fascinates the reader, the series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Christianity, Theology, Judaism, Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 29, 2008

About the author

Michael David Coogan is Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum and Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. For several decades, he has taught an introductory course on the Hebrew Scriptures at Harvard University, as well as at Wellesley College, Boston College, and Stonehill College. One of the leading biblical scholars in the United States, he is the author of The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, and editor of the acclaimed third edition of The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

Reviews

[فؤاد · Rating 4 out of 5]

لینک دانلود ترجمه فارسی:

https://t.me/ketabkhanemasih/2798

[امیر لطیفی · Rating 4 out of 5]

تصورِ مسلمان، اسمی یا راستین، از دین‌های دیگر از آینه‌ی اسلام می‌گذرد، دینی که به جد بر حجت و دست‌نخورده بودنِ کتابش تأکید می‌شود. کتبِ یهودیان و مسیحیان امّا با فاصله‌ی شگرف در دسته‌ی آثارِ ادبی قرار می‌گیرند. نویسنده از عهدِ عتیق به عنوانِ جُنگِ ادبیاتِ کهنِ بنی‌اسرائیلیان یاد می‌کند. نگارش، ویرایش و بازنویسی این کتب را دست‌ِکم به چهار-پنج نویسنده‌ی اصلی نسبت می‌دهند که درطی سده‌های متمادی روی آن کار کرده‌اند.

هدفِ اصلی این اثر تخلیص عهدِ عتیق نیست. هدف از جمله شرحِ اجمالی چیستی، ساختارِ تاریخی و باستانی، سبکِ ادبی، نویسندگان، اعتبارسنجی، و نوعِ ارتباطِ عهدَ عتیق با یهودیان و یهودیت و مسیحیان و مسیحیت است. از این گذر فرصتِ سرک کشیدن به محتوا هم مهیا می‌شود.

همچنان مشتاقم به خوانشِ اثری تلخیصی و گزارش‌گونه از عهدِ عتیق، مضافاً اثری متناظر برای عهدِ جدید.

[Omid Milanifard · Rating 4 out of 5]

برای کسانی مثل من که حال خوندن عهد عتیق رو ندارند چکیده خوبی ارائه داده. به نقل از خود کتاب خوندنش مثل بازدید از یک موزه است، میتونی بهش اعتقاد داشته باشی یا نداشته باشی

[Viktoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative & easy to read, which is what these short introductions are all about. Probably should have read it for the Biblical archaeology class at uni.

[Iulia Pustovaia]

Am revenit un pic mai târziu la cartea asta. Este, într-adevăr, „o scurtă introducere”, însă mi-a plăcut că e descrisă detaliat Ipoteza Documentară și paralelismul (de trei tipuri) în textele canonice.

[Ethan Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short introduction to the Old Testament by Michael Coogan is helpful in terms of facts (history, linguistics, etc.), yet Coogan himself clearly lacks any solid theological outlook through which to understand the Old Testament. He looks very fondly on the Enlightenment and modernity as unlocking the meaning of the text which had been shackled by the dogmaticians. Unfortunately, Coogan's historicism and lack of faith in the text give his interpretations just as much of a bias as the orthodox Christian. The apparent "contradictions" he often points to in the OT are sometimes laughable. Such as when he claims two midwives couldn't have served all of Israel in the Exodus narrative. No where in the text does it say they were the only two. This example and others points to the sloppiness of the evidences used. All that being said, Coogan knows the history well, and catalogues and explains the different sections of the OT in a helpful way. There is much to be learned in this book, yet there is also much to lament. Even the last paragraph, in which Coogan attempts to make some vague praise for the OT's faith in Yahweh, feels shallow, weak, and forced. The OT is history and literature, yet it is also theology, and Coogan clearly does not have the theological depth to penetrate the riches of the OT.

[Hooman · Rating 4 out of 5]

در فصل اول کتاب به نکته‌ای جالب توجه اشاره شده: «اسرائیلیان که طبق شریعت باستانی‌شان از ساختن تمثال‌های نقش‌برجسته منع شده‌بودند، توانایی خلاقه‌شان را به سوی نگارش متن سوق دادند». به نظرم این مسئله در خصوص تمام ادیان ابراهیمی و فرهنگ‌های متأثر از آن‌ها صدق می‌کند که کلام و متن و شعر و تمثیل و داستان‌سرایی با ناخودآگاه ذهن مردمانشان درهم تنیده‌شد.

