The Text of Genesis 1-11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As a relative newcomer to Old Testament textual criticism, I found this book most helpful. It taught me a lot, and provided me with a lot of information that I would otherwise not know where to find. It is, though, marred by a few slips. They may sound trivial, but textual criticism is largely concerned with what seem to be trivial slips! For example, Hendel fails to realise that the Italian scholar U Cassuto and the Israeli M D Cassuto are one and the same person. He does not note that he is referring to the second edition of Spurrell's book, though given that he dismisses it as of little value, he may not have noticed the fact that it is a second edition. But I do not want to suggest that these minor blots detract too much from the book.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Text of Genesis 1-11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition

Ronald S. Hendel offers a careful and thorough re examination of the text of Genesis 1 11. He takes a strongly positive position on the value of the Septuagint as a reliable translation of its Hebrew parent text. This position is contrary to that taken in most existing studies of the text of Genesis, including some in standard editions and reference works. Nevertheless, Hendel shows, there is an accumulating mass of evidence indicating that his position is correct.Hendel begins with a discussion of theory and method, and points out the lessons to be learned from the new biblical manuscripts discovered at Qumran. He goes on to argue for the preparation of eclectic critical editions of books of the Hebrew Biblea task long pursued in Classical, New Testament, and Septuagint studies, but still highly controversial with respect to the Hebrew scriptures. The critical edition of Genesis 1 11 which follows is Hendel's first step toward such a comprehensive task.