'The Unconquered Land' and Other Old Testament Essays

Edward Ball was Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Nottingham, UK, until he died in January 2011. Margaret Barker is a past president of the Society for Old Testament Study.

’Even among a highly distinguished generation of Old Testament scholars in Germany and beyond, Rudolf Smend is a quite outstanding figure. His work from its beginnings reveals three interests that continue to mark it to this day: the theology of the Old Testament; the history of the composition of the biblical text; and the history and rationale of biblical scholarship. This volume contains contributions in all these areas, until now available only in German. It will introduce to Anglophone readers a scholar whose work is not known sufficiently to many in the UK and North America.' John Barton, University of Oxford, UK

• Contents: Introduction: Rudolf Smend, John Barton; Moses as a historical figure; The Ten Commandments; The Covenant formula; Elements of historical thinking in the Old Testament; The unconquered land; The place of the state in the Old Testament; The Biblical and the historical Elijah’ The Word of Yahweh to Elijah: thoughts on the composition of 1 Kings, 17-19; Amos’s no; 'The end has come': an Amos saying in the priestly code; Eating and drinking: a piece of worldliness in the Old Testament; Lowth in Germany; De Wette and the relationship between historical biblical criticism and philosophical system in the 19th century; Post-critical scriptural interpretation; Trends. Old Testament scholarship in the 20th century: a retrospect; Indexes.