به خاطر همین درهم‌تنیدگی فرهنگی و بازتاب متون کتاب مقدس و عهد عتیق و جدید در آثار هنرمندان و حتی فرهنگ معاصر و علاقه‌ام به تاریخ باستان، مطالعه‌ی این کتاب برایم لذت‌بخش بود.

نویسنده با دیدی تحلیلی به سراغ جنبه‌های مختلف عهد عتیق می‌رود و این کتاب به پنجره‌ای باریک به سمت این کتاب باستانی است؛ تا برای خواننده‌ی کنجکاو، چارچوبی برای مطالعه‌ی بیشتر فراهم کند.

این کتاب را با ترجمه‌ی «آزاده رضایی» خواندم و به نظرم به فارسی روان و خوبی تنظیم شده‌بود.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 informative and interesting. Will reread when I have a larger amount of time to retain more.

[Hiram · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Nova Mejia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible little read, goes through historical facts surrounding the old testament without any bias. We'll be reading more of the authors books.

[Rob O'Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scholarly introduction to the Old Testament written from more of a religious studies viewpoint. Coogan is a true scholar who lends a depth perspective to the study of the Old Testament (aka. the Hebrew Bible), especially in light of the larger study of Ancient Near Eastern studies. Although he does harken to both a genuine acceptance to the historicity of the events recorded in the Old Testament and the necessity of understanding the Old Testament as essential to Christian teaching, much of the rhetoric comes across as ambiguous.

While he unpacks the concept of mythos and its centrality to discussing Old Testament history, especially the prehistory recorded in Genesis 1-11, better than most writers, there is still an almost dismissive tone to the writing. On the other hand, a less critical reader will likely not even notice, chalking the language up to scholarly posturing.

Two more legitimate critiques are these: 1) The "case study" of Hezekiah and Sennacherib feels unnecessary (chapter 9). The premise is that the historical and archaeological records discovered in Syria provide verification of the biblical record, which is great. However Coogan's discussion can come across as the Bible needing external evidence to be validated as true. This is the continuing curse of Modernism. Although he ends with a resounding, albeit brief, statement of faith in YHWH, one almost wonder as to the legitimacy of the claim given this deference to historical proof over faith in scripture's existential truth.

2) The chapter entitled "'Let us now praise famous men'--and women" also feels unnecessary (chapter 11). This chapter intends to focus on the deuterocanonical or apocryphal literature, those books which were accepted as legitimate but not authoritative. However it does so by focusing on three characters from the canonical books (Abraham, Deborah and David) who are used as examples of faith, never really discussing these books (which, Coogan admits earlier, should not be covered in this context).

Overall, this is a helpful introduction, although not as well-crafted as the New Testament volume in this series.

[Dorothée · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very insightful introduction to what is an uncommonly complex text. Despite a couple of exceptions, I found it to be very objective and critical. It not only comments upon the content of the Old Testament, but also explores its context, historical relevance and accuracy, and the manner in which scholars and other individuals approach and interpret the text. It is written clearly with the right amount of detail and examples and the occasional diagrams are appropriate and useful. The back features a handy index, list of books for further reading, a chronology of the Old Testament, and an interesting appendix on the canons of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament as present in Judaism and Christianity (Protestant, Roman Catholic, & Eastern Orthodox). Sometimes I did, however, get the feeling that there was more to it than what Coogan had written down, and was often left curious for more when he didn't always expand on a line of thought. As a whole, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in religion or the Bible, regardless of religious conviction (or lack thereof) as it is not only a valuable source of information, but also provokes thought and is accessible to any level of previous knowledge and understanding.

[Tyska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting take on explaining the Old Testament, focusing on historical and archaeological data. As expected from a VSI, it explores the contents and development of the scrips superficially and provides only quick, neutral glimpses into many different aspects, such as linguistic devices, historical events and important figures.
Full of inspiration for further studies.

