Paul K. Hooker – författare

In this volume, a part of the Westminster Bible Companion series, Paul Hooker suggests that First and Second Chronicles is not a "history of Israel," but rather a theological reflection on the story of Israel's faith. The Chronicler, according to Hooker, seeks to sketch the lines of Israel's future as the people of God by drawing on the resources of Israel's past.Books in the Westminster Bible Companion series assist laity in their study of the Bible as a guide to Christian faith and practice. Each volume explains the biblical book in its original historical context and explores its significance for faithful living today. These books are ideal for individual study and for Bible study classes and groups.

These poems seek to be playful with faith. Their aim is to expose the underlying sacredness of events that form the liturgy of living and to do so with sensitivity toward mystery, wonder, and occasionally suspicion. Some of them seek to tell stories left untold by the narratives of faith; others prod the narratives of ordinary life to see where faith may be hiding. These poems do not understand faith as an intellectual choice but rather as an involuntary trust in something beyond us, something always unclear, ill-lit, and inadequately characterized by the language religious people use to describe ultimate realities. They seek not so much to dismantle that language as to subvert its self-assuredness, to find words that surprise and compel different ways of seeing.

For generations, scholars have attempted to solve the chronological problems associated with "e;the mysterious numbers of the Hebrew kings."e; In this volume, the authors provide a coherent, sensible, and believable chronology for the Israelite and Judean kings. In their reconstruction, Hayes and Hooker take into consideration not only all of the biblical data but also all relevant ancient Near Eastern sources. Utilizing all available and reliable evidence, they establish not only regnal years for all the rulers but also specific dates for numerous events in Israelite and Judean history. In their opening chapters, the authors explain the scheme of chronological reckoning found in the books of 1-2 Kings. Their calculations are then computed without recourse to shifting understandings of the methods of reckoning or to a theory of co-regencies. The value of this work is not limited to purely chronological matters. Its implications extend to the dating of biblical sources such as the Book of the Covenant, D, P, and the Deuteronomistic History. The volume also provides insights into the socio-cultic life of biblical times.