Old Testament Essentials: Creation, Conquest, Exile and Return by Tremper Longman IIIMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a brilliant resource for a small group leader, elder or a pastoral staff member in charge of teaching! Longman III's book is tailored to the relatively more bible literate audience, as the lengthy but so very theologically rich commentaries (and the very many questions in each segment) would hint at. Sadly, because my target recipients are extremely bible illiterate (having eisegetical sermons as sunday main service fare for decades), I am unable to use the material without significant summary and omissions. Which of course is a great pity! But that is not the reason why I gave 4 out of 5 stars. As a final year seminary student, my hunch is that most lay people would find it difficult to find the answers to some of the questions without formal theological education (and therefore the knowledge of how to search bible encyclopedias or commentaries for help). I guess if the group is fine with not knowing the answer to some of the questions, or if they have access to a pastor who is willing to answer their queries, then the resource would be 5/5 stars. Would love for Longman III to release a companion teacher's resource with basic guidelines to explore and provide methods on how to respond to (especially the more difficult) questions.
As one of the best Old Testament scholars, Longman III brilliantly provides a framework to embark on an exciting and fulfilling journey of Old Testament basics, or as the title puts it, "essentials." It would be immensely helpful for any small group or leadership core to have their major OT themes grasped, for that is where Holy Scripture begins and builds upon. Of course, no good OT resource would be complete without reference to the typological pointing forward to Christ as the perfect and coming Priest, Judge (better understood today as Chieftain), King, Prophet etc.
I received this book from IVP in exchange for this review.
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