Quote (p.122): "Because biblical characters, events, and ideals are woven into the fabric of our culture, knowing them helps us better understand our past and therefore ourselves."

[Briana Grenert]

Well organized, concise, and interesting.
However, I felt like there was a pretty significant non-theistic leaning. Not in the scholarly sense of not putting forth specific dogmas over evidence but in the sense that this book did not survive by accident: what makes it so important is not just the bare-bones of the work itself, but how people today view it. I felt like the VSI to the Koran did a much better job of respecting/highlighting the use of the book and why it matters.
As a whole, I liked the information but something felt fundamentally off about it.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coogan writes an adequately informative if somewhat patronising introduction to the content of Old Testament studies.

[Elle Fellman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good overview of some of the important books of the Torah or Old Testament. It is a good resource for historical study of the Near East in the Iron Age.

[Andrew Krom · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who believes in the Bible's inerrancy and infallibility I wanted to read this book to understand a "secular" view of the Old Testament.

In the introduction and chapter 1, the author talks about the Old Testament as a "Jewish anthology". This book says that in the OT there were no books where written after Ezra. However, the book argues that many books have been dated into the 2nd century BCE (like Daniel). Chapter 2 goes into Critical scholarship and how it started in the 17th century. The author uses this to jump into a conversation about Moses. It was at this time that Moses was questioned as the writer of the Pentateuch. The author goes into conversations about the documentary hypothesis, source criticism, and other things that come out of that period. Most important, the author puts forward many different contradictions in the OT. Many of these are shallow understandings of contradictions and could be debated and shown to be inadequate by someone with minimal Bible training.

Chapters 3 and 4 look at the "OT and History" and the "OT and Myth". Looking at the OT and History the author explains how only information from the mid-1st millennium BCE and onward it is accurate. It seems like he is saying the Bible is accurate when we have outside sources, which always match up 800 BCE and on. But, we do not always have outside sources before 800 BCE and therefore the OT cannot be proved "accurate". The author is stating that from Genesis to 2 Sam there is nothing that can be found in "secular history" (only Balaam), but using his reasoning this makes sense because there is little other history other than the OT itself. Chapter 4 looks at the OT and Myth. The author defines "myth" as any story where a deity is the main actor (putting the Bible on the same level as Greek story etc). In light of this, Genesis 1-11 is "myth" according to the author. The author's understanding of God (YHWH) is weird. He cites Psalms 74 and 89 to prove that the Bible is using the "storm god" creation story that is found in other passages of secular literature. In addition to this, YHWH is seen as one god among the "host" of other gods.

For the rest of the book, a few comments will be sufficient. Chapter 5 focuses on the Exodus (mainly chapters 1-15). He notes that some of the plagues are "mythical". Interestingly, the author accurately finds the Exodus is "paradigmatic". Chapter 6 looks at the Biblical law. He makes the argument that these laws couldn't have come until after they were settled in the promised land. There is a disconnect with his understanding of the dates the law was written and carried out. One thing I found interesting was how in the Decalogue, he finds the Sabbath strange because no other cultures have this. Chapter 8 deals with Prophets and prophecy. One argument he makes is that the Messiah never refers to someone in the future. The Messiah in the OT only refers to people in the past and present. He never backs it up with any information. There is much written on how the "Messiah" in the OT is referring to Jesus (for Christians) and to a coming Messiah (for Jewish readers). Chapter 10 focuses on Poetry. In this, the author says that parallelism is clear and one of the only discernable elements of biblical poetry. He also spends a lot of time on Job and how it is disconnected from Israel's history.

Overall, this book was helpful to understand a view of the Old Testament where the author has the presupposition that it is not infallible and not God's Word. I am grateful for the detail in his work but I disagree with where he is coming from and the arguments that he makes. The Old Testament is God's Word and is infallible and inerrant in the original language.

[. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Максимално добре написана, като за Катедрална (по Молдбъг) литература. Дава кратък очерк, каквато е и целта. Естествено писана от неверник, но беше кратка и интересна, щото стария завет е интересен, а и научих някои нови неща. Други знам от други източници, че много вероятно не са верни макар, че са описани, като факт в тази книжка, но няма какво друго да кажа.

