This book brings together some of the world's most exciting scholars from across a variety of disciplines to provide a concise and accessible guide to the Hebrew Bible. It covers every major genre of book in the Old Testament together with in-depth discussions of major themes such as human nature, covenant, creation, ethics, ritual and purity, sacred space, and monotheism.;Introduction / John Barton -- List of contributors -- Part I. The Hebrew Bible in its historical and social context: 1. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament / John Barton; 2. The Historical Framework: Biblical and Scholarly Portrayals of the Past / Francesca Stavrakopoulou; 3. The Social and Cultural History of Ancient Israel / Katherine Southwood; 4. Israel in the Context of the Ancient Near East / Anthony J. Frendo -- Part II. Major genres of biblical literature: 5. The narrative books of the Hebrew Bible / Thomas Römer; 6. The prophetic literature / R.G. Kratz; 7. Legal texts / Assnat Bartor; 8. The wisdom literature / Jennie Grillo; 9. The Psalms and poems of the Hebrew Bible / Susan Gillingham -- Part III. Major religious themes: 10. Monotheism / Benjamin D. Sommer; 11. Creation: God and world / Hermann Spieckermann; 12. The human condition / Hilary Marlow; 13. God's covenants with humanity and Israel / Dominik Markl; 14. Ethics / C.L. Crouch; 15. Religious space and structures / Stephen C. Russell; 16. Ritual: diet, purity, and sacrifice / Seth D. Kunin -- Part IV. The study and reception of the Hebrew Bible: 17. Reception of the Old Testament / Alison Gray; 18. Historical-critical inquiry / Christoph Bultmann; 19. Literary approaches / David Jasper; 20. Theological approaches to the Old Testament / R.W.L. Moberly; 21. Political and advocacy approaches / Eryl W. Davies; 22. Textual criticism and biblical translation / Carmel McCarthy; 23. To map or not to map?: a biblical dilemma / Adrian Curtis -- Index of scripture -- Index of modern authors.