Gerhard Von Rad

'A work of commanding range and penetration. . . . The skilful translation has made von Rad 's book accessible to a greatly enlarged circle of readers. This, the most distinctive of modern Old Testament Theologies, has already exercised and will continue to exercise a profound influence on the study of the Old Testament' (The Expository Times). Until his death, Gerhard von Had was Professor of Old Testament in the University of Heidelberg. The companion to this volume is Vol 2: The Theology of Israel's Prophetic Traditions.

'Without question the most important study of the prophets for more than a generation .. which can be read and appreciated by ordinary people. It will make the prophets live anew for every reader, and it may be strongly commended as superb value for money.' (H. H. Rowley). 'The present book is a bargain. The fresh treatment, the new insights and the flow of information justify its purchase.' (G. Henton Davies). 'This is a great book which opens up vast tracts of unsuspected territory.' (Church Quarterly).

Essential books for the serious student of the Old Testament.... It is scarcely possible to read von Rad without having the understanding and enjoyment of the Old Testament greatly increased. No serious student of the Bible at the level of theological student or minister can afford not to read him' (Theology). 'A work of commanding range and penetration. . . . The skilful translation has made von Flad's book accessible to a greatly enlarged circle of readers. This, the most distinctive of modern Old Testament Theologies, has already exercised and will continue to exercise a profound influence on the study of the Old Testament' (The Expository Times). Until his death, Gerhard von Rad was Professor of Old Testament in the University of Heidelberg. The companion to this volume is Vol 1: The Theology of Israel's Historical Traditions.

In this new edition of Gerhard von Rad's classic work on the Moses traditions, the reader is provided with a more polished text, cross-references to von Rad's other works, an updated bibliography, Scripture index, and a new foreword by Walter Brueggemann.

This republication of a classic work contains a new introduction by Walter Brueggemann that places Gerhard von Rad's work within the context of German theology, Old Testament theology, and the history of interpretation of the Old Testament. In Old Testament Theology, von Rad applies the most advanced results of form criticism to develop a new understanding of the Bible. His original approach is now available once again in English.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

This republication of a classic work contains a new introduction by Walter Brueggemann that places Gerhard von Rad's work within the context of German theology, Old Testament theology, and the history of interpretation of the Old Testament. In Old Testament Theology, von Rad applies the most advanced results of form criticism to develop a new understanding of the Bible. His original approach is now available once again in English.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

Since the beginning, holy war has been viewed as a 'sacred institution' and a 'cultic act of religious community' by the people of Israel. Appearing here in English for the first time, Gerhard von Rad has provided a definitive study of the theory of holy war and its development throughout biblical history. Von Rad gives a definitive and articulate exposition of a typically disturbing theme within the Old Testament, arguing that holy war is not only Yahweh acting alone, but inspired Israelites, who because they envisioned God fighting on their behalf, felt obligated and inspired to fight even more fervently.

This classic text, the last major work by the great Hebrew Bible scholar Gerhard von Rad, has long been unavailable in North America. It is now being reissued in paperback from to satisfy the continuing demand for copies of the book. In brief, the subject of von Rad's study of Hebrew wisdom is Israel's willingness to ground faith in encounter with the world as the creation of God. Those familiar with the author's Old Testament Theology will recall how he identified two great watersheds in the history of Israel's thought. The first was the rise of the prophetic movement, which occasioned a radical reinterpretation of Israel's religious traditions as expressed in the earliest creedal formulations found in the Pentateuch. The second watershed, which preceded the prophetic movement and was a basically different assessment of Israel's relation to Yahweh, was achieved by wisdom teachers at the start of the monarchy. This book studies this first and somewhat novel break with Israel's older sacral traditions. Von Rad bases the study on a wide range of literary materials principally concerned with the books of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Wisdom of Ben Sirach. No finer introduction to the fundamental theological questions raised by the wisdom literature of Israel is available. Theology Today Gerhard von Rad was for many years Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg.

From the earliest days of Israel's existence as a people, holy war was a sacred institution, undertaken as a cultic act of a religious community. The concept of holy war, an intriguing and sometimes disturbing theme in the Old Testament, is given its most articulate expression in this classic study by the distinguished German scholar Gerhard von Rad. For Israel, the most important feature of holy war was the demand for faith in Yahweh's saving acts. However, von Rad argues, it was not Yahweh alone who acted; rather, because they envisioned Yahweh fighting on their behalf the Israelites themselves were inspired - and obliged - to fight even harder. In this regard, the actual events differed vastly from the picture given by the biblical narratives, which downplay and often exclude the human factor and stress the exclusive warlike action of Yahweh, thus equating holy war with absolute miracle.

This volume, a part of the Old Testament Library series, explores the book of Genesis.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

This commentary on Deuteronomy meets and exceeds the high standards of the Old Testament Library series. It provides one of the most sophisticated explanations to date of the compositional process that produced Deuteronomy, presenting that process as a combination of large-scale redactional activity and "micro-redaction." The commentary is also attentive to the historical background of Deuteronomy's origins in the reigns of Manasseh and Josiah. The fresh translation that heads each section is followed by insightful linguistic comments that highlight Deuteronomy's famous homiletical and didactic style.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.