Свърши си работата.

А аз почнах да чета и стария завет вече официално.

И го чета от една страна след като бях гледал доста лекции на Майкъл Хайзнер за оригиналните еврейски протоортодоксални интерпретации от оригиналните езици описани в The unseen realm, и също така различни курсове от The great courses на темата.

Плюс този контекст и подготовка, я чета от учебна библия с обяснения и контекст на всяка страница и също така с 3 енциклопедии под ръка..

Щото така се чете с разбиране.

А не както атеистите, ако можем да им вярваме, че изобщо са я чели, дори да са я чели са я прелистили без да разберат оригиналния смисъл на различните истории, каквито без контекст, преводи на различни думи, местности, и пр. Човек просто не може да ги разбере, просто защото е писана преди хиляди години.

Новият завет дето е писан преди 2000 години трудно се разбира на места значението на някакви неща, човек като не е потопен в контекста, пък да четеш стерилни стария завет без да опиташ да вникнеш да се опиташ да се доближиш до оригиналното разбиране (както страхувам се правят четящите библията антитеисти) ще разбереш толкова смисъла в дълбочина, колкото, ако седнеш да четеш египетска книга на мъртвите, без поне един том написани бележки и обяснения от автори, които са прекарали целия си живот в това да ги проучат, разберат и опишат.


Но това е цялостно проблемът на посредственяците - че са в заблудата, че сами, щото са много умни ей така от нищото с разум могат да разберат всичко. Всъщност то вече всичко вече им е ясно, само някакви детайли. Пък ако не знаят нещо то няма нужда да бъде узнайвано и без това. От къде на къде тази реалност ще си позволява да не се съобразява с представите на уважаемия редитър и фб антитеист за нея.

Но това няма общо с книгата. Книжката за 4 часа ставаше... Т е. За 1,5 часа на 3та скорост и нещо. Обичам сторител за дето вече позволяват да се забързва толкова.

Но на този автор по-дълга книга едва ли бих му слушал..

За катедралния наратив книги до 4 часа (1,5 забързано - толкос) и бе това техния наратив избликва отвсякъде където човек погледне тъй че трудно човек може да се изолира в балон дори ако се старае.

[Elcilor]

Coogan presents the Old Testament from a scholarly perspective. While he is critical of the text, this criticism does not dominate to the point of being off-putting or too elitist. Instead, he portrays the Old Testament as a partly mythical, partly historical book that has had a significant impact on the three Abrahamic religions and Western culture.

Coogan demonstrates that the Old Testament contains contradictions at times, even on some very fundamental topics, such as the validity of the Ten Commandments, and that it is a product of many authors from different periods, a true anthology of books. Some works referenced in the Old Testament even appear to have been lost, such as The Book of the Acts of Solomon and The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

I find it quite amusing to read how the people of Israel seemed to interpret everything happening in the world as being about themselves, especially in terms of how well they obey Yahweh. Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon were simply massive military superpowers. From a historical perspective, it seems quite logical that the kingdoms of Israel and Judah would be dominated by these empires. Instead of this Assyria for example becomes an instrument of Yahweh to straighten out the people of Israel. This viewpoint reflects a characteristic we still value in our culture today: focusing primarily on oneself and finding ways to improve despite overwhelming odds against you. Perhaps this anti-fatalist philosophy is part of the reason for the success of the three Abrahamic religions.

[Greg Diehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to give this little book a listen (via a library Hoopla account) as Michael Coogan, a prominent biblical scholar, is the main editor of the NRSV Hebrew Bible I am currently studying. I appreciate Coogan's consistent argument that "The bible does not speak with one voice, but with many. And that the presence of those differing perspectives invites, even compels readers to think for themselves." For me, this is what makes the Bible so beautiful.

Given that the words "bible" and "bibliography" derive from common Greek roots, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the bible is not a monolithic work - but in my experience, particularly in conversation with those who hold more fundamentalist perspectives - this idea can actually blow their minds.

