Richard D. NELSON. The Old Testament. Canon, History and Literature. Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN). 2019. xxi + 326. Vocabulary List (no Index). Pb. ISBN: 9781426759239. List Price: $42.99. Reviewed by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles

The author of this survey of the Old Testament, Richard Nelson, after a distinguished career in teaching and publishing in Old Testament studies, is now Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. This work is intended to be a basic introduction to the Old Testament, and it represents a rather straight-forward descriptive approach. There are 6 “Parts” divided into a total of 26 chapters, some of them very brief. The Parts are:

(1) Laying the Groundwork. Here, the 2 initial chapters deal with questions of Canon in various traditions, and then Geography, History, and Religious contexts in the Ancient Near East.

(2) Torah – Chapters 3 – 9 deal with Pentateuch generally, then Genesis (covered in 3 chapters), and then chapters dealing with Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers together, and Deuteronomy.

(3) Former Prophets – Chapters 10-14 work through the “Historical Books” up to the reforms of Josiah at the end of 2 Kings.

(4) Latter Prophets – Chapters 15 (general introduction to Prophets), Chapter 16 on Isaiah, Chapter 17 on Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and a combined chapter (18) on Amos, Hosea, and Micah as “Prophets of Social Justice” followed by Ch. 19 on the remaining shorter prophetic books, entitled: “Judah in the Orbit of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia”.

(5) Writings – Ch. 20 deals with Psalms, 21 Proverbs and Job, and 22 “The Five Scrolls” (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther). Ch. 23 combines Ezra-Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and Ch. 24, interestingly, is dedicated entirely to Daniel and the additions to Daniel in 10 pages.

(6) Apocryphal//Deuterocanonical Books. Ch. 25, called “Spellbinding Tales and Profound Wisdom” deals with Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch, while the final chapter, 26, is dedicated to 1 and 2 Maccabees, with a very brief discussion of later Jewish worksl such as the books of Esdras, Ps. 151, 3 & 4 Maccabees, and the Prayer of Manasseh (e.g. works accepted in some Orthodox canons).

Nelson maintains a steady hand throughout his introduction. Discussions feature a very basic approach to the content of each of the books, and generally agreed “main line” perspectives as to their historical provenance, predominate throughout. This is, in short, a rather centrist, certainly “orthodox” approach to the study of Scriptures with only mild allusions to contemporary issues in Biblical scholarship such as feminism, cross-cultural, or postcolonial approaches. A strong literary-historical approach to analyzing portions of longer books, for example, predominates in Nelson’s survey and reading of all the Biblical material. One very helpful feature is the presence of numerous tables and charts, and also short discussions of relevant archaeological discoveries and Ancient texts that are relevant to the appropriate discussions that they accompany. The suggestions for further reading are, predictably, also certainly mainstream commentaries. As an introductory text for a basic college course, or reasonably strong adult learners in Sunday School, this would serve as an excellent basic text from which to launch further discussion. In the opinion of this reviewer, however, it should probably be accompanied by further readings introducing more of the current debates that are compelling issues in contemporary Biblical analysis, especially feminist and cross-cultural analysis, if not also some of the more heated debates on archaeological materials in relation to historical texts of the Bible. It seems likely that Nelson himself presumed that this would occur – providing the beginnings of initially informed discussion.