Synopses & Reviews
Review
Frank Kermode and Robert Alter, two critics who have given a new rigour and seriousness to the 'Bible as literature' movement, have brought together a constellation of literary and Biblical specialists, from bothsides of the Atlantic, to explain the Bible from a literary standpoint...It is hard to see how the task could be performed better. At its best, the Guidedoes not merely introduce lines ofinterpretation unfamiliar to the nonspecialist, it also breaks new ground.
Review
Professor Alter is one of our foremost lay readers and expositors of the poetic and narrative genius of the Bible. He brings to his commentaries a knowledge of Hebrew and of Judaism together with an exceptionallywide literary awareness and authority of judgment. Professor Kermode has long been eminent among teachers and critics of English and European literatures from the Renaissance to Romanticism and the moderns...[The volume] contains muchthat is enlightening, convincing and finely argued.
Review
One of the virtues of this book is that it sends one back to the reading of the Bible with clear eyes and critical instincts alert.
Review
This volume is a needed contribution to our appreciation of the Bible as a powerful work of literature and will quickly find its place on the shelves of those who respond to its ambitious themes. If this book doesnothing else but restore the scriptures to their rightful place in our cultural consciousness, it will justify the honors that, on so many other grounds, it richly deserves.
About the Author
Frank Kermodeis Julian Clarence Levi Professor of English Literature, <>Columbia University, and a Fellow of<>King's College, Cambridge.
Table of Contents
General Introduction
Robert Alter and Frank KermodeThe Old Testament
Introduction
Robert Alter
Genesis
J. P.Fokkelman
Exodus
J. P. Fokkelman
Leviticus
DavidDamrosch
Numbers
James S. Ackerman
Deuteronomy
Robert Polzin
Joshua and Judges
David M. Gunn
1 and 2Samuel
Joel Rosenberg
1 and 2 Kings
George Savran
Isaiah
Luis Alonso Schandouml;kel
Jeremiah and Ezekiel
JoelRosenberg
The Twelve Prophets
Herbert Marks
Jonah
James S. Ackerman
Psalms
Robert Alter
Proverbs andEcclesiastes
James G. Williams
Job
Moshe Greenberg
The Song of Songs
Francis Landy
Ruth
Jack M. Sasson
Lamentations
Francis Landy
Esther
Jack M. Sasson
Daniel
Shemaryahu Talmon
Ezra and Nehemiah
ShemaryahuTalmon
1 and 2 Chronicles
Shemaryahu Talmon
The NewTestament
Introduction
Frank Kermode
Matthew
FrankKermode
Mark
John Drury
Luke
JohnDrury
John
Frank Kermode
Acts
James M.Robinson
The Pauline Epistles
Michael Goulder
The Epistle to the Hebrews and theCatholic Epistles
Gabriel Josipovici
Revelation
Bernard McGinn
General Essays
The Hebrew Bible and Canaanite Literature
Jonas C.Greenfield
The New Testament and Greco-Roman Writing
Helen Elsom
Fishing for Men onthe Edge of the Wilderness
Edmund Leach
The Canon
Frank Kermode
The Characteristics of Ancient Hebrew Poetry
Robert Alter
Midrash and Allegory
Gerald L. Bruns
English Translations of the Bible
Gerald Hammond
Glossary
Index