「ヘブライ語聖書」とも「旧約聖書」とも言われるユダヤ教・キリスト教の正典は、宗教の聖典であるにとどまらず、単純に古典の文学作品として評価しても素晴らしいものです。文学的功績としての聖書の魅力を存分に味わうべく、物語と詩歌という二つの主な文学形式、話の筋の陰影の前景化、登場人物、メタファー、構造や意図、そしてテクスト間の暗示などについて詳細な解説を提供します。(cf. The Old Testament, #181)

• Provides a short, digestible, lively introduction to the Hebrew Bible as literature
• Gives readers the tools to examine and appreciate the Hebrew Bible's literary achievements
• Fully distinguishes between the narrative and poetic modes in the Hebrew Bible
• Allows readers to approach the Hebrew Bible from a new direction

  
The Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, contains some of the finest literature that we have. This biblical literature has a place not only in the synagogue or the church but also among the classics of world literature. The stories of Jacob and David, for instance, present the earliest surviving examples of literary characters whose development the reader follows over the length of a lifetime. Elsewhere, as in the books of Esther or Ruth, readers find a snapshot of a particular, fraught moment that will define the character. The Hebrew Bible also provides quite a few high points of lyric poetry, from the praise and lament of the Psalms to the double entendres in the love of poetry of the Song of Songs. 
  
In short, the Bible can be celebrated not only as religious literature but, quite simply, as literature. This book offers a thorough and lively introduction to the Bible's two primary literary modes, narrative and poetry, foregrounding the nuances of plot, character, metaphor, structure and design, and intertextual allusions. Tod Linafelt thus gives readers the tools to fully experience and appreciate the Hebrew Bible's literary achievement.