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About The State of Old Testament Studies
An interview with M. Daniel Carroll R.
EV: What led you to put this book together? What problem or issue(s) are you seeking to address?
DC: A book with the same goal of providing an introductory survey like this one was published in 1999 with the title The Face of Old Testament Studies. The idea behind our volume was to offer a new, up-to-date volume to show how the Old Testament research has developed and grown since that time. Actually, the impetus behind the work was H. H. (Chip) Hardy, who then graciously invited me to be his co-editor. It was a privilege to participate in the preparation of The State of Old Testament Studies.
EV: What’s the thesis of your book?
DC: There is no “thesis” of the volume per se. Rather the goal of the book is to provide a one-stop resource for anyone interested in Old Testament research.
EV: Who’s your target audience, and what are you most hoping they hear from it?
DC: I would say that there are two target audiences. First, would be other scholars (and doctoral students) desiring a survey of a wide range of Old Testament research areas. Second, advanced students looking for introductory essays that can provide an orientation to where Old Testament studies stand today.
EV: Did you have any “aha” moments while editing the book?
DC: I would not say that there was an “aha” moment, but I was constantly struck be several things throughout the process of editing the book. On the one hand, the breadth of topics that come under the heading of Old Testament studies is striking, especially in comparison to the earlier volume that I mentioned in question #1. On the other hand, I was impressed with the quality of scholarship of the contributors. I learned a lot about areas of research outside of my fields of interest as I edited the volume.
EV: What was the most challenging part of the book project?
DC: There are several challenges for producing an edited volume such as this one. The first is to try to identify the topics that must be addressed to cover the field of the volume, in our case, Old Testament studies. This is an immense field, with its own history and many areas of research, some of which are just emerging.
The second challenge is to find competent, respected scholars for each topic. Because of our own convictions and the nature of the publisher, one of the criteria for choosing the authors was that they had to have some kind of Christian faith commitment in a broad sense.
The third challenge was to communicate to the authors the parameters of all the submissions (formatting, word count) and then to make sure that these were followed and the essays turned in on time to maintain.
EV: If your book was made into a movie, what actor/actress would play the lead role?
DC: This is a hard question in light of the nature of this volume. It would need to be someone who has played the role of a professor.
EV: What kind of seminary/church classes should assign your book?
DC: This volume is a technical survey, so it would best be assigned to an advanced class on an introduction to Old Testament scholarship, such as at the masters or doctoral level.
At the same time, pertinent individual chapters could be assigned to relevant courses or for specific topics of Old Testament courses.
About the Editors
H. H. Hardy II (PhD, The University of Chicago) is Associate Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School.
M. Daniel Carroll R (PhD, University of Sheffield) is Scripture Press Ministries Professor of Biblical Studies and Pedagogy at Wheaton College.