The Historical Books: Interpreting Biblical Texts Series

Dr. Richard D. Nelson

Sep 2011 · Abingdon Press

About this ebook

In The Historical Books, Richard D. Nelson introduces neophyte readers to the basic concepts of history and historical writing and provides a simple framework of events and periods that can be used to situate historical data reported in texts or presupposed by them. Standard interpretive methods are accessibly explained and illustrated by consistent reference to 2 Samuel 24. The focus of discussion moves from the narrow level of individual pericope to larger units of meaning. Because the ultimate goal is to expose the claims made on the reader by these biblical texts and to help the reader make sense of these claims, the interpretive spotlight rests on the present interaction of text and reader rather than on the past.

About the author

Richard D. Nelson is professor emeritus of Biblical Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. His teaching career on the college and seminary level has spanned more than thirty-five years. He is the author of nine books on biblical themes, including The Historical Books (Abingdon Press, 1998) and Historical Roots of the Old Testament (1200–63 BCE). He has published commentaries on Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1–2 Kings. Professor Nelson has been a visiting scholar at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Tyndale House, Cambridge, England. He is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.