Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch

Currents in Theology and Mission, Oct, 2005

Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker (InterVarsity, $50). This massive, 954-page dictionary contains articles on the books of the Pentateuch, its characters, theology, chronology, concepts, and history, with quite a few articles on methods (source criticism, textual criticism, social scientific criticism, literary or narrative criticism, etc.).

Bibliographies are full and the discussion quite evenhanded and moderately conservative, with open discussion of the problems that face Mosaic authorship, history of the flood, and the like. While most of the contributors are evangelical or conservative, they do not pursue a hard line, and I detected four Lutherans among the contributors: Fretheim (Exodus) and Olson (Numbers) from the ELCA and Heck (Benjamin, Issachar, and Tamar) and Steinmann (cherubim, hardness of heart) from LCMS. The article on Deuteronomy argues for a premonarchical date (unconvincingly, in my judgment), but not on the basis of doctrinal presuppositions. An otherwise fine article on creation that honestly explores the relationships between Genesis and the ancient Near East studiously avoids discussion of how one is to relate Genesis to modern science. Overall, however, there is much of value here, which I will return to many times. I will steer students here also. It would make a fine addition to church libraries. RWK