The Art of Biblical History

The Art of Biblical History seeks to address basic questions that all Bible readers might ask: Is the Bible a history book? What do we mean by "history" anyway? In what sense, if at all, is biblical historicity important to faith? Are there guidelines for discovering what historical truth claims a particular passage may be making? The discussions take account of both current thinking among biblical scholars and the best insights of secular historians. The result is an attempt to describe biblical history writing as a kind of representational art and to commend a hermeneutical approach that does justice not merely to the historical or literary or theological character of the Bible, but to all three at once.

V. Philips Long (Ph.D., Cambridge) was formerly lecturer in biblical languages and exegesis at the Freie Theologische Akademie in Giessen, Germany, and is currently associate professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary.