Jonathan S. Greer, John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton answer 5 Questions about their book Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts
(1) 2 3 4 5
What inspired you to create this volume?
Jonathan S. Greer: I teach a core course titled “The Ancient World of the Bible” at Cornerstone University, and I always struggled to find the right textbooks—not because there aren’t any, but, because I needed so many to adequately cover all of the topics that I sought to address: geography, archaeology, ancient Near Eastern texts and iconography, etc. For a while I had in mind a “dream textbook” that would cover the breadth of material in a way that would be accessible for students in this course and other interested readers as well.
I first had delusions that I might attempt some sort of project like this myself, but when I saw The World of the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2013), I thought it would be much better if experts in each of the various subfields could be pulled together for the volume. I called up Dave Nelson at Baker Publishing Group to see if anything was in the works for an Old Testament counterpart, and he asked me if I wanted to tackle it. Knowing this was too big of a project to attempt alone, I went down the hall and asked my colleague John Hilber if he’d join me, and thankfully he agreed. After further conversations with Baker, we invited John Walton at Wheaton College to join, and he also agreed. It’s been a pleasure to work together at the various stages in the process, from drawing up lists of potential contributors from our various circles to discussing the details of the essays.
John W. Hilber: The course syllabus for Jonathan’s class became the table of contents for Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament. The rubrics surrounding “drama,” which provides the framework for the volume, was his creative impulse as well.
1 (2) 3 4 5
Who must go out and get a copy of this book?
Greer: That’s a funny question to ask us, since we are highly biased and would answer, “Everyone”! To be a bit more objective, we might say anyone who wants to understand more about the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in its ancient context. I think BAR readers would enjoy and benefit from the volume, and they will find many familiar BAR authors among our contributors.
John H. Walton: The BAR audience is academically inclined and is both curious and interested about these topics. Though we designed it to be a textbook, we believe that BAR readers would find it very satisfying.
1 2 (3) 4 5
Did you learn anything new while editing this volume?
Greer: In nearly every essay I learned something new or saw familiar information presented in new ways. It was such a privilege and pleasure to steward these presentations from this panel of experts. The volume is what it is because of these contributors.
Hilber: It was very difficult to edit these essays for content because every contributor is a specialist at the top of their field. How do you edit an expert’s content? What could I do other than sit at their feet and learn from them?
1 2 3 (4) 5
With 66 chapters by 67 different contributors, how long did it take you to edit everything?
Greer: The whole project took about three and a half years and was at times a bit of a juggling act with so many moving pieces in the air. It took all three of us for sure!
Walton: One of the aspects of the book that is most important is its collaborative nature. Having more than 60 scholars contribute to the book allowed us to take advantage of a wide range of expertise, with every contributor writing about a particular area of specialty. But at a second level, because we three editors each represent different areas of expertise, and bring different networks and contacts to the project, it allowed us to engage a greater number of contributors according to our specialties in the editing process, creating a strong team of contributors. This is the advantage of collaboration—it makes the final product stronger than any one person could have accomplished alone.
1 2 3 4 (5)
What’s next? Will there be a Behind the Scenes of the New Testament?
Walton: We would welcome such a volume!
Jonathan S. Greer, John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton answer 5 Questions about their book Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts
(1) 2 3 4 5
What inspired you to create this volume?
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