Coogan effectively critiques this "Myth of Uniformity" - the idea that the Bible presents a consistent, unified message that somehow dropped from the sky. He argues that cherry-picking verses to support a specific, modern ideological position (such as "family values") ignores the text's inherent complexity and "messiness".

For these, and many other reasons, I continue to find Coogan's work provocative and worthy of thoughtful engagement.

[Paul Burkhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mostly competent book that does what it sets out to do. But there are still some extraneous sections, such as the chapter length deep dive comparison between prophetic commentary on historical events and the accompanying archaeological record. There isn't as much of a focus on the overall plot and meta structure of the Old testament itself. Therefore it assumes some pre-existing knowledge of the Old testament, in which case the rest of this book isn't very necessary. You picked up this book because you literally knew nothing about the Old testament, you would find a lot of good things here, but a lot of important things would be overlooked and taken for granted.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides exactly what the title suggests, a very brief overview of the "Old Testament." There is an explanation of the composition of the Jewish Tanakh as well as versions of the Old Testament found in popular Christian Bibles. Additionally, the book covers historical context, genres, the role of prophets and their writings and critical theory.

A good starting point for someone trying to understand how the Old Testament has influenced and continues to influence culture, law, art, poetry and more. The bibliography will prove useful to those who seek to learn more.

[Lsilberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a standing-on-one-foot but informative book. The author is Catholic, but is not dogmatic about any particular religious perspective.

I purchased this book for the Context study program at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Unfortunately, I saved my reading for the last minute, so I had to read this book more quickly than is wise for me--I finished it in four days, whereas I should have taken at least twice that long, so that I could remember better what I read. But this reading assignment is due this coming Wednesday, along with another, thankfully much shorter, reading assignment.

[Hugo Strand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief overview of the component parts and themes of The Old Testament within Jewish and later Christian tradition.

Coogan does a great job of showing the near eastern influences on The Old Testament by the way of myth and traditions. He also explains how The Old Testament draws on several sources and authors, challenging the traditional view that Moses was the author of the Torah or that the books are the direct words of God.

Informative and entertaining with many interesting details. I listened to this as an audiobook on Audible.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some good, informative stuff in here, but my bias is to expect more order and structure from this kind of book, which will result in fairly equal coverage of all the important issues. I don't feel that this quite lived up to that expectation. The author chose some interesting issues and topics to write about, and they were interesting, but by the end, you feel like too much has been left out (which may not really be fair for a book labeled 'A Very Short Introduction'). But there you go.

[Emmanuel Celiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the Bible as scholars read it, i. e. critically, is a lot more worthwhile than reading it with your own theological bias dictating you what spiritual lessons to derive from the passage you are reading. After reading this book, my own reading of the Old Testament would never be the same again. I would be getting new insights and better spiritual lessons that maybe, would result in a more robust faith.

[Cappy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book to see if it could work as a high school theology textbook, so my review might be a little jaundiced by that lens.

This book, I think, falls into the trap of being both more and less than you need. All the stuff in here is good and it touches all the bases, but it does so in something of a haphazard order and alongside a lot of material of secondary importance. A “very short introduction” should bring more focus to the table.

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Old Testament is not the easiest tome to read, but this Very Short Introduction is a perfect read if you want an overview, or are just about to read the Testaments yourself.

It goes through the history at the time of writing, what the Israelites did and were doing and some of the main protagonists. All in very easy to follow and understand short chapters.

Easy to understand for those without a religion as well.

[Hooman · Rating 5 out of 5]

as always "a very short introduction" doesn't fail.
First of all it gives a great view of the structure, sources and history of authorship of the old testament.
It's also a great example of literary theory and helps you to bring theoretical aspects down to earth through it's analysis of the old testament. it's analysis of book of job and feminist analysis of the chara
furthermore it has many interesting snippets

[Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most titles in this series, this is a first step, not a last step. Coogan does a good job giving an accessible introduction to Hebrew Bible studies for the average reader. Some chapters were brilliant and others were less necessary. There was at least one chapter that I can't figure out why he included it at all.

The Bible is a complicated book and this is a helpful tool for understanding it a little better.