'The Unconquered Land' and Other Old Testament Essays: Selected Studies by Rudolf Smend

This final book published in the Ashgate SOTS monograph series collects together for the first time in English translation a selection of important essays on central themes and texts in Old Testament criticism and exegesis by Rudolf Smend, one of the world's most eminent senior scholars in the field. The essays focus on key topics such as Moses, covenant, history, Old Testament theology, the state, Elijah, Amos, and major movements in the history of the discipline over the past three centuries. All are marked by penetrating exegetical and critical insight as well as by an unrivalled knowledge of the history of Old Testament scholarship, and many of them have already made highly-respected and influential contributions. Their publication will serve to make the range and vitality of Smend's work more widely known to English-speaking readers. 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.