Understanding the Hebrew Bible is intended to update scholars and students on the current state of the study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Such a volume has appeared at roughly twenty-five-yearly intervals since the first, The People and the Book, in 1925; the most recent one, published in 2000, was Text in Context. The book, written by members of SOTS who are experts in each of the areas covered, aims to be more comprehensive than its predecessors. As well as surveying the various genres of literature in the Hebrew Bible, it also examines linguistic and literary approaches (including Bible translation), Middle Eastern history and archaeology, the cultural and aesthetic background in the ancient Near East, the reception of the text in art, music, and literature, and studies in such disciplines as psychology, cognitive science, and the social sciences, as well as reflecting on issues of ecology, post-colonialism, race, and gender as they affect our understanding of the Bible. In each area the aim is to explain the present state of the discipline rather than the personal opinions of the contributors, and also to indicate the probable direction in which Old Testament study is likely to develop.
