Reddit reviews Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction; Second Edition

We found 9 Reddit comments about Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction; Second Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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9 Reddit comments about Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction; Second Edition:

u/deakannoying · 13 pointsr/Catholicism

u/[deleted] · 5 pointsr/Reformed

Because it's historical theology. It wasn't information withheld from you; some scholars seemed to be aware of and writing on these sorts of things a hundred years ago. I hope you're not scandalized by it. Does it affect your relationship with the Lord? It could, I guess. I just don't see it.

Somewhat relatedly, we've learned to describe God if not more fully, at least differently, across the ages. A divine council? From what I've read, it sounds like that was believed all the way through the penning of the new testament writings. So it could be the case. Most importantly, though, we eventually decided in the Church to read all Scripture in the light of Christ-- so if applying that way of reading is fruitful or edifying then, well, by all means.

If it bothers you, this may help: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Old-Testament-Introduction-Second/dp/0809147807/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QWQMYGBPKSBQ65F1EMKP

u/usr81541 · 3 pointsr/Catholicism

Some books that helped me:

How Do Catholics Read the Bible?
Short book that discusses the holistic approach to Scripture study in the Catholic Tradition

Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction; Second Edition
Comprehensive historical discussion of the books of the Old Testament with some theological interpretation

Reading the Bible: A Study Guide
Covers pretty much the whole Bible with historical context and modern application of Scripture

Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology
This is a huge book with just a LOT going on, but it has a very clear response to the question of the historical reliability of the gospels in the later chapters. It’s pretty well comprehensive for Catholic apologetics, but it’s aimed at a more academic audience than, for example, Catholic Answers

The Bible, the Church, and Authority: The Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology
On the development of the canon of Scripture

u/bobo_brizinski · 3 pointsr/Christianity

You should use a secondary introduction like Lawrence Boadt's Reading the Old Testament, or Kaminsky and Lohr's The Torah: A Beginner's Guide (which I think is excellent). Many parts of the Bible are difficult to read without some sense of context and methods of interpretation. If you feel like a beginner I'd highly recommend the Access Bible as a study edition.

I wouldn't recommend reading it in order from Genesis to Revelation. It's okay to jump around when it comes to the Bible. Otherwise it will feel like quenching your thirst with a fire hose when you wanted a glass of water.

Use a reading guide, ask your pastor for help, or even talk to a professor if you're going to school.

These two reading plans, one from Kristy Burmesiter and another "narrative reading plan" are good imo.

u/AccessibleFaith · 2 pointsr/AcademicBiblical

It’s a little older, but Lawrence Boadt’s Introduction “Reading the the Old Testament” is a good overview. It has a second edition which I should probably get and see what has been updated.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Old-Testament-Introduction-Second/dp/0809147807/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=lawrence+boadt%2C+reading+the+old+testament+an+introduction&amp;qid=1572617990&amp;sprefix=lawrence+boadt&amp;sr=8-1

u/BoboBrizinski · 2 pointsr/Christianity

Also, an OT intro I really like is Reading the Old Testament from Lawrence Boadt. Like the New Collegeville series, it's Catholic and academic but written at a layman's level for a wider audience.

u/turbovoncrim · 2 pointsr/Christianity

Boadt's, Reading the Old Testament, An Introduction is an awesome resource. I need to dig my first edition out again.

u/EyvindrWolf · 1 pointr/askgaybros

I've been dealing with this user and was braced to deal with further hostility. Seriously bro, I'm sorry. That was bad on me.

Supernatural events...oh boy. I'll ELI5 for you at the end.

This is coming from my memory of studying Lawrence Boadt's books. This is the second edition of the book I went through

I subscribe to the Documentary Hypothesis, but there is some debate on that apparently.

The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, had four sources that wrote them. Genesis started as oral tradition passed down through the tribes as a creation myth (similar to Native Americans' and other tribal societies) that was eventually written down. By the time it was written down (Before 1000 BCE if I remember right) there were two versions of it. Both were kept. I think Genesis is a moral and historical lesson rather than something to be taken literally.

The three sources I remember in Genesis are the two tribal creation myths and then one from the priesthood. The priests were from around 600-ish BCE if I remember correctly and they went back and added ritualistic numbers all over the Pentateuch ranging from 7 days of creation to 40 days and nights. They're also responsible for Leviticus as well as all of the various lineages.

So in the first five books of the Bible/Torah you have four different sources of authorship. You have some stories that are meant to be divine comedies (like Jonah, which was essentially a religious comedy for children. Ancient Veggie Tales) and many of the others that are just full of politics.

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In the New Testament you get more of the same. Mark was written when the Romans were majorly pissed at Christians to say that people of the time were complete idiots. Matthew was written awhile later and used Mark and another document that we no longer have (the Q source) as material, Luke was written WAY later - possibly by a woman - and used Mark and Q and themselves as a source. John was written in a monastic-ish community and has its own interesting history.

The apostles in the gospels likely didn't literally exist, going back to ritualistic numbers there's 1 apostle for each tribe of Israel if I'm remembering correctly. The books in the Bible were not all written immediately around the time of Jesus Christ. Revelations' modern interpretation is particularly silly because it was a coded message to evade Roman persecution...not a doomsday prophecy.

Paul, a tax collector that fell over in the street and went out one day then woke up a changed man who stated he'd come in touch with the divine and knew he had to get up and be a different person, wrote several letters to ancient Christians as an advisor. To my understanding, Paul's letters didn't claim any supernatural events other than "something knocked me on my butt and I woke up and knew it was good and that I had to serve it."

The Pastorals were written by someone other than Paul and falsely attributed to him and there's an insertion in Corinthians that is widely regarded to not be Paul himself.

ELI5

My focus on Paul is because his letters are the only thing in the entire Bible that I accept as the author being literally truthful to their own experiences. "I was knocked on my ass one day. I saw something. I thought it was good. So I decided to stop being a dishonest asshole and serve it." It may have just been a seizure that scared the crap out of him, but regardless he's honest about it. Every other part of the Bible fails to live up to a modern standard of literal truth.

In my opinion, the rest of the Bible is a history/sociology lesson veiled in supernatural events that we've no proof or evidence of. There's a continuous hope that there's something bigger than humanity out there that cares about us, and that hope is worth taking.

There are other hypotheses out there about how things fit together, but my final judgement when I studied the Bible was that it was an honest book in sociopolitical context, dishonest in our modern context, and a preoccupation with it is unhealthy.

So you shouldn't believe in religious dogma. Any all-powerful being interested in your well-being will do what it's going to do regardless of if you believe in it or not, or if you get dunked in a bathtub and then eat toast and drink wine on Sundays.

Being an asshole to people that do though, that robs them of their ability to grow.

u/oally · 1 pointr/suggestmeabook

"Reading The Old Testament" by Lawrence Boadt. It's a textbook that I read for a Judaic Studies class a few years back and it gets into detail on the various texts that were put together, what was added and omitted, translations and interpretations, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Old-Testament-Introduction-Second/dp/0809147807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499619958&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=reading+the+old